With the Winter months here and even some Summer months, we always seem to see a spike in our Utility bills, especially on the electricity side. I have tried a lot of things when it came to trying to save money especially when I knew that my bill was going to be more than I could afford. When my husband and I built our home they made everything energy efficient and told us we should not have a Utility bill over $200 dollars. They were almost correct. The highest bill I ever had was $284, so I wanted to make sure that never happened again. So I started unplugging everything at night, when I say everything, I went in each room, that I was in and unplugged everything that used electricity. It was a real hassle over those few weeks, but my bill was lowered the next month. So I am wondering what is the most extreme thing you done to cut back on your Electricity bill?
I've had to get in the habit of turning lights off, that is my biggest issue. I turn a light on in a room, and then walk away, leaving it on for days after. Pretty soon every light is on in my house, and that starts to add up quick. Also, another thing would be turning my computer and TV off at night. One thing that your post made me think of is power strips. If you're turning everything off every night, go get a couple power strips for each room. Then, when you go to bed, you just have to switch them off, instead of unplugging and plugging everything back in. I use power strips, too, but not on everything.
Does unplugging really have a large, measurable impact on electrical savings over the course of a year?
Several devices continue to run after they have been turned off which means they are still using electricity. The little red lights are on the computer, dvd player, gaming consoles that means money unplugging them means they are not still costing money.
The most extreme thing I did to save money on gas was to get the gas turned off for a couple of years when I was a young, single woman. The water heater in my apartment building was electric so all I had to lose was the use of my gas stove and oven. I was working 2 jobs at the time and didn't have much time to cook anyway, so I bought an electric kettle and an electric skillet and just used those to prepare food. My average gas bill at the time was $40 a month so it did help my budget and cooking a couple of meals a day in an electric skillet didn't affect my light bill that much. Now that I have a kid, I wouldn't give up my gas stove but it worked when I was young and living in a bachelorette apartment.
I've found that my electric bill is within a dollar or two of the same amount every month. So no matter what I do the economic impact isn't worth my time. We do however put plastic on our windws in the winter to try to save on the gas heating bill. That bill pretty much doubles in the winter months.
That's what I was going to suggest, too. I love using power strips. As for the most extreme for us, we have shut down the entire upstairs a few times so that it didn't have to be heated at all. That saved a lot, especially when it was really cold and the wind would cause it to be drafty up there.
I haven't done it yet, but my current plan on trying to reduce my bills, is to get double pane windows. I've heard that it really helps with keeping the heat in and the cold out, and vice versa. It will be an expensive upgrade, but in the long run, I think it will really help out on my bills.
Personally, one of my biggest problems (combined with living in a pathetically old apartment) is that they don't actually read the meter, even when they say they do. I recently looked back over the bill history, and they're saying that we used less electricity in June 2012, than we did in months where we didn't use ANY air or heat. June is quite hot around here, so that's just garbage. I seriously hope that in the near future I can move somewhere where: 1) Things actually work, 2) They actually read the meter, 3) Everything is on one floor.
You can get electrical timers that you can get online at Amazon and Home Depot. You can consider getting an energy saving outlets and sockets. You can also use the LED light bulbs which are more energy efficient than fluorescent and incandescent bulbs. You can also use solar water heaters to get hot water if you live in a very warm climate. Solar water heaters (in fact solar electricity on a whole) are getting very popular in Jamaica. Persons have seen drastic reduction in their electricity bills here. You can probably do the same thing too in the States but you have to check with your utility provider to see if they would allow it.
People ordinarily think that turning off a lamp or any kind of thing that requires plugging in a device, means that you are not using electricity. Well, you actually are if you do not unplug the device completely from the outlet on a wall or any other type of outlet connected to a power source. With that being said, a person can save so much money just by unplugging your everyday item uses. Such as a hair curler, a charger plugged in without a phone or another type of portable electronic device. when you really think about it, to unplug a lamp from the wall when its not in use or on your way out the door, seems kind of ridiculous in a small way, but it actually requires no more effort than unplugging your phone from its charger. These simple, easy steps will save you more than $30 a month if done properly, from what not only myself, but others have also endured and ran the numbers.
Here in Arizona, my electric bills are usually higher in the summer due to running the a/c. But I just found something that may help me cut down on my utility bills year round. Duck Brand sells something they call "Log In". I'm planning on getting a bunch of these and spending a weekend crawling around and installing them throughout the house.
I have obtaining significant saving turning off the gas when I'm not using the stove or boiler, and substituting electric lamps by solar lamps. I would like to install a complete solar energy system at home, but is not yet as affordable to make the shift. However comparing today's price with those of 10 years ago, I believe that it will come the day when I can achieve my goal.
