Your Energy. Your Money. 7 Habits to Simplify Your Life and Save

TIME-SAVING HABITS

Create a cleaning schedule.

To prevent your cleaning tasks from feeling overwhelming, take one thing at a time. The best way to keep your cleaning from getting out of control is to create a schedule. When you assign a specific task to a specific day, things won’t build up. This way, you’ll jump on a quick job—like cleaning the bathrooms on Tuesdays—and you stay on schedule. This approach also prevents that feeling of dread on a Saturday morning when your entire place is a wreck, and you cower under the covers in fear of spending an entire day cleaning.

Automate household tasks.

Consider using automated devices like a smart doorbell, robotic vacuums and a smart thermostat to lighten your load. That’s what technology should do: improve your life.

Optimize lawn and garden care.

Garden and lawn care can be very therapeutic. Studies have shown that gardening can help your mental and physical health. That being said, like anything, you can find a way to get a benefit beyond mental health.

One option is to shift from peonies and bugleweed to tomatoes and strawberries. Growing your own fruits and vegetables can be a great way to have a hobby that helps out with your bottom line. It’s also a great way to spend time with your kids—if you have a few of those—and teach them about healthy living and eating. Also, side note: If your kid grows kale, they will eat kale. Another option that can be a real time saver is a smart lawn mower. Take the principle of a robot vacuum, except they look more like a lawn mower without a handle (if you squint) instead of an overgrown hockey puck.

ENERGY-SAVING HABITS

Use a smart thermostat.

What makes these clever devices so fantastic is their learning capability. You won’t be constantly monitoring your thermostat because the thermostat is monitoring itself. You no longer need to program the thermostat to adjust temperatures when you’re away or asleep. This will also greatly reduce the totally epic “Thermostat Wars” in your home. While battling over the home’s temperature is fun, letting a thermostat take over will save you time and energy.

Learn more. Visit ComEd.com/SmartTherm.

Switch to LED bulbs.

You’ll be saving both energy and time again on this one. And when it comes to time, it’s a pretty big deal. A good quality LED bulb can last three to five times longer than a compact fluorescent lamp and up to 30 times longer than an incandescent bulb. That means years, sometimes decades, depending on the usage, between the oh-so-fun activity of changing bulbs.

So, the next time you’re buying a bulb, get one that will last. It’ll save you time and energy and reduce trips up a rickety ladder to change another dead bulb.

Grab a smart power strip.

The bad news? There’s something called Vampire Power and it’s when your many electronics go into standby mode, quietly sucking out your energy from your outlets, even when they’re not being used. The good news? You can pick up a smart power strip that can detect standby mode and fully turn off your devices automatically. This can save you the time and discomfort of shimmying under your desk in your home office trying to unplug that printer you use once every week to 10 business days to save money. Yes, you might’ve found that lucky pen you’ve been searching for under that desk, but in the long run, it’s not worth your time. Get a pencil holder and a smart power strip. You don’t have time for that mess.

Seal windows and doors.

We know you hear the most cost-conscious of your relatives in your head complaining every time you open a door and let those outside temps sneak in, but that relative could be on to something. By preventing drafts, air leakage and improperly installed insulation, you could save on the energy used to heat or cool your home. Sealing gaps has the added benefit of increasing the efficiency of your HVAC system, saving you the time and money it takes to purchase a replacement and the time it takes to frantically run around your home closing doors and windows, thinking every degree preserved can save the day.

Learn more about discounts on weatherization products. Visit ComEd.com/SmartHabit.