The holidays are an exciting time, but they’re also expensive. Along with gifts and food, electricity bills can quickly eat into your budget. Thankfully, a few simple changes can reduce your electrical usage and save you money. Follow these five tips to boost energy savings and reduce the strain on your home electrical wiring.

5 Tips to Save Energy Over the Holidays

1. Choose Energy-Efficient Decorations

Strings of lights are staples of holiday home decorations, but traditional options use a lot of electricity. Thankfully, LED lights utilize 75% less energy and are readily available in a variety of sizes, colors, and styles. For festive decor, like trees, look for items that harness the power of fiber optic lighting because it relies on a single light source to illuminate multiple points.

2. Use a Timer

Even with energy-efficient lighting in place, you can further boost your savings by minimizing the length of time you illuminate your home. Avoid turning the lights on until it's dark outside and limit the time frame to two to three hours. To help you out, set up a programmable timer that plugs into home electrical wiring.

3. Cook Multiple Items at Once

The chaos of the holidays requires multitasking in multiple areas of life, but in the kitchen, it can save you money. Cooking multiple items in your oven at once cuts down on the total time the appliance is turned on, which reduces its electrical use. 

4. Take Advantage of Small Appliances

In some instances, you may be able to reduce your total oven time or avoid it altogether by relying on smaller appliances. The compact size of certain items, such as slow cookers and microwaves, results in less energy usage compared to a large oven. They also heat up the kitchen less, which reduces the strain on your cooling system.

5. Minimize Errand Trips

Energy savings throughout the holidays also extend to electrical vehicles since most rely on home electrical wiring for energy. From groceries to gift shopping, there is a long list of errands on most people's to-do lists. To reduce your energy usage, combine multiple trips into one outing so you cover fewer miles overall. 

Make sure your home's electrical wiring is functioning optimally this holiday season with the help of Always On Electric on the Big Island. The fully insured and licensed electricians provide a full range of services, from routine inspections to electrical repair. Request a free estimate today on their website or by calling their office at (808) 965-1596 or (808) 640-3391 for their mobile.