Easy ways to save money on your household expenses

Cut down on your household expenses and put your savings to better use with these tips:

• The small stuff adds up. Turn the lights off when you leave a room, and skip the daily coffee run, trip to the vending machine and lottery ticket booth.
• Make a shopping list before you go to the grocery store and stick to it. You'll buy what you truly need and eliminate unnecessary purchases.
• Utility costs. Set your programmable thermostat so that it automatically cools down your house when you're asleep or out of the house.
• Invest in ceiling fans to circulate air more efficiently and help reduce your heating and cooling costs.           
• Buy energy efficient light bulbs and turn off your computer/laptop, television when you're not using them.
• Vacuum the dust off the coils in your refrigerator to improve the efficiency of one of the larger consumers of energy in your household.
• The dryer is the other big energy-sucking appliance in your house. When you can, hang your clothes to dry in the laundry room and use the dryer sparingly.
• Switch to a low flow showerhead, repair leaky faucets and toilets and cut down on watering your lawn.
• Turn down the temperature on your water heater to 120 Fahrenheit.
• Use the microwave instead of the oven whenever possible – the cost just to preheat an oven is more than the cost to cook a meal in the microwave.
• Borrow movies from the library, or watch shows online.
• Same goes with telephone charges for your landline or your cellphone. Reassess your use every year and see if there's a cheaper plan that fits your needs.