# How to save in a house



## gladaki (Feb 23, 2014)

Hey Guys.

Moving into new house, built in 1993. What Can I do to save ?

Till now ideas prop in my mind
1)ismart security system (Looking into it, I can monitor my house myself, why pay some security company 40$ monthly for it )
2)going with variable rate for utility, will call Atco and enmax tommorrow if they have any ongoing promos
3)Get a programable thermosast

Any more ideas ?

Thanks


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## CalgaryPotato (Mar 7, 2015)

Low flow toilets if they have the original ones. 

There are lots of other items you can upgrade that'll save in monthly costs, but you probably won't save overall because they cost more up front:

Other low flow taps, efficient dishwasher and washing machine, dividable oven can make a difference because you only need to heat the small side most of the time.

You could also look at landscaping in a way that requires minimal watering.


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## like_to_retire (Oct 9, 2016)

gladaki said:


> 1)ismart security system (Looking into it, I can monitor my house myself, why pay some security company 40$ monthly for it )


Much less expensive is to place security alarm stickers in your windows, security bars on all basement windows and motion detector flood lights around the house. This is very inexpensive and lasts forever. If any intruder sees all this security when they approach your home, they'll avoid your house and go next door. That's all you want.

ltr


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## houska (Feb 6, 2010)

Learn basic handyman skills to do own minor repairs and improvements. Slowly accumulate a set of quality tools at garage sales and at store sales.
In particular, do own painting and touchups in timely fashion (esp. exterior) to prevent future more expensive repairs needed later. More generally, spend $ and time doing minor and preventative maintenance in a timely fashion; it doesn't pay off to neglect it!
Building on previous point, assuming it fits your personality and budget, explore setting aside a certain $ each month for a "home maintenance" fund (sorta like running your own condo reserve fund). An awful lot of nonfrugal home ownership choices are made since optimal demands on cash come in a chunky fashion and ppl can't or get leery of spending when they should.
Pay attention to cold spots and air leaks and fix them (sealant, extra insulation, ...) - can have significant impact on heating costs. Ditto don't allow any leaky taps to persist.
Choose one electronics pipe into the house and stick with it - DSL or cable, but not both.
Security system: do you really need it at all? Some areas you do (and/or it brings insurance savings), but in many parts of Canada the fear factor is way overblown.
Actually read your home insurance policy, and see where you can save money. You do want catastrophic insurance (including perhaps some you may need to pay extra for, e.g. water) but you may well be able to increase your deductible or take off some extra-cost riders your insco has put on your policy that you don't need.
Devise a system to keep track of utility and other bills...it's easy to forget and have to pay some late, and the late fees add up.
If you are so inclined, get a chest freezer to save on groceries (some people are good at this, some hate it, and might not work for you - but it's an option you probably didn't have before you had a house!)
Be thoughtful how you're going to pay off your mortgage as quickly as possible once interest rates increase. It's not clear how fast and how much, but rates will go up eventually, and house ownership may feel very nonfrugal then. I'm not of the "must pay down mortgage ASAP no matter what" camp; as long as someone wants to lend me money *I know I can pay back* at 2-2.5%, I'm happy to put it to good use. But gotta have a plan what you're going to do when rates go back up to 5-6% (as they will) or even higher (as they may or may not).


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## Mortgage u/w (Feb 6, 2014)

- Ensure house is well insulated - check seals, weatherstripping, insulation, etc.
- Reduce hot water consumption - get low flow faucets and shower-heads.
- Size your hot water tank appropriately. No use heating a 60 gallon tank if you are only 2 people in the family.
- Maximize your dishwasher usage and avoid hand washing everything.
- I am not a fan of security systems nor spending any money for them. You can monitor all you want but you won't prevent much. You have house insurance, so make use of it if you do get robbed. 
- Increase your insurance deductible in order to minimize your premium as much as possible. 
- Become handy, if you are not already, and do all repairs and maintenance yourself - as much as possible.
- Make use of your window shades. Let the sun in when you want heat or keep it out when you want coolness.
- Install LED lightbulbs in most common areas - kitchen, bathroom, etc.
- Wash your clothes in cold water only.
- If you have a furnace, change your filter at least twice a year and keep ducts clean.
- If you have an air-exchanger, keep it on all the time in order to maintain a more even temperature.


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## Plugging Along (Jan 3, 2011)

FOr some reason I thought you are in Alberta. If you are, there is a energy rebate program going on right now. You have to register, and they will send someone to your house and check all the areas of you home where it can be more energy efficient. This includes shower heads, led light bulbs. I beleieve they will do the install for free and provide rebates on all the materials. 

As others have said, 
-led lights
-low flow shower heads
-low flow toilets, or you can get the adaptor to change them into low flow
- power bars where you can turn off everything easily,
- weather strip wonders and doors
- Turn off the pilot lights off fire places, etc
- turn down the water heater temp by a few degrees.


