When it comes to saving money in your home, we take the biggest hit from our electricity bill more times than not. But if you could spend a little to save a whole lot, would you? One of the biggest trending money-saving methods is use $20 smart power strip. Click to see examples on Amazon. (Disclosure: We get no commission from Amazon. Just FYI.)

A smart power strip is a multi-socket outlet that automatically powers off appliances that you are not using. Believe it or not, you have appliances running or sucking up power called idle load or standby power when you probably think it’s just “off.”

For example, that old television or device that you thought was off? Well, if you see a little light indicator saying it’s off because it’s “red,” it might actually be lying. Some devices still draw electricity even though they are on “stand by” or “off” mode. It might seem like a little waste, but over time, it adds up through the month, especially since it’s “off” nearly 95% of the time. And when you add up all the devices that could be doing this, it can add up to 30% to 40% of your electricity bill.

In fact, NRDC did a study that estimates that 30% of an average American home’s energy bill is from devices sucking power in “off” or apparently “standby” mode. If your average monthly electricity bill is $100, this means you waste $360 per year on nothing. If your bill is $200, that’s over $700.

What is a Smart Power Strip Again?

We mentioned that a smart power strip automatically turns off appliances which are not in use. It does this with simple and safe circuitry that monitors and controls electric use of each socket. There are many versions of smart power strips, ranging from very simple ones that look like regular power strips all the way to those that connect to Wi-Fi and work with a voice assistant like Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant.

Back in the year 2007, smart strips started to become more popular and were introduced in blogs. Most people still didn’t think about using them or didn’t even know about them. Now in year 2019, it has kinda become the “in-thing” to do. The smart power strip saves money while making the home a little smarter and safer, and it starts at $20 or less.

How does the Smart Power Strip Save Money?

When it comes to saving money from eliminating unnecessary waste, just about anyone I know is on board. By turning off your unused appliances, you’re guaranteed to be saving something. However, because some appliances are especially bad at sucking power when “off”, a smart power strip can sometimes save a lot on your electricity bill.

Let’s take two examples: the entertainment center and the office. People often have power strips in these places. Although the centerpiece of your entertainment center, the television, may actually be really good about turning itself off, there could be other components, like your amplifier or set top box that draws substantial electricity even on standby mode. A smart power strip has a master outlet that switches everything off if the device in the master outlet is off. So, if you turn the TV off with your remote control, then everything gets turned off.

Likewise, people’s offices often have the computer as the main device, but they are unaware how much other devices, such as the multi-purpose printer, legacy fax machine or some other gadget draws electricity when not in use. By making the computer the master, when you turn it off, everything else will automatically shut off as well.

There are many other places in the home where this “master off” concept works well. A “game computer” is a good example. Another common one is a setup around musical instruments.

Power Strips Tips & Safety

Just like any power strip in general, it is important to choose the right one while protecting your home. There are different models, savings tiers, and levels of surge protection.

One of the first questions to ask is “how many outlets will I need?” You don’t want to have to run the risk of plugging up every port. So be sure to have a few extra on your strip to reduce the risk of “daisy chaining” your power strip. You can find more information about that at Life Hacker. The number of outlets can range anywhere from 4 to 12 or sometimes more. Try not to plug one power strip into another!

Also, note that there are three types of outlets for your power strip which are:

• Always On: good for appliances you never turn off like a refrigerator or answering machine.
• Master-Current Sensing Outlet: As explained previously, the master outlet controls the “controlled outlets.” If the master is off, then the controlled outlets are off, too.
• Controlled Outlets: outlets that are controlled by a master-current sensing outlet.  

It’s important to get a refresher on some safety tip for any power strip:

1. Never daisy chain, plug one power strip into another, or overload your power strip.
2. If your power strip feels hot, discontinue use.
3. Never cover your power strip. Smothering it can cause a fire!