Christmas has come and gone, and the New Year has arrived. Mr. Electric wishes all of our customers a happy and healthy 2015! In efforts to promote safety and peace of mind for you and your family, we have a few tips to keep in mind when you’re taking down all your holiday décor this weekend.

According to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), hospital emergency rooms treat about 12,500 people for injuries, such as falls, cuts and shocks, related to holiday lights, decorations and Christmas trees. Around 5,800 people per year were treated in hospital emergency rooms for falls associated with holiday decorations, according to Electrical Safety Foundation International. Falls from ladders or roofs account for more than half of these injuries.

When using ladders, CSPSC tells us to keep these things in mind:

Be aware of where all the electrical cords are and make sure children know not to touch them. The CPSC estimates that each year, about 4,000 injuries associated with electric extension cords are treated in hospital emergency rooms. Of those injuries, 13 percent involve children less than five years of age, and electrical burns to the mouth accounted for 50 percent of the injuries to young children.

When taking down your lights, always be cautious and unplug them the correct way. Never tug or pull the lights, as they could unravel and unintentionally wrap around power lines. Let the lights cool off before packing. It’s also important to never leave lights unattended with children around.

There are many products available to help keep your Christmas décor in tip-top shape for next year. To ensure your strings of lights don’t tangle, you can purchase a Christmas lights storage reel or a light cord wrap online or at the nearest hardware store. For a DIY approach, empty coffee cans are also able to the trick.

Take special care to always keep smaller or breakable ornaments and display pieces out of reach of children. When dealing with spun glass “angel hair,” wear gloves to avoid eye and skin irritation.

Reusing containers such as an empty egg carton or wine box is a great way to store ornaments and reduce waste and extra cost. There are also numerous ornament storage boxes available as well. Group and pack displays together to prevent lost pieces and for easy access next year. For artificial Christmas tree storage, you can use a Christmas tree duffle bag to neatly store your tree. Using the box it came in is always a good idea, too.

Everyone is a victim of the monthly electrical bill, and nobody likes to pay it, however electricity is a necessity to our everyday lifestyle. One of the benefits of electricity is that we have the power to manage it efficiently. Taking the right actions can mean saving money every month. We like providing you with helpful reminders of how you can be saving electricity in your home to make energy wise choices and save money on your bill.

Upgrade home windows – As winter approaches, you will find yourself wanting to maintain a warm and comfortable home. A great way to keep the heat in the home from escaping outside is by upgrading to more efficient windows. Windows with more glazes/panes help to capture the heat and keep it in. While this could prove costly to replace all the windows in your home, in the long run it is a wise investment to reduce the monthly electrical bill.

Regular furnace maintenance – Just because your furnace is running does not mean that it is running properly. If you are neglecting your furnace it could be running inefficiently. A professional inspection of the home’s furnace can lead to the identification of a number of areas of potential improvement that when resolved can lead to increased energy efficiency.

Use portable heaters -We have previously spoken about the user of portable heaters in the past and it is always worth revisiting. When heating the home, it is more efficient to turn on a small heater in the room you are in, rather than turning up the thermostat. Heat only the areas that are in use and not rooms that are empty.

Use the right bulbs – Each light fixture has a specification for the bulbs that should be used. Matching the right bulbs to the fixture leads to higher efficiency as energy can be wasted powering an incompatible bulb. And, if you haven’t replaced your home light bulbs with LEDs or compact fluorescent bulbs its time to!

Smart Thermostat – We visited this topic in last week in detail – turning down the home thermostat when heat is not needed is the easiest way to save on energy. A smart thermostat will help your set better heating schedules and allow changes to be made remotely from a smart phone.

Unplug unnecessary electronics – Electronic devices that are not currently being used should be unplugged. Items such as phone chargers, kitchen appliances, and laptops can still consume electricity even if they are off.

Repair your roof – In addition to windows in a home, the roof is another area where heat can escape. Heating a home is not cheap, so each degree should be kept inside, not outside. A damaged, or improperly insulated roof can lead to heat loss. A professional will be able to inspect your attic and roof to identify areas of heat loss and repair them.

Home Electrical inspection – Old and outdated wiring is not only inefficient, but dangerous. Schedule one of your licensed electricians to inspect your home to identify areas your can take advantage of to improve electrical efficiency.

Making the right investments in your home can lead to saving thousands of dollars in the long run. Before the thermometer starts to drop this season, review your energy consumption habits and areas in the home that can be improved. For a home electrical inspection, contact your local Expert Electric.

If anyone living in your home has allergies, asthma, or respiratory issues of any kind, then they will not be able to live comfortably when airborne pollutants make their way into your home. While the air filter in your HVAC system may trap some pollutants, it is really designed to protect your system itself, not to boost indoor air quality. Devices such as electronic air purifiers, though, are. By removing pollutants from the air, they help residents live more comfortably.

Biological pollutants, including viruses, mold, and bacteria may also be present in the air in your home. These can lead to illness, with sick, elderly, and very young family members at increased risk of health problems. While you cannot really just filter these pollutants out of the air, as they can still reproduce on filters or in air cleaners, you can destroy them with the use of a UV air purifier.

We tend to think of the impact that airborne pollutants have on our bodies when considering the benefits of air purifiers, but air purification systems can positively impact your HVAC systems as well. If your air filters, for instance, are full of pollutants, or if dust and dirt build up on sensitive components in the system, the efficiency of that system operates will suffer. This is just one more reason for considering the use of an air purifier in your home.