- Turned off the drying cycle on the dishwasher - we will now hand dry
- We bought new line for the clothes line outside and will start hanging our clothes to dry whenever possible
- When not possible to line dry we will do loads as close together as possible (so the dryer stays hot).
- We will empty the lint trap after every load
- We are no longer using the lights during the day, just opening all the blinds in the house.
- Lights will never be on in a room that we are not in during evening hours (we've always done this)
- We unplugged everything that is unnecessary (cell phone chargers, digital picture frame, etc.)
- We will start turning the computer off at night
- We turned the thermostat down 2 degrees (the most I can stand!)
- We are going to try to wait until July to turn on our air and just use fans (we'll see how hot it gets!)
- No more using the exhaust fan or light above the stove or sink
We'll see how this works and hope that it's a tiny bit lower next month! Any other tips for us?
** We are not a family of extremes. We do not usually go / do anything to one extreme or the other, so I'm aware that this list is not amazingly sacrificial or huge. It's just a few little things that a normal American family can handle.
5 comments:
These are all great, but don't forget...it was really cold during this past month's billing cycle. I'm guessing it won't always be this bad (here's hoping anyway)!
Ashlye I know the feeling and I don't live in town. Intercounty Raised their rates as well. Last month I thought how did we use that much electric. I am trying to make a list as well for our family to see if that will help. I am not sure that I can do another $300.00 bill.
I like your ideas...some of them we are doing as well and some I am going to start doing! Our bill has doubled--it really is ridiculous!
Chrissy when you went to the increase it went from multiplying from .06 to .08 on the difference on your meter reading.....
We figured it up and it is over 800.00 difference a year, this month 120.00, 320-440, so we are over 1/8 the way there, but it is still pretty bad.....
Ashley I did a ton of reasearch and there is a long list of things on my blog, I am sure you already did, but they are easy.
Turn hotwater heater down 60-50
clean the coils on your refrigerator
dont use lights during the day
unplug unused items
turn off the tv instead of just leaving it on all day
turn off your heated dry on your dishwasher
microwave uses less electric than stove, so try to use it as a sub as often as possible....
there are a ton more .....
I also have a whole post dedicated to how to cut back other bills/money saving tricks I got from the same websites I found all these tips on......
You could also try plugging you TV and accessories into a power strip, and when you aren't using them, just flip the power strip off. It's amazing how much electricity things that are "off" drain.
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