I commend those who have chosen to hang you laundry up to dry and not use a clothes dryer. I have to be honest here, last summer, our clothes dryer heating element went and we spent a good week having to hang up laundry outside, before getting together the money to purchase a new one. This can be time consuming, I also found in my area if you don't use a fabric softener (which we don't) the laundry would come out stiff as boards. We do try to conserve energy in other ways, for example we have a type of thermostat on our cooling and heating unit that will turn it off automatically when the home reaches a certain temperature. We try to also keep this a few degrees higher then recommended in the Summer to keep the cooling unit to save on energy.
That is a great idea. I had heard of that before, but totally forget. Thanks for posting this, because I am going to go tonight on a unplugging spree! I hope it does help me save a lot more!
Our Water? Our clothes come out so stuff to, if we don't use softener if hung up. I wonder why? There are some items I have to hang on a dry rack indoors, because our line outside the squirrels keep destroying it! Plus why did birds always aim for my stuff? lol I wish I was more successful at hanging outs doors.
The problem I have with clothes is that many of my garments need to be washed separately because they are quality garments with unique material composition. I do wash my clothes less than most people, though. I will keep them clean for a week before washing.
That's a really good point. I know I've been guilty of this in the past but now I know better. I only use lights in the room in which I am. The rest of the house is dark.
These are all really good tips! Another one to consider is that if you do have to use a dishwasher, wait until you can fully load it, not just fill it half way etc. Same thing goes with washing and drying your clothes. Also the time of day you run your machines matters as the electricity use isn't as high at certain times. That's what our electric company told us anyway. Obviously, turning off the lights when you leave the room is another one. It just depends on how far you're willing to take things to save money. I know some people that don't flush their toilets more than once a day, but I don't think we will be trying that in our house
I would do the drying outside on the line, but I really hate how crunchy clothes come out. And tshirts and other knits end up stretching in weird places when you hang them up to dry.
I do all my laundry at the laundromat, since I don't have a washer or dryer in my apartment. Also I don't really have enough space in my apartment to hang everything. My husband tried to do this once, to save money by washing everything in the bathtub and then hanging them in the shower. The clothes kept getting soaked again whenever either of us wanted to take a shower. So... we'll have to stick to the laundromat. Your second idea sounds like a good one, though. I wonder if such a thing can be installed in an apartment, though...?
Nice about tips. It is always welcomed for such a tip for electricity saving. I never thought about this two manner about saving. I show you my gratitude for such.
Wow! I never thought of the second one. The first one doesn't do me much good right now (still cold here in Idaho). However, the timer on the water heater is a good idea. I'm going to look into it!
My family has never owned a clothes dryer. We use the old heavy line technique. Why not use the natural sun to dry your clothes. Also, making sure that the AC is off when not in use as well as turning off lights that aren't being used helps a ton. A nice little technique I use to control power to the applications plugged in in my room is by using a power strip that has a handy foot switch.
I like the second idea a lot, and the first is good too, if you have the time for it. I usually need my clothes dried right away, so I don't have time to hang them outside. But, putting a timer on the water heater would be great, I only use hot water once a day, so there is no reason for me to have it heating all day long. That is a huge waste of money. My bill is already pretty low, so I'm interested to see how much that will cut off.
Besides setting heating and other electric devices lower or putting them off or in case of dryers having it dried in open air/wind, there's another way to save big on electricity is to replace incandescent or halogen bulbs or CFL light by LED bulbs. The LED bulbs use a lot less electricity and another advantage is the life expectancy. LED light bulbs outrange other light emitting types by far when it comes to life expectancy. So there's less need to buy led lights compared to incandescents.
Do anyone know just how helpful a water heater timer is? It feels like it might be one of those cases where it's better to have a tank full of hot water that stays hot and doesn't often run (because it's already hot), than to constantly turn it on and off, forcing it to use a lot of energy in spurts instead. I don't know. I'd like to see some stats, though.
Right, in Florida there's a couple of months where line drying is virtually impossible because during the rainy season ,it can rain heavily for a week straight. Heck, during hurricane season, your laundry can end up in a tree half a block away. Oh well, I guess line drying 9 months out of the year is still cheaper than using a dryer all year long. By the way, I read on Pinterest that putting a clean ,dry towel in the dryer with your clothes will help them dry faster. I wonder if it makes them ,lint-y.
I actually looked into a water heater timer recently but I have no idea how to install the thing without killing myself. Meanwhile, I have been turning the heater off while I am at work.
Don't forget the little things like unplugging appliances like toasters and microwaves.These still use electricity when idle. Another simple thing to do would be to flip off lights every time you leave a room.
Definitely, most people leave their microwaves, kettles, TV's etc plugged in 24/7 and that will waste electricity and increase your electricity bill. I started unplugging everything 6-months ago and it has saved around 10% off my bill.
I purchased a new window air-conditioner last year and there was a huge difference in how it managed itself in terms of electricity usage. The old AC would always run while toggling the compressor on/off as needed. This new one will turn itself off completely while still monitoring the temp, then turn on as needed with the right amount of fan speed, etc. Big savings!
