10 Devices in Your House That Are Silently Draining Your Bank Account

If you've purchased your appliances in the past 40 years, chances are, they were built with energy efficiency in mind. Energy efficiency typically translates into lower energy bills, which makes these appliances less expensive for you to run and helps you to keep more cash in your wallet each month.

But there are also appliances that could secretly run up your electric bill and drain your bank account. Want to lower your energy costs and your financial stress? Here are 10 common household appliances that could be sucking energy and driving up your costs, even when you're not actively using them.

Do you need another reason to tell the kids to stop playing video games? Their Xbox isn't free to run — it costs approximately $37 annually, according to Payless Power. That might not seem like much, but when you consider that you could be using $37 to help pay down your grocery bill, you may feel a lot better about nagging the kids to turn off the console.

Your computer may be essential for work, but those working remotely may actually be spending money as part of their nine to five. A desktop computer costs up to $233.60 to use annually, depending on energy usage, according to Nexamp. Meanwhile, your laptop is slightly behind it, costing about $32.70 to run each year.

A television isn't necessarily expensive to turn on, but it's also not free. If you watch TV — or just leave it on in the background — for 21 hours a week, Energy Sages says you could be spending $15.54 a year for your TV habit.

Your clothes have to get clean, but did you know that using an at-home washer and dryer isn't necessarily more affordable than paying per load at a laundromat — though it's certainly more convenient! The average household will spend up to $240 a year in electricity costs to run a washer and dryer, according to Home Guide, and that doesn't even take into account the amount of money you'll spend on water or laundry detergent.

A space heater is actually shockingly expensive to run, so don't get any big ideas about saving money by turning down the heat and running space heaters in every room. A space heater will cost you an average of $50 a month in energy costs, according to CNET, and that's per heater. So, if you're running more than one, you'll need to tack an extra $50 on to your monthly bill for each additional heater.

How much do you enjoy those warm showers? Hopefully quite a bit, because your electric water heater isn't cheap. On average, you'll pay $426 a year to run your electric water heater each day. Of course, that number can increase dramatically depending on how many people are in your home, and how long of a shower each one of them takes.

The electric vehicle may be saving you money in gas dollars, but the charger is running up your electric bill. Kelly Blue Book says that you could see an extra $769.44 added onto your electric bill each year that you use a home charger for your electric vehicle.

This might come as a surprise, but a hair dryer uses significantly more energy than you might expect, especially when you consider that you're only using it for a few minutes a day at the most. The Energy Sages say a hair dryer can use $15.54 in energy costs.

A ceiling fan could help regulate the temperature within your home and aid in saving on cooling costs, but, if you're just using it out of habit, it might be time to turn it off. Home Guide says running your ceiling fan every single day could add an extra $65 a year in energy costs.

Most people probably aren't surprised to learn that an air conditioning unit is likely the biggest culprit when it comes to driving up energy costs and draining your bank account. Depending on size and usage, Home Guide says that your AC could be costing you $270 a month to run.

The best way to stop energy-hungry devices from running up your electric bill and draining your bank account is to replace them with more energy-efficient options.

Not sure how that will fit in the budget this year? Look at balance transfer credit cards or the best credit cards with a 0% intro APR to find a financially savvy way to make the purchase.