• Move your refrigerator away from the stove, dishwasher and heating vents. The heat from those devices makes the refrigerator work harder to stay cold, so it runs less efficiently.
  
  
• If your refrigerator’s coils are exposed, vacuum them every three months. When dirt builds up on the coils, the appliance has to use more energy to keep your food cold. 
  
  
• Repair the gaskets on your refrigerator’s door if they come loose. Damaged gaskets let cold air leak out of the refrigerator. 
  
  
• If your old freezer doesn’t self-defrost, do it yourself—as soon as a quarter-inch of ice builds up. An ice-laden freezer is inefficient. 
  
  
• Stop rinsing dishes by hand before you load them into the dishwasher, especially if yours has a pre-rinse or rinse/hold cycle. Simply scrape leftover food from the plates and let the dishwasher do the rest. 
  
  
• Set your dishwasher to its “energy-saver” feature and leave it there so it saves energy every time you use it. 
  
  
• Match the size of your pots and pans to the size of the stovetop burner you’re using. Placing a small pot on a large burner wastes a lot of heat. 
  
  
• Cover pots and pans with lids so you can cook at a lower burner setting. 
  
  
• Select the “small load” setting on your washing machine when you don’t have enough laundry to fill the tub. At that setting, the washer will fill with less water. 
  
  
• Clean your clothes dryer filters after each load. This not only keeps the appliance from overheating and working too hard, it can prevent a fire. 
  
  
• Set your water heat to 120 degrees. That’s hot enough, even though some manufacturers preset theirs to 140 degrees. 

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