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## tygrus (Mar 13, 2012)

Zeroscaping, extra insulation and trees for protection against the elements. Dont overdevelop the property though because that will just increase your taxes.


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## nathan79 (Feb 21, 2011)

Mortgage u/w said:


> - I am not a fan of security systems nor spending any money for them. You can monitor all you want but you won't prevent much. You have house insurance, so make use of it if you do get robbed.


I'd think twice about not having a security system -- it really does depend on where you live. Growing up in Metro Vancouver, I've had several experiences with being robbed. My parents houses were robbed at least three times that I can remember. My dad was too cheap to buy an alarm, so he resorted to leaving radios and lights on whenever we went out.

When I got my own condo, I decided to get an alarm system. A few months later, my neighbour (who didn't have an alarm) was robbed, but my unit was untouched. Around the same time, my mom's house was robbed when she was living alone. That was 14 years ago. She's had an alarm system ever since then, and no more break-ins.

Some people rely on insurance, but the wisdom of that depends on what kind of valuables you have. Stuff like big screen TVs and DVDs are obviously replaceable. Other things like collectibles, family heirlooms, or computers with years of personal data... not so much. Thieves aren't always rational and will steal stuff you don't expect. Our family photos were taken during one of the break-ins, and the thief later left them on the ferry to Victoria. By a fluke, we managed to get them back when someone recognized the people in the pictures.


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## nathan79 (Feb 21, 2011)

I also forgot to mention the time I had my near-new mountain bike stolen from the driveway of my best friend's house while four of us were inside... and that was an upper-middle-class area. I worked hard saving my paper route money for that bike.

I've also had my car broken into twice. They stole the stereo once. I had a removable face plate, but they broke in anyway and found it where I had it stashed under the seat.

All these experiences have taught me to take all reasonable precautions when it comes to security. There are people everywhere who will take your stuff if you give them the opportunity.


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## Koogie (Dec 15, 2014)

"How to save in a house"

Easy. Don't have a spouse that has to redecorate every 10 minutes. Or who wants stainless steel bidets imported from Milan. Or new landscaping each year. Or the latest trendy furniture from HGTV. Or has a throw pillow fetish. Or a renovation addiction.

Houses are money sinks because people overspend on crap to satiate their nesting instinct.


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## rl1983 (Jun 17, 2015)

Koogie said:


> "How to save in a house"
> 
> Easy. Don't have a spouse that has to redecorate every 10 minutes. Or who wants stainless steel bidets imported from Milan. Or new landscaping each year. Or the latest trendy furniture from HGTV. Or has a throw pillow fetish. Or a renovation addiction.
> 
> Houses are money sinks because people overspend on crap to satiate their nesting instinct.


Oh man HGTV is ridiculous. Where do they find these people?


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## kcowan (Jul 1, 2010)

Koogie said:


> Houses are money sinks because people overspend on crap to satiate their nesting instinct.


No not nesting. It is the need to spend. Blouses, pillows, jewelry, appliances.

And god forbid that your kitchen appliances work just fine but are not brushed steel.


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## Mortgage u/w (Feb 6, 2014)

nathan79 said:


> ...My parents houses were robbed at least three times that I can remember....
> 
> ...my neighbour (who didn't have an alarm) was robbed...
> 
> ...


No offence but we all need to make sure we don't move anywhere near you! LOL!

That's one string of bad luck - I assume most people are not as unfortunate?

Although I agree that it depends on where you live, there are methods to prevent break-ins. Don't flaunt; lock all doors and windows; secure all valuables; illuminate home; put security stickers on windows; avoid plantation near basement windows; keep window shades shut; etc. - and I would adhere to all these practices whether an alarm is present or not.


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## Mortgage u/w (Feb 6, 2014)

Koogie said:


> Houses are money sinks because people overspend on crap to satiate their nesting instinct.


People spend money on what they feel is important to them.
The same can be said about those who overspend on cars, vacations, clothing, jewelry, food, etc.


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## nathan79 (Feb 21, 2011)

Mortgage u/w said:


> No offence but we all need to make sure we don't move anywhere near you! LOL!
> 
> That's one string of bad luck - I assume most people are not as unfortunate?
> 
> Although I agree that it depends on where you live, there are methods to prevent break-ins. Don't flaunt; lock all doors and windows; secure all valuables; illuminate home; put security stickers on windows; avoid plantation near basement windows; keep window shades shut; etc. - and I would adhere to all these practices whether an alarm is present or not.


Maybe it is just bad luck, but it seems like Metro Vancouver has a long running problem with property crime, and it's worse in some parts than others (Surrey, Abbotsford, etc). A lot of it is probably due to high rates of poverty and drug addiction that have been a problem for years.

My parent always took precautions. They didn't have security stickers, but they did everything else on the list. We certainly didn't flaunt since we never had anything really expensive.


