For years now, homeowners have been working to create energy-efficient living spaces. While there are many obvious ways to use less energy in your home — such as investing in energy-efficient appliances or replace your incandescent light bulbs with LED light bulbs - there are still some lesser-known ways that you may not know about.

Here are 7 unique ways to conserve energy in your home:

Hang Dry Your Clothes

Rather than using your dryer to dry all of your clothes, you can take an old-fashioned approach to laundry. Hang drying your clothes in the sun will not only help you conserve energy, but it also will help you extend the lifespan of your clothes. You will find that your clothes feel softer and fresher when they have been left in the air and sunshine to dry.

Use Your Curtains for Temperature Control

Instead of adjusting the thermostat throughout the day and forcing your HVAC unit to run constantly, you can use your curtains to maintain a comfortable temperature in your home. On cold days, open the curtains so that the sunlight pours into the room and naturally heats it. On hot days, close the curtains in order to keep the sun out and the temperature down.

Power Down Your Devices

From your laptop to your flat screen TV, many of your electronic devices conveniently go into sleep mode when they are not in use. While you may not even realize that these devices are on because their screens have gone dark, they are still using up energy in your home. Instead of letting them sleep soundly, power these devices down completely to save some energy.

Unplug Those Chargers

While you are at it, unplug your chargers when they are not in use. Even if your phone is not plugged into the charger, the charging device is using electricity.

Stop Making Snack Decisions in Front of Your Open Refrigerator

Everyone has been there - that moment where you don't know what you want, so you linger in front of your open refrigerator trying to decide. However, as you stand there with that door open, you are letting the cold air out and forcing your refrigerator to work that much harder in order to keep the temperature down. Instead, try to make your decision before you open the door.

Limit Your Time in the Shower

Taking shorter, cooler showers will help you conserve both water and energy in your home. You can still feel relaxed and refreshed afterwards, but you also can feel good knowing that you are making an extra effort to reduce the amount of energy that you use in your home.

Turn Off the Lights When You Leave the Room

It seems like something simple and obvious but turning the lights off when you leave the room can make a big difference. There's no reason to use energy to light a room with no one in it.

A lot of these energy-saving hacks are simple changes that anyone can make. It's just a matter of creating a new routine and establishing a different habit. They may seem like small decisions that don't have a big impact, but the amount of energy that you conserve can really add up. By combining these measures along with the more well-known energy conservation tricks, you can truly transform your house into an eco-friendly home.

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