4 Investments That Will Save Your Family Serious Money in the Future

'It takes money to make money', goes the old platitude, but it's even more true to say that it takes money to save money. 

It may be a struggle to save up the money for these moderate investments, but putting the effort in now will reward you well in the future by reducing your expenses. Here are four things you can do:

Replace Your Incandescent Light Bulbs

This idea is the easiest to budget and do, even if you're working with a shoestring budget. You can sometimes find these on sale at $8 for a 4-pack. 

A 60-Watt equivalent LED bulb uses 11 Watts, meaning that each one can save you over $500 over its lifespan. 

Lighting is about 40% of your electric bill, so this small investment starts keeping money in your pocket right away.

Get a Chest Freezer

This is a larger investment, but it lets you stock up during sales and really cut down the grocery bill over the long run. 

When you can start buying quarters or sides of beef, you'll eat far better cuts for not much more than you're paying for hamburger now. 

Store gallon or 2-liter jugs of ice in your freezer to keep it full to minimize electric use.

Upgrade Your Air Conditioning

If your air conditioner is more than a few years old, you're probably paying too much to run it. 

Look at the energy efficiency of your present unit, and then the energy costs of the models available now. As Seliga Heating and Cooling explain, you may recoup this investment fairly quickly if your AC is even moderately old. 

Heating and AC can be as much as half of your electric bill. All of the savings after your investment is recovered are profit.

Trade In Your Appliances

Appliance manufacturers have made tremendous strides in energy efficiency in recent years. 

Go through your house and make a list of all of your electric appliances, noting their model numbers and energy ratings. Then look online at the current models and their energy ratings. 

Rank your appliances by annual energy savings and start with the biggest one. It's not uncommon for a refrigerator's savings to be over $50/year. 

Don't forget to ask dealers for trade-in allowances and look for rebates and tax credits when you're figuring your costs.

Hopefully, these tips have been useful to you and will help you save in the years to come. You don’t have to do everything all at once, though, just start with one at a time.

5 Simple Changes In The Home That Can Save You Big Bucks

Just a simple change to a home can produce substantial savings for a household. A nominal investment in minor improvements to a home carries the potential of producing substantial savings for a home. 

Here are five simple changes in the home that can save you big bucks.

Switch Out Old Water

Install a tankless water heater. A tankless water heater operates differently from other styles of water heaters in that it only heats water as it is needed, which reduces the amount of standby energy typically used with a conventional water heating system. 

The water heater is heated with a gas burner. The home gets the amount of hot water it needs on demand.

Check For Air Leakage In Ducts

Seal all of the ducts in a home. Consider a home built in the 1990s or 1980s. The average four-bedroom home results in 23 percent duct leakage. 

The duct leakage is a major source of energy loss for a home. Carefully checking ducts throughout the home will reduce the air leakage. Starting with the walls and attics is strongly recommended. 

According to the EPA, this alone can reduce air infiltration by as much as 25 percent. 

Replace All Windows

Replace all windows. The windows in a home can be upgraded to yield additional savings in energy costs for household. 

The first step is to select Energy Star windows. The returns materialize immediately after installing the windows. Coating and special glazing enhances the energy performance for the windows. 

The Energy Star windows could save a household 15 percent in energy costs within a year.

Invest In New Appliances

Upgrade all of the appliances in your home. Energy Star rated appliances can save the home thousands if installed in a home. 

Since 20 percent of household energy bills in a home can be linked directly to appliance usage, the average homeowner can save just by switching out older appliances for new appliances. 

For an appliance like an air conditioning unit, the Seasonal Efficiency Energy Ration should be around 15.

Fix The Leaky Faucet

A leaky faucet can produce 10,000 gallons of water each year. Fixing just one leaky faucet in the home reduces the energy bill by 10 percent. 

The household repair by places such as HELP Plumbing, Heating, Cooling and Electric, can be as simple as replacing an o-ring, worn-out washer, or valve seat. 

The basic repair could cost as little as $200 but can produces substantially more in savings over the years with a simple investment.

These simple household upgrades can produce substantial savings. By lowering energy consumption and reducing air leakage through a series of improvements, your household can save thousands in a year. 

Most of the simple repairs costs several hundred dollars. Upgrading to certain appliances may offer rebates. Some home improvements can produce energy savings immediately for a home if performed.