The holiday season will be here before we know it. Now is the time to learn to use less energy during this season with these Clever Tips to Save on Energy Costs This Thanksgiving.
This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of FPL. All expressed opinions are 100% mine and not influenced by anything or anyone.
Thanksgiving marks the official beginning of the Holiday season, meaning many of us will be preparing delicious dishes to share with our friends and family. However all that stuffing, mashing, saucing, and baking can take a big bite out of your energy bill. But don’t fret, there are several easy steps you can take now to save you money on energy cost this November.
Clever Tips to Save on Energy Costs This Thanksgiving
Let’s begin with the obvious things you can do all year round. Living in South Florida, we get several days or even weeks of nice cooler temps. Therefore, during cooler periods, we use the sun to heat our house. Meaning during the cooler days, we open our south-facing windows and curtains to let natural heat in and we close them when the sun goes down to trap the heat in.
Just like in the summer, when cooler weather arrives, we make sure our HVAC system is well-maintained by replacing the air filter every month. Another tip that goes along with your HVAC system maintenance is to adjust your thermostat. Just because it is cooler outside it doesn’t mean that your thermostat needs to go into overdrive. Try to only heat your home only when necessary or for a few hours. Invest into proper insulation and weatherstripping for your windows and doors to help keep the cold weather out and the heat in.
Moving on to my favorite part of the Holiday season, the food! If you are thinking… It is impossible to save on your energy costs during Thanksgiving. Well, don’t think that way. There are several steps we can take to avoid letting your energy consumption take a bite out of your budget. For starters. Turkey is a Thanksgiving staple, so notable can be without one of these delicious birds. Whether you are hosting a Thanksgiving gathering or it is your turn to bring the turkey to mom’s house, to help you save on energy costs, get a head count to purchase the right size bird. The bigger the bird, the longer the roasting time.
But what’s a turkey without some delicious side dishes? Well, for those I-cannot-live-without side dishes, try cooking them alongside your bird. Yes, I know side dishes don’t require the same temperature, so just adjust your cooking times accordingly or just make them on your microwave or cooktop. And what about those delicious pies? To save you money on energy consumption, try baking them in glass or ceramic dishes since they hold heat much better.
Now let’s move on to some practical energy cost reducing tips. After all, that cooking, stuffing, saucing, baking, and eating, make sure foods are completely cool before storing them in your fridge. Warm food makes your fridge work harder.
Before Thanksgiving rolls around, you can start saving money on your energy costs by taking an energy audit to help you understand your individual energy consumption. An energy audit, such as FPL’s Online Home Energy Survey can help explain your household’s energy consumption, identify losses and evaluate possible improvements. FPL’s Online Home Energy Survey tool is free to use, so take advantage of it.
Another way to start saving money on your energy cost now is to upgrade to smart technology. Adding smart technology, such as smart thermostats and smart plugs to your household can make a difference in your household’s energy consumption.
Finally, knowledge is key to help save you money all year round. And FPL knows this and it is the reason why they are always looking for ways to help their customers make their bills even lower with energy-saving tips and tools. Recently, they launched the new FPL skill on Amazon Alexa to help turn their customers into energy experts. To get started, all you have to do is enable the FPL skill from the Alexa Skill store. Then say “Alexa, open FPL” to open the skill and then can ask questions like, “How can I lower my energy bill?” The FPL Skill can easily be added and connected to via Amazon’s Echo, Echo Dot or ecobee4.