Your home is meant to be a place of ease and comfort. In today’s world creating a space that is efficient is the way to do it. Imagine a home that is organized, resourceful, practical and economical. Wouldn’t you want that? This month, our experts bring you a number of ways that you can create an efficient living space.
Be your own Efficiency Guru:
Master the basics of saving time and money
There are a number of factors that people think about when wanting to save time and money in their home. Do you cut back? Go Green? Get Organized? Upgrade?
The reality is, it’s best to do what works for you and your home. All of these things can help you save either time or money or both. But if it’s not something you believe in or can afford then it’s not going to work in the long term. Pick and choose tips that you can make-work in your home and that are easy for you to integrate. It doesn’t take much – a number of small things can build up to mean big savings.
Cut Back:
We are arguably the most wasteful generation in history, so shouldn’t one of the things we do to try and save us money is to try and cut back? When it really comes down to it, we are sure there are plenty of things you could cut back on using, and still function quite well without.
Paper products are one of the biggest wasters. Many clean freaks out there are gasping at reusing a cloth towel or sponge as opposed to paper towel, but sometimes you just don’t need to waste a bunch of paper for a little spill.
Try cutting back on the amount of lights you use at night by dimming them or using your reading lamp. This will not only cut back on energy but the softer lighting will help prepare your body for sleep and allow you to have a better rest.
Shocking as it may sound – turn OFF the AC and get outdoors when you can. We live in a tropical paradise! Get outside, enjoy the fresh air and when the humidity is too much jump in the ocean or visit a friend’s pool. It’s not hard to cut back on a few small things, try it…you won’t even miss them AND you’ll be contributing towards savings in your home.
Go Green:
As Bermuda gets more and more involved in alternative energy and sustainable solutions, it’s hard to ignore the easy things we can do to have a greener home. Being such a small island, it’s necessary to ensure that we are doing everything we can to keep Bermuda beautiful. We are as much affected by the environment as the rest of the world despite our remoteness. We need to ensure we are doing everything we can to not only keep our island clean and green but also the world as a whole.
The biggest solution that is hitting Bermuda is an obvious one: solar power. This not only gives us energy from our warm and sunny climate, but also can provide back up power during stormy and hurricane weather.
Simpler green solutions are buying greener products. Be it cleaning solutions or reuseable bags and bottles, learning to love the cold (nearly 90% of the energy associated with doing the wash comes from having it hot) and finally trying out that green thumb and growing your own garden. With so many options, it’s easy to find some ways to pitch in.
Get Organized:
We can’t say enough about getting organized. De-clutter your bathroom, arrange your closet, and coordinate your kitchen to its peek performance capabilities. Creating spaces that are organized allows you to save time instead of searching for where something is and keeps your home clean and tidy.
Think about what spaces need more storage and think of strategies that will allow you to store more. A lot of times this involves thinking outside the box. Use a hanging shoe rack to store cleaning products in the pantry, ice cube trays or corkboards to display jewelry, toilet paper rolls to organize and control electrical cords.
There are so many different things you can do to get your home in top condition to save you the most time and money. Visit Pintrest, Istagram and other social media platforms for ideas and inspiration for how to organize any room in your home. You won’t regret it.
Upgrade:
In todays world there is so much technology that can help you in the home. Incorporating a couple of them can help immensely in organizing and saving you money.
The largest portion of a home’s energy costs come from heating and cooling costs. Programmable thermostats allow you to set and time temperatures for your home remotely from your smartphone, tablet, or online. With zone-based thermostats, your house can be divided into zones so that unoccupied rooms and areas are not being cooled or heated unnecessarily. Motion sensors in the room can start up and stop your heating and cooling system to decrease the amount of wasted energy.
You don’t have to invest in large solar panel technology to start harvesting energy from the sun. Start with some well-designed solar lights for patios, porches, and other outdoor lighting needs. Smart Homes extend to the garden, too. Installing a smart irrigation system will save you time and money, giving you scope to enjoy the fruits of your labor.
Power management is about understanding peak times and optimal times for appliance usage, and changing parts of your behavior accordingly. There a number of real-time energy monitoring tools that provide feedback on your usage vs. the cost of energy at the time of use, allowing you to make adjustments as you go.
In Conclusion:
There is no one way that’s perfect for everyone. Do what works for you and your home to create spaces that give you more time and save you more money in the long run. They may seem small but they can offer you big rewards in the long run if you let them.
