Saving Money on Electricity

Now that we are a single income family, I've been searching high and low for ways to cut back on our monthly expenses.  My first victim, the power company!  This is one expense that in my opinion can always been reduced.  We are all guilty of wasting power whether we are aware of it or not, and little changes can make a big difference over the course of a year.  Obviously some of these tips aren't anything earth shattering or new, but hopefully they help you trim your power bill down.  Might I suggest using the money you save to purchase a nice pair of shoes, piece of jewellery, or I guess you could save it.

Turn off the lights!  This is something I think every household struggles with.  In our house the problem room is the kitchen.  Because we are in and out of that room all day long, lights often get left on.  Case in point, they are on right now and nobody is in the kitchen, except the cat.  Turning off lights is a great job for kids.  It gives them a sense of responsibility and pride knowing that they are helping.  When Roman was only a few months old I started showing him how the light switch worked in his room.  Granted it was more of a "hey this is neat isn't it?" activity than it was an exercise in saving electricity, but now every time we leave his room he leaves over to turn off the light.  The grin on his face when he turns the light off is priceless, let hope he stays this enthusiastic!

Unplug it if you aren't using it!  Did you know that anything that is plugged in continues drawing power even if it isn't turned on?  Who knew!  Obviously you don't want to be unplugging and plugging in your stove all the time, but with smaller appliances this is an easy money saver.  I always make sure to unplug the toaster, coffee maker and cell phone chargers.  Obviously this isn't going to make a huge impact on your electricity bill, but every little bit helps!

Use your furnace fan and open the windows instead of the air conditioner!  With the heat wave we've been experiencing this summer it seems like the AC has been running non stop, day and night.  Every time I hear it kick in I swear I can also hear money running out the front door!  Unfortunately we live right beside a busy rail yard with trains smashing in to each other all night (it's not as bad as it sounds and you get used to it), so opening the windows at night isn't really an option.  I try to open the windows first thing in the morning, but if there isn't a breeze out it makes if difficult to cool it off in the house.  Enter the furnace fan!  I have to give all the credit for this trick to my Mom since she is the one who told me about it.  Instead of running the AC, switch your furnace fan from Auto to On.  This will suck all the cold air from the basement up and circulate it through the house.  Genius!  Even on a hot day I can keep the AC at bay for at least a few hours before I have to break down and turn it on.  But that's still a few hours of savings each day!

Turn off the TV!  I'm super guilty of leaving the TV on while I'm playing with Roman, cooking, or even typing a blog post (like I am right this second).  Nobody is watching it but nobody turns it off either.  I'm not sure what the obsession is with having the TV on but it needs to end.  We have a plasma TV so leaving it on not only eats electricity, but it also heats up the living room, which in turn makes me want to turn the AC on.  What a vicious cycle!  I'm turning my TV off right now!  Oh, Marilyn Denis is on.....maybe I'll turn it off after Marilyn....Hey nobody is perfect!