If there is one dreaded moment in the course of a month almost all people out there fear then that is the moment when you open your mail box to see a stash of bills you really have to pay.

And, among them, the electricity bill is one of the most expensive ones. Good news is that you can lower the number you see every month if you pay attention at how you use your electricity. You can definitely cut down on this bill if you need to save money for something else and the following 4 tips are among the most important ones.

1. Insulate Your Home

You may not be aware of the fact that proper home insulation can actually go a very long way. Of course, remodeling your home and making sure that it is better insulated will cost you some money, but if you think of the long-term effects this could have, then you will definitely reach the conclusion that it should be set as a priority. A properly insulated home will not let air leak in and out of the home, which means that you will not have to turn up the heat just because it’s slipping through the walls and through the cracks in the window. Of course, you will not want to live in a plastic bubble either, but a good professional in this field can really approximate what exactly you need to do if you want to make sure that your home’s heat stays inside the walls of your house.

2. Better Appliances

That old refrigerator and that old washing machine are more than difficult to handle – they are inefficient from the point of view of how much energy they use as well. Old appliances are built according to different energy consumption standards, they are less efficient and they are more costly on the long run than their younger “siblings”. Bottom line is that you should really consider investing in better appliances as soon as possible because this will influence the way in which your electricity bill will look as well.

3. Check Your A/C

If you know that you use your A/C a lot during the hot summer days (and you most likely do so), make sure that you have it checked before summer kicks in. Sometimes, even a clogged filter can make the entire “machinery” use a lot more energy than it should be. A clean filter, on the other hand, can definitely safe you some money and cleaning it is something even a non-professional can do (as long as he/she can actually reach the filter).

4. Check Your Water Heater Too

Next to appliances and cooling the house, water heating is one of the “hungriest” energy consumption things in a household. Thus, make sure your water heater is properly functional and, if possible, try to invest in an instantaneous water heater because you will have to turn it on only about 20 minutes before using the hot water (and this can save you a lot of money as well).