Here are some ideas to help you save money on your electric bill. Post your ideas below!
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Save Money on Your Electric Bill
Want to save money on your electric bill? One of the biggest electricity uses is your clothes dryer. Hang your clothes outside to dry. They will smell better. They will not be apt to shrink. You will get some exercise. And best of all it's free. Happy clothes hanging.
By Joesgirl
Save Money on Your Electric Bill
Clean your clothes dryer's lint screen frequently. When it is clogged up, your dryer has to work harder and uses more energy.
By Becki in Indiana
If you do laundry, dishwashing or any high power-use chores during the hours of noon and 6 pm each day you are probably paying a peak rate for power. Wait and try to do these chores between the hours of 8pm and noon, when your power usage will be at its cheapest.
By Terri H.
Buy those light bulbs that last forever at a store like home depot. I think they are called fluorescent and they are circular for lamps or they look like a stick for other appliances (compact fluorescent). I paid a lot of money for them years ago and they are still working after about 10 years. They also don't use as much wattage but throw as much light.
If you have an electric water heater, turn off the heater at the circuit breaker box when you don't need to use it. Flip it back on about 15 to 20 minutes before you want to wash the dishes or take a shower. I just put the kitchen timer on. The water stays warm for a long time and heats up fast. Saves about $10 on my electric bill each month. If you have company, leave it on all the time because there is too much confusion when they are there with showers and etc.
make sure your windows are adequately sealed by means of caulking (silicone) around the edges. this will save money big time, especially in central air homes.
I found out the hard way about not using the dryer in summer to save $ ! I had to get a reparman ! I was told (then) that it happened to them TOO - but teirs was sitting in the garage of a for sale property & MICE got in it ! I was told to run the dryer at least a couple times a summer to lesson the chance of this happening (next time) !
Eat dinner by candle light ! Aside from the cozy effect - if you have kids it should be a way to get them to discuss their day or life while "incognito"
We did this when I had the step kids here - they felt more at ease discussing their previous home while the focus of light wasn't spotlighting them !
Make sure your refrigerator isn't by your stove ! I know that in a lot of kitchens thats the only way - for some reason - thats how builders set it up. But the heat from the stove makes the fridge run harder to compensate for the warmth !
if you can - get a stove in your basement or in garage or back porch !
We found one one time during fall pick up days that was inperfect condition very clean too ! Sold it for $20 !
But we have one in the basement & the heat is away from the living space in the summer when the kitchen without AC can become so unbearable !
Use lamps that have the small night light size bulbs ! I have several of these from the $ store
I DO NOT LIKE TO SLEEP IN A COMPLETELY DARK HOUSE AT NIGHT. I HAVE FOUND THAT USING NIGHTLIGHTS DURING THE EARLY EVENINGS AND THROUGH THE NIGHT, CAN KEEP THE HOUSE LIT WELL ENOUGH FOR ME NOT TO GO BUMPING INTO THINGS AND STILL KEEP THE LIGHT BILL DOWN. TO WIT, MY LATEST LIGHT BILL ( JAN.2005 ) WAS JUST UNDER 7 DOLLARS WHILE MY GAS BILL FOR HEAT AND COOKING WAS OVER 200 DOLLARS...I NEED TO FIGURE OUT TO BRING THAT DOWN...BUT STILL, 7 DOLLARS FOR LIGHT BILL IS NOT BAD AT ALL.""""""""""""
TO save on energy with the dryer, I cut the dry time for the clothes and hang up damp shirts and pants on plastic hangers. I hang them on a bar that sits over my laundry room door.
Teach your kids to use the cold water whenever possible. That way, it won't cause your hot water heater to come on as often.
at nights unplug all your tvs because even thought they are off they are still using energy just simply unplug them every night and don't plug them till your ready to use it i saved 25 dollars on my bill. Well maybe it's because i have 5 tvs? try it
if you want to save money on the bill and you have kids make them electric police. It made my son feel useful around the house, and it was less hassle for me having to go around the house and make sure that whatever didnt need to be on wasn't. TRUST ME IT'LL WORK
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Do not unplug everything. The one who saved $25 was not because of his/her equipment's were unplugged, it was because of him/her being conservative. You can do the same without unplugging, just don't turn them on. When they are on, they consume full power as supposed to 1/50 of the power when they were off. I've done this and paid about 1/3 to 1/4 of what I used to pay.
Compact flourescents are great.
I did three things this summer that had a direct impact on my power bill.
First I replaced my electric dryer with a gas model (I did have to get a gas line installed to make this possible). Second I replaced as many of the light bulbs around my house as I could with compact flourescents. Third I turned down my gas water heater to 120 degrees. After these three simple steps I had the lowest energy bill I have had in 2 years. During the winter I estimate my total savings with these changes will be at least $50 per month.
My next project is to get an old solar water heating system on my roof working again. One of the past owners of my house bypassed the system. I'm hoping to get it working again and save even more on my energy bill.
Hello all!
Wash all of your clothing in cold water. If you have a good washer it will still get your clothing clean even in cold water. Not only that but the cold water seems to really work better for stains where if you use warm water it actually sets the stains in much more than they were before.
Turn off the lights! If you keep the lights off during the day and only use them at night when you REALLY need to see, like when you are looking for something. You will save on the electric bill and help the environment by not wasting power. SO keep them off during the day and only use them at night when you need it.
Read Department of Energy Fact Sheet on Power Factor
www1.eere.energy.gov/
Most motorized home appliances (air conditioning units, refrigerators, freezers, ceiling fans, washers, dryers, dishwashers, pool pumps, vacuum cleaners, furnace blowers, etc.) operate most efficiently when theyre operating at full capacity. When theyre not working at full capacity they pull more energy than they use, wasting the difference.
And lets face it, rarely does any appliance or device in your home constantly work at full capacity. In fact, the average home in America today operates at a power factor of .77. That means 23% of the electricity being delivered to the home is being wasted by the use of motorized appliances working at less than capacity.
You can increases that power factor, in most cases, to .97 or .98, therefore increasing the effective use of your electricity and lowering your usage.
Research more at:
http://www.SlowMyElectricMeter.com
Save by switching Providers. Due to the deregulation of Electricity, you can choose anothere provider. Checkout www.SaveOnMyElectric.com to see if your state is available yet. I'm in New York and switched and saving on my Electric and Natural Gas.
Keeping your freezer full to capacity is not always feasible but you can offset this by storing empty, but lidded, plastic containers in it.
I do all of the things suggested here but I always feel my electric bill is way too high. I get far more benefit from my gas, for which I pay just a little more eg gas central heating and gas hob. By the way, I don't have an electric drier!
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