Are you tired of high electricity costs at home? Cheap electric bills are achievable each and every month by simply changing a few things at home that may be taken for granted every day.
While researching the topic online, I discovered many simple eco-friendly solutions to reduce your power bill, something that is especially important during financial crisis. These bill lowering solutions are either just a matter of changing habits or changing the amount of energy that is consumed by electronic devices and appliances.
The easiest way to make cheap electric bills is to simply reduce your consumption. Reducing the amount of kilowatts per hour you use every day can significantly reduce your electric bill by several dollars each month.
Here are 10 daily reduction ideas that will make cheap electric bills:
1. Turn the lights off when they are not in use. Do this manually every time you leave a room or have technology do it for you. Having motion sensors in various rooms throughout a house can help out a lot in this area by automatically turning lights off in an empty room.
2. Set the temperature controller in your refrigerator and freezer to the mid range or lower setting. The higher the number, the colder the fridge will be. This lower setting will reduce the amount of time the fridge and freezer run throughout the day.
3. Unplug appliances and electrical devices that are not used every day or that are only used once per day. Examples of these are microwaves, coffee makers, cable boxes, televisions, VCR’s, computer monitors, stereo systems, or other electronic devices.
4. Set your water heater temperature thermostat between 80 and 120 degrees F. Not only will you not get burned by your shower, your water heater will not have to work so long and hard to keep the water warm.
5. Get a clothes line and hang dry your clothes instead of using an electric tumble dryer. Your dryer can really rack up the electric bill if you are not careful. Running a load of clothes in the dryer once a day every day is more expensive than going to the laundry mat to dry your clothes.
6. Set the household air conditioner thermostat to 76 and leave it. With an average summer temperature in the 90’s, your AC unit will run less frequently if you simply leave it on a temperature 20 degrees or less than outside temperature. If your AC unit tends to never stop running, try raising the temperature on the thermostat until it stops, then leave it. Same goes with your heater during the winter months.
7. Wash your dishes by hand instead of using a dishwasher. Yes, a dishwasher is very convenient and it is more work to do dishes by hand, but this manual effort uses a lot less electrical energy. Instead of using all hot water, use warm water and antibacterial dish soap to wash the dishes. Use cool water to rinse them off after they are all washed and let them sit in the racks of the dishwasher to dry on their own.
8. Use a natural gas grill instead of using your electric stove top and oven to cook things. Cooking something up really quick is not too bad, but if you are going to use the oven to cook a turkey for several hours, this will use a lot of electricity. The heat produced in your home by an oven while cooking can also cause your AC unit to run more because it heats up your house.
9. Do you have a home desktop computer? If so, it comes with its own power saving features. If you do not want to completely power the computer down every day, consider utilizing the Power Save function on your computer. Set it to automatically enter Sleep Mode after five minutes of inactivity. This shuts down your computer’s hard drive, CPU, and suspends all functions. This works hand in hand with your computer monitor as well. It never hurts to turn it off at the end of its use.
10. How many light bulbs do you really need per room? Most modern lamps or lighting fixtures contain three or four light bulbs each. Depending on the wattage of light bulb, they can be using quite a bit of electricity. First consider single bulb light fixtures and lamps. Second, choose your light bulbs wisely. Consider florescent light bulbs to replace your traditional light bulbs and use a lower watt bulb.
Use common sense when it comes to saving electricity. Change your everyday habits around your home and naturally get cheap electric bills. Simple awareness and attention to detail can save you hundreds of dollars per year. Learn other ways to get cheap electric bills so you can reduce the utility strain on your budget.
