Electric Bill

My bill was not too bad last month only $149.00 but June was a relatively cool month and we did not have to use the air as much. I am afraid to see the bill for July. The best thing I am doing to save money is only going out once a week. I take care of everything that needs to be done outside of the home on that one day. I work from home so that is a possibility for me.

As I was getting ready to write this response i jumped up and turned off the air conditioner. The discussion was a good reminder. It's 74 in here that's cool enough. My electric bill hasnt been too bad this summer so far, but I'm not looking forward to next months bill. I had my AC on alot more in the end of June thru the 15th of July than I did last month. I just pray it's not two hundred dollars or soemthing. I have been unplugging my coffee pot with the clock because I hear that uses alot of power.

We do unplug everything we don't use on a regular basis. What is currently killing us, is that in our old place all of our lights were CFL. In our new place, the lights we use the most - the fans - have these odd fan light bulbs that aren't the same size. So instead of using 2 13KWH bulbs we are running 4 40 KWH (regular blubs are not as bright as CFLs)...Our last power bill was $234! We have never, ever had a bill that high even when we had cathedral ceilings!

hi beaddoodler thats really good that you got your light bill do down. we are using those odd looking bulbs in the kitchen and the living room and theylast forever and forever. they have brought our bill down too plus we both turn off our computers and monitors when we are not using them, and all lights we are not using too. we also very rarelyuse our air conditoner as its really' pulling in the kws and costing so much more.we use big fans instead except when we have one day or two whereits 100 in the shade.

I am doing all i can think of to do and my bill is going up every month! I am pestering my husband to replace our windows for energy saver windows. He wants to wait until we can replace them all at once (never gonna happen) but i want to replace them one at a time that way they will ALL eventually get changed.

To cut our energy bill, one area was the security lights we changed them from regular to solar which included the motion sensor. That takes them off the grid. I agree with you about convenience in that it must be sacrificed for the sake of energy savings. I will keep on the look out for more options. Until then try to stay cool!

Hmm, there are many things that go wrong in my country, salaries are low,prices are high.. but the light bills don't seem that expensive to me... I admit that with the minimum salary one couldn't afford what I am paying ,maybe.... but in general they don't seem too high to me.. I don't even calculate the kw ,as I pay like 10 euros per month to the electricity bills and when they calculate them every 3 months or when it's done... I maximum pay 30 euros... I am living in a rented one room appartment so maybe in a 2-3 rooms appartment it would be indeed more expensive but we do have a pc and laptop that are on most of the day and night, we keep our tv on also,while we are on the internet... our lights are on even on daytime,if he is home, I don't know why he likes to turn them on but he does... we sometimes forget the bathroom lights on too,or the kitchen ones,we don't quite have strict rules of turning them off... I have heard of people unplugging their electronics over night,but I also heard it's a very very low consume so why bother?... what is it that consumes at night?the little red light from the tv or the pc,or what?... I did have a huge bill once,in also a rented appartment, I had like 1000 kw from a stupid boiler that they had in the bathroom and that i kept plugged non-stop for quite a while because i needed hot water to be running whenever i wanted and not just when i was taking a bath..and we payed like 150 euros... we moved after that haha:))

You're doing a great job cutting your expenses while helping out the environment. Here's a big pat on the back for you! I've found my biggest way to cut costs was to divorce my spendthrift husband. He ran the air conditioner (a window unit) 24/7 (we live in Florida). He would turn the a/c down to 68 then cover up with a blanket. Our power bills were always over $200 (and often over $250). In the 2.5 years we've been divorced my power bill has only been over $100 once or twice. I added two fans in the bedroom (there was already a ceiling fan in there) and that helps me stay cool without turning on the a/c as often.

My method is that I just don't stay at home enough to need to use electricity. I'm usually out for most o the day, and the six months that I was in Arizona I dind't use anything but to leae the fridge on. LOL Being away from home for 6 months really saved me a lot of money. :)

I go through and make sure everything is off, and I sometimes do a run through again in my mind a few min. after I leave. I'm worried about something burning as well as keeping my bill down and, I try to appreciate what I have and try not to abuse it because I know there are people in the world who don't have any at all. We have our own little Electric company here in our town so it's not too bad, still, I'm constantly thinking about how I can conserve.

As far as grocery bills I use what coupons and such that I can and go to the stores that are closest, with the best prices. With having food stamps I can only do so much though. We try to keep our electric bill low, but with it being the heat of the summer we can only do so much. We have most of our lights florescent bulbs and turn off lights when we leave the room. I also wash clothing in cold water (except for our bed sheets).

I don't work outside the home so only go to town when I have to, and definitely combine all my errands into the least amount of trips that I can. My electric usage has gone down by limiting my cooking in the oven to the coolest parts of the day, or not using it at all on the hotter days. I make sure I'm not letting the dryer run needlessly, but take my clothes out as soon as they are dry. I take quicker showers and have lowered the thermostat on my water heater. I unplug the microwave and coffee pot when not being used, and put my computer to sleep if I'm away for more than five minutes. I've written an article about electrical usage and also about various ways to save money since the gas prices have gone so high. The link for my articles is on my profile.

o.0 electric bill going up is not surprising... it always goes up but never goes down =/ but you should and it's your right to question the electric provider and ask for explanation and check your meter outside you might have some illegal connections

In coping up the crisis that we are facing into now. I do save a lot. Specially in the electricity,we change all our light bulbs to fluorescent bulbs, because it has the most lower power consumption.and we also plug out all the appliances that were not being used all the time. we cut our lights by 10pm and my laptop will just work by its battery till i fell asleep. In this way i saved a lot.

Use energy savers, switch off all security lights by 5 a.m in the morning, when pressing your clothes with the flat iron, ensure they are not too dry, keep them dump, with this you can rduce electric bill considerably.

Well in my family we try to limit the use of air conditioning (we have two units) unless the weather is way too hot, and try to use fans as far as possible. Also we try to not to use internet for long hours. I believe these are two great 'consumers' of electricity. Besides we will switch off any standby power. In the era of rising fuel prices, we have to do everything we can to reduce wastage.

Use CFL lights or Fluorescent lamps instead incadescent bulbs to save power consumption it helps alot. Refrigerator, TV, Stereo/Mini Component, and Computer makes it take your bills on high unless if you use these stuffs wisely.

Yeah, I got rid of the hubs. EVERYTHING went down! LOL But he came back. Now I'M back where I started. ROFL

Thanks for introducing a nice topic. I do not no what type of bulbs you use. My suggestion is use energy saving lamps which cuts down energy bills quite a lot. I myself use the same but initial investment is high but it pays you in the long run. Another thing i am careful about to put of lights and fans when not in use. Regarding AC, I run it for 3/4 hours and then put it off and run the fan. Plugging and unplugging the electrical appliances is not a good practice as it mays make the plug point loose or the bulb filament may get snapped. You can also get your electrical connections checked for leakage.

As far as energy bills, we make sure to turn off lights when not is use. I have been washing clothes in cold water and hanging the kids clothes up. Fuel for the car is not a problem for us as my husband works down the road from our home. AS far as groceries, I have learned to make things from scratch, bread, tortillas, hamburger rolls, flavored rice. Basically, everything I bought pre-packaged, I know make by hand.