This post is brought to you by HomeSelfe.
We all like to save money, right? We cut shop sales. We cut coupons. Sales and coupons aren’t what they used to be. Years ago, you had to open up the Sunday paper to find the coupons and sales that could save you money. Today that’s no longer the case. Technology has enabled us to do just about everything from our mobile phones. There are apps for everything, from coupons and sales to selfies. And now today, there’s an app that enables you to take a sort of selfie of your home, or a HomeSelfe (pronounced home selfie).
A HomeSelfe is not an actual photo of your home. I mean, you could take one of those with your camera phone, but that isn’t what I’m referring to. I’m referring to an app that helps you audit your home in order to find energy inefficiencies and ways to improve them.
It’s free to use HomeSelfe. Once you’ve installed the app you need to create your profile. It only takes 2-3 minutes to answer these questions, such as the type and size of your home, present utility company and current utility bills. Once you’ve created your profile, the patent pending app creates a digital version of your home. You click on a room and there is at least one area in that room with questions to answer.
It took me approximately 5 minutes to complete my HomeSelfe. What type of water heater? What type of windows? What type of front door? Is the shower low flow? Are your appliances Energy Star certified? Those questions and the rest are almost effortless to answer.
Once you’ve completed your HomeSelfe, you immediately see an easy-to-understand report that recaps your home’s energy efficiency, the areas where you can make improvements, and suggestions on how to make some of those improvements. It often costs money to have a professional come to your home to do this type of audit. The free HomeSelfe app doesn’t just audit your home. It can connect you with reputable local contractors.
The results of my HomeSelfe were “very good”. The area where I noticed I could gain a lot of improvement and potentially save a nice amount of money is lighting. We have a mixture of traditional bulbs and CFL bulbs. Did you know that CFL bulbs use up to 75% less energy than traditional bulbs? Or that 70% of the electricity used on home electronics is consumed while the products are turned off? HomeSelfe has lots of helpful info like that.
HomeSelfe can show you how to save money, for some folks up to 35%! The app can also point you to special rebates and offers available, enabling you to not only save money but to also potentially make some of the money you spend on your upgrades back.
Here’s a brief video that helps explain how HomeSelfe works.
You can learn more about HomeSelfe on their website homeselfe.com. They are also on social media, on Facebook and Twitter. You can download the app for free for either iOS or Android.
The folks at Homeselfe want to invite you into their “home”. So, they are giving away four $250 Visa gift cards. To enter to win one of the gift cards, you’ll need to download the free app and take a HomeSelfe. Then, click here to enter. The four winners will be randomly chosen by HomeSelfe.
Nicole Escat
Tuesday 22nd of March 2016
This is very useful for safety in home.
Becki Santiago
Tuesday 22nd of March 2016
This looks like a great app! Anything that saves money is worth trying in my book. Thanks for sharing
Alicia Taylor
Monday 21st of March 2016
I want to use it, but the app is incompatible with my Nexus 9 device. I sent it to my husband to see if it will work on his android phone. We are really trying to find ways to cut corners, and this may be helpful. I can totally see us using this.
Julie @ Running in a Skirt
Monday 21st of March 2016
My husband would love this! He is always going behind me turning off lights and changing the thermostat! haha Seriously though, what a great tool!
pat.navymom
Monday 21st of March 2016
Probably not as I am a paper and pencil kind of person suspicious of pupping too much out on the air so to speak.