Like YOU, our utility bill was one of our BIGGEST ( or one of our biggest ) bills of the entire month. I know mine has reached up to $400.00 a month in the middle of our cold – cold – cold Northeast winter. After doing some research I was able to cut our bill IN HALF doing some really simple things. Again, these are super easy – anyone can do them! Imagine having an extra $100, $200, $300 dollars in your pocket a month. What would you do with it?!
Print out this list and put it somewhere you can read it often! I promise you you will see a significant drop in your bill using these tips and tricks.
This was part of our ” January Savings Challenge “. You can watch our January Savings Challenge [ HERE ] on Instagram. { Check the highlight bubble labeled ” Electric Bill. “. Now that January is [almost ] over we will doing our February Savings challenge over on Instagram too! Hope you will join us.
Washing and drying your clothes.
#1. Use your washing machine, dryer, and dishwasher in offer peak hours. You can call your electrical company to find out when that is.
#2. Use cold water when you wash your clothes! For most loads your clothes won’t get any cleaner with hot water, then they will with cold water.
#3. Use Wool Dryer balls. This cuts drying time in almost HALF sometimes. PLUS, you won’t have to buy dryer sheets! There are TONS on Amazon. [ GO HERE ] to grab yourself some.
#4. Wash clothes less often! Guess what folks?! You don’t have to wash your clothes every time you wear them. I am not saying walk around in smelly dirty clothes. HOWEVER, I am saying be aware of how dirty your clothes REALLY are before you wash them. Ask yourself… Do I really need to wash these?
#5. Clean the dryer lint! Cleaning the dryer lint out of dryer helps your dryer work more efficiently and, thus, will save you MONEY! Plus, dryer lint build up can be a fire hazard! YIKES!
Dishwasher
#6. As I mentioned above use your dishwasher on off-Peak hours! Of course, you may not know what your particular area’s off peak hours are. Give your electric company a call to ask.
#7. Air Dry Your Dishes – Instead of heat drying your dishes in the dishwasher hit the “air dry ” button. This will save you about half each time you wash your dishes.
#8. No Brainer – I think this is a “No Brainer ” but just in case it isn’t – ONLY wash your dishes when the dishwasher is FULL.
#9. Lower the heat – Just like your washing machine be sure to use the lowest heat setting possible.
#10. Skip the Pre-Rinse Cycle! – Instead rinse your dishes by hand.
Other ways to Save
#11. Turn off the lights. I know. I know… This sounds too simple to really do anything. But think about it – The average light bulb costs 0.48 cents to run for 24 hours! Now multiply that by how many lightbulbs are in your house. THEN multiply that by 365 days of the year. The cost of running your light bulbs really adds up fast.
#12. Change your lightbulbs! Going along with our last tip – if you still have those cheap “old” lightbulbs CHANGE them ASAP! Most “old” lightbulbs are incandescent bulbs. Change them to compact fluorescent lights (CFLs), and light-emitting diode bulbs (LEDs). The cost of them had dropped significantly over the years. This simple change will save you 80% or more on your lighting costs.
#14. Change that Thermostat! Changing to a programable thermostat will basically pay for itself. Even better the cost of buying them has gone now significantly. EVEN BETTER a lot of states have rebate offers on your purchase of a programable thermostat. Check your power companies webpage to see if your state has a program like this. I recommend calling your utility companies about rebate programs like these instead of trying to find them online. This is because there are a lot of scams out there – AND sometimes their webpages can be hard to navigate.
#15. Check for leaks – Taking just a little time to check for leaks will pay you back tenfold. It may take you 30 to 45 minutes to check for air leaks and water leaks in your house. That 30 to 45 minutes will save you $100’s yearly. Which is the same as getting paid $100’s for 30 to 45 minutes of work. Where we live it gets cold in the winter, and SUPER hot in the summer. Taking the time to make sure the warm/cool air stays in and vise versa is imperative to saving money. To do this check around windows, doors, and even switch plates. If you feel a draft or air leaking do what you can to stop it. Additionally, check your toilets and all faucets for water leaks.
#16. Change your air filters! – It’s boring and annoying – BUT changing your air filters will save you so much money on your electric bill! I promise you! Set a reminder to change them every 3 months. Doing this little thing will pay for itself in the savings in your electric bill.
