As we try to reduce our cost of living, some people are going as far as only switching on hot water twice a week. A less drastic approach could be to turn appliances off at the wall.

The spate of interest rate hikes over the past 18 months has forced many of us to take stock of our household bills and find ways to shave off a few dollars here and there. But does switching off your TV or coffee machine at the power point outweigh the price of convenience?

The short answer is yes, especially if you have multiple 'vampire' appliances on standby mode. In fact, the savings could be hundreds of dollars every year.

Vampire appliances are all of your items that drain energy when left on standby mode, even when they’re not in use. If you switch off your TV but still see the red light, for example, it has gone into standby mode.

So, how much is standby mode costing you?

Standby power can be responsible for up to 10 per cent of your energy bill, according to Energy Australia. And, with energy prices rising by up to 25 per cent as of July 1. A recent survey by Finder also found the average quarterly energy bill hit a record high of $408 in September.

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Keeping these figures in mind, standby power could cost you as much as $40.80 every quarter. It’s not a huge amount until you start calculating how much it’s adding to your household bills. For instance, over 12 months it could be adding $163.20 to your power bills, and $816 of extra cost over five years.

The most common appliances in your home that use standby power include:

• Televisions

• Clothes dryers

• Printers

• Smart speakers

• Computers

• Microwaves

• Gaming consoles

Look around for any other devices that have an electronic clock built in or come with a remote control. These appliances are likely to be on passive standby.

On the other hand, active standby is when you have switched on an appliance but you're yet to use it. For example, the DVD player is on, but you haven’t popped in a disc yet.

Is it worth turning off appliances on standby?

There’s no black-and-white answer. It depends on how many appliances you have in your home and how many you leave on standby. I have 20 appliances at home that I’m guilty of leaving on standby 75 per cent of the time.

But it’s all about forming a habit.

Tips on how to save by switching off appliances at the wall

Once you know something’s costing you money, it’s hard to ignore it, especially when 75 per cent of us are somewhat stressed or extremely stressed about our financial situation, according to Finder research.