After a long day's work, you deserve to treat yourself to some easy savings. Use these five tips to save on a relaxing evening.

1. Make dinner efficiently. Use the microwave for small portions and cover pots and pans for easy savings.

2. Scrape dishes. After dinner, scrape excess food off the plate before loading it into the dishwasher. If rinsing is necessary, stick to cold water.

3. Use task lighting. Turn on a lamp instead of using room lighting. You'll see better and reduce energy use.

4. Set the mood for savings. Create a more relaxing atmosphere and save energy by dimming the lights while you're watching TV.

5. Put energy wasters to sleep. When you're all done with electronics for the night, cut power to devices that are using energy even when they're off. Plug them into advanced power strips or smart plugs for automatic savings.

If you can't fall asleep after an exciting evening of reducing energy use, just count all the money you're saving.