#17. Know the cost – There was a time where I put little post-it notes on ANYTHING that was plugged in or used electricity. The post-it notes would tell us how much it costs to run that appliance, light, even the toaster. Keeping it at the front of our minds how much it cost to run specific items around the house will affect how you make choices on what you use and what you don’t use. This, in and of itself, will save you a ton of money in your utility bill. Here are some examples of what it costs to run some things around your house:
- 2-slice toaster will cost between $0.41 and $0.05 per minute.
- 4-slice toaster will cost $0.67 to $1.10 per minute! I bet you had no idea how expensive a toaster was!
- A microwave that uses five watts of standby power ( the clock ) will cost you about 44 cents per month, or $5.26 per year.
- If your average cook time is five minutes per day it will cost you about $3.65 per year.
- It costs approximately $7.30 per month to run your coffee machine.
- Here is a great webpage to calculated even more items in your home: http://energyusecalculator.com/
#20. Lower the hot water heater temperature – Even lowering your hot water tank by a little bit will save you a lot of money on your utility bill.
#21. Ask about discounts and incentives. – If you don’t ask, the answer is always no… Call your utility company today and ASK when discount and incentive programs they have. It can’t hurt!
#22. Replace your showerhead. – Believe it or not, an old showerhead can cost you hundreds a year. That’s right! It can leak or just be not efficient with the water flow. Change your shower head to something like this one [ GO HERE ]. You want a ” Low Flow ” showerhead. Don’t worry though, ” Low Flow ” doesn’t mean Low Pressure. The change will pay for its self. I promise.
#23. Adjust your fridge and freezer temperature – Your fridge and freezer don’t need to be cranked up to the highest level in order to work properly. Your fridge only needs to be at 40 Degrees, and of course your freezer needs to be at 0. However, if I had to guess most of your fridge and freezer temperatures are well below what they need to be. Making this small change will help lower your electric bill!
#24. Add a Flap to the Dryer Vent – My guess is your laundry room is SUPER cold in the winter? That’s because cold air is flowing easily between the outside and the inside via the Dryer Vent! A new vent will only cost about $20 . Even better, installing it will only take about 15 minutes ( or less! ). Oh, and it’s easy to do! Again, this one will pay for its self in savings on your electric bill.
#25. Open / or close the blinds – In the winter when the sun is out , open the blinds and let the sun warm your rooms. In the summer, however, close the blinds to keep the warm sun out! Use the energy of the sun as much as you can, after all it’s FREE!
#26. Don’t BLOCK Vents – Check your vents, LIKE THIS SECOND, and make sure furniture or anything else isn’t blocking it. This act alone will save you SO much on your electric bill! Don’t worry , thank me later!
#27. Keep all major appliances clean – I am not talking about the outsides of them, or even the insides. I am talking about the guts so to speak.
- Check your air conditioner for built up debris around it.
- Clean out the sludge at the bottom of your hot water tank ( yes, this is a thing. ).
- Change out those dirty air filters.
#28. Beware of VAMPIRE outlets! Yup.. this is a thing! These are appliances and other items that are not doing anything but when plugged in they are still using electricity. Think about that clock on your microwave OR your coffee maker! You guess it = it’s using power for now reason. I suggest putting all these ” Vampires ” on a power strip. Then turning them ALL off with one button when you are not using them. You will be amazed at how much this step saves you!
#29. Extra spin cycle. When washing your clothes do an extra spin cycle in the washing machine. What this will do is dry your clothes FASTER in the dryer. Cutting down on drying time will save you so much energy. Remember – your dryer can be an utility money sucker!
Now that you’re done reading the list it’s time to implement the utility savings tips and tricks in the list. Just reading the list won’t do anything – you have to do what’s on the list. Keep me posted on how much money you have saved on your utility bill after you do these for a month! YOU GOT THIS.
The temperature on my refrigerator does it move I don’t know if it’s because my refrigerator is old or what and my big freezer donst have one in it and I don’t have any pulg in strips and I also have air fresheners that plug into the wall do they take up energy too
And I have a new shower head the paper said to turn it on the setting to save energy but I threw the paper away and forgot what setting to turn it on