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## OhGreatGuru (May 24, 2009)

Natural gas is still so cheap in Alberta (compared to most other provinces) it's hard to say what would have a reasonable pay-back period.
But from the age of your home, the attic insulation is likely only RSI 6.0; and the exterior walls RSI 2.1. 

The current standard for construction in Calgary for exterior walls is RSI 3.08 without a Heat Recovery Ventilator, RSI 2.97 with HRV. Upgrading the exterior walls is generally not cost-effective unless you have a much older home or the exterior cladding needs re-doing for some reason. 

The current standard for construction in Calgary for attics is RSI 10.43 without a Heat Recovery Ventilator, RSI 8.67 with HRV. Adding blown-in insulation to attics is usually the most cost-effective insulation upgrade. But you would have to have someone look into whether or not there is room to add.

If you still have the original 1993 mid-efficiency furnace, look at replacement with a new high-efficiency condensing furnace. (There are $ side-issues with this, because if your water heater is natural draft you will either have to put in a smaller flue liner, or replace the water heater with a forced-draft furnace.)

Consider adding an HRV, since the codes consider them a sufficient benefit that they allow lower insulation values if you have one. 

At 24 years old, you may be looking at window replacements soon too. The basic construction of windows for tract housing in 1993 was not too bad. But installation practices could leave a lot of air leakage around the frames; and some of your thermopanes have probably lost their vacuum seals.

There are companies that will do energy-efficiency testing of houses to recommend retrofits. The good ones will do a pressurization test (using a door fan) to see how much air leakage there is.


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## Kuznec (Jul 27, 2017)

Lend the thermal imager and walk with it through all the rooms in the house. Where there will be blue zones - there is a heat leak, they need to be isolated. Usually at the junction of walls.


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## milhouse (Nov 16, 2016)

Just wanted to pile on, on a couple of the points.
LED lights. We got a significant savings in our electricity bill switching to LED. We were bumping up against the 2nd pricing tier for using too much electricity and switching to LED lights in some key, heavy use areas seemed to really cut down on our bill. The only problem is that I'm not 100% sold on how reliable they are. They say they're designed to last so much longer than incandescent but I've had a few fail on me, likely due to cheap/crap electronic components on the board within the lights. However, I've been fairly lucky being able to get returns/replacements on them. 
Insulation. Our house is well insulated in addition to double panes and such and our heating bill is so much cheaper than friends.
Insurance. It pays to go through your home insurance details to see where you can either go without or increase the deductible. You have to pay out of pocket for smaller things but you kind of hope they don't happen. While you use your insurance for big bills or catastrophic coverage.


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## awesomeame (Nov 15, 2011)

Hey these are all great ideas on how to save. 

But there's another side of home ownership: How to best improve what likely is one of your biggest investments. Even simple things like upgrading the hardware in your kitchen can add thousands to resale value. New paint, backsplash, renewing the bathroom, keeping the lawn and gardens weed free. It's all DIY and doesn't have to be done all at once. Wait for tiles to go on sale or keep an eye on kijiji, that sort of stuff. Remember..women (generally!) out shopping for a house with their man aren't going to give a hoot about that extra insulation...but hey shiny hardware and a nice bathroom..now you've got someone who wants your house and will pay more for it $$

Matt


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## newfoundlander61 (Feb 6, 2011)

I still put up a couple of window shrink wrap kits on my large windows each winter. Less heat loss throught the glass and saves a little bit of money. Take off the plastic again in the spring gently, fold up and reuse over and over.


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## ian (Jun 18, 2016)

There are some very effective and straightforward ways to save that transcend DIY and adopting energy efficient ways. First off on insurance, we increased our deductable to $2,500 from $1,000. on the presumption that we are more concerned about the big tickets than the small. Nor would we probably take the chance of an premium increase by submission of a low dollar claim.

The other thing I do is review all of our recurring expenditures yearly or at the very least every two years. That includes bank charges, investment fees, insurance-home and auto, cell phones, and internet/cable. We have reduced these expenditures considerably by shopping. Vendors of these services realize that Canadians are a little lazy and that once 'on plan' as it were the chances of them examining their bills or looking for competitive quotes is slim.

Over the past few years we have reaped savings in home and auto insurance (comparatively large savings), reduced our internet and cable charges substantially and increased the speeds coming in to the house, and changing our cell phone plans. Just did this three months ago on one of our phones and realized a 50 percent saving. The biggest saving by far was punting our bank and moving our investments five years ago. Major savings in fees-most especially hidden fees and a huge increase in services. We recently moved into a home with an elaborate security system and a high monthly monitoring fee. We declined the 'wonderful' monitoring option after speaking with our new neighbours.

Competition heats up in some of these services from time to time. When I see lots of ads, lots of competition in a certain marketplace I take the time to review our plan. Invariable this has resulted in either a decrease our our cost, an increase in service, or both.


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## lonewolf :) (Sep 13, 2016)

CalgaryPotato said:


> Low flow toilets if they have the original ones.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


 Do not buy new washing machine the new machines do not use enough water to wash clothes well


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