Appliances that, in theory, are not wasting electricity. In practice they are, and more than you think. When you are not at home, at night while you sleep, when you were on vacation... they keep sucking kWh and fattening your bill.

Up to 10% of your consumption could be due to these ghosts. That's about $5 a month of unnecessary electricity spending. The recipe to put an end to them is to turn them off. But really turn them off, without standby, unplugging them.

2. The refrigerator is much more important than you think.

You don't pay much attention to your fridge, except when it's empty to go down to the supermarket and fill it up. The importance of the fridge is clear: it's always on, always consuming and you can't afford to unplug it (unless you take a long vacation).

Here technology weighs in: a newly purchased model is up to 40% more energy efficient than one from 10 years ago. We are not going to tell you to buy a new fridge just like that (although you will save money in the long run), but we are going to give you a list of things you do that are costing you money:

Hot food: when you put it in the fridge you force the motor to redouble its efforts, which equals more consumption and a higher electric bill.

Open door: you come home from shopping and leave it open for several minutes while you rinse your bags. A refrigerator that leaks cold costs you more money than one that opens and closes only when necessary.

The refrigerator next to the oven: everyone has to play with the space they have in their kitchen, but as far as possible avoid as much as possible that the refrigerator is very close to the oven, dishwasher or washing machine. They are sources of heat that combat the work of your refrigerator.

Translated by: A.M