Cutting Costs


lestertheemt
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Not sure if this is in the right place.........................

As the winter monthes are fast approaching I was wondering what every one does to cut costs in their electric bill. I absolutely loathe having to pay $200 plus in electric (yes I do live in an all electric home) :( and any tips would be greatly appreciated. And yes I have switched my light bulbs.

Thanks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Our home is all electric. We do a monthly budget with the electric company. We pay 139.00 a month all year long. At the end of the year our last bill is either more than what we are budgeted for or less. We also keep our thermostat turned down. When we are gone during the day it goes down to 60. We will turn it up to 70 when we get home. We also turn it down again at night.

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Guest Godless

Easy, I very seldomly run the heater. My electric bill during the winter is anywhere from $15-$20, as opposed to $35-$40 during the summer. Keep in mind, I live in South Texas, so calling the next few months "winter" would be generous at best.

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Not sure if this is in the right place.........................

As the winter monthes are fast approaching I was wondering what every one does to cut costs in their electric bill. I absolutely loathe having to pay $200 plus in electric (yes I do live in an all electric home) :( and any tips would be greatly appreciated. And yes I have switched my light bulbs.

Thanks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And even if you get phemonia this winter from lack of proper heat in your home; dont dare expect anything from the wealthy; theyll simply tell you to go work harder; thats after you recover with another 60,000 debt from health costs associated with the phenmonia. because yu cant afford health insurance either. {i,m in a gripey mood}:mellow:

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And even if you get phemonia this winter from lack of proper heat in your home; dont dare expect anything from the wealthy; theyll simply tell you to go work harder; thats after you recover with another 60,000 debt from health costs associated with the phenmonia. because yu cant afford health insurance either. {i,m in a gripey mood}:mellow:

What is phemonia?????? What is phenmonia?????? Diseases caused by envy and attributed to the "wealthy"?

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lets see...we go from ideas to cutting costs on electric bills to crying about healthcare...yes...I see the connection....:deadhorse:

Seriously....envy is ugly. Some want everything provided for them cradle to the grave and if that doesn't happen.....just blame the more prosperous among us...... surely it's there fault.

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:confused:Wow................hummmmmmmmmmmmmmm.....not sure if I see a connection either:confused::confused:

Just so every one is clear; I'm not asking for tips on getting a hand out or a bail out or what ever you want to call it. I'm simply asking what every one does to help themselves lower their heating (or in other cases cooling) bill.

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:confused:Wow................hummmmmmmmmmmmmmm.....not sure if I see a connection either:confused::confused:

Just so every one is clear; I'm not asking for tips on getting a hand out or a bail out or what ever you want to call it. I'm simply asking what every one does to help themselves lower their heating (or in other cases cooling) bill.

I have a gas furnace in my home and my gas bill this winter (yes it gets cold in Fl.) will be $120.00 a month for a couple of months....no big deal.

This winter I am going to add some insulation to the attic and and also install some attic fans. We will likely add some more ventilation in the attic and upgrade the air condition system to a new more energy efficient one. I hope it helps....tired of such high power bills. But what do you do, it is so miserably hot and humid in the summer.

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Everything in my house is electric except the stove. Heat never goes above 72 during the winter. My daughter has a space heater which I have now hid. She would run that 24/7 if given the chance.

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If your thermostat isn't programmable, get one that is! Ours is programmed to have the heat come on to 66 at 5:30 a.m. (I get up at 5:45), then at 7:30 it drops to 61. At 2:30 p.m. it comes back on to 65, bumps to 67 around 7 p.m., then drops to 60 at 10:00 p.m. I would totally forget to turn it down, so I'm glad it does it on its own.

We wear warm pajamas and have warm bedding.

Our TV's are plugged into a power strip, and we turn off the strip when the TV isn't on. There's a phantom load with a lot of devices. Anything that has a little light is drawing power. Anything that feels warm even when it's off is drawing power. Anything you can turn on with a remote control isn't really off, it's on standby. No one device is taking up very much power, but if you add them up, it can be a lot.

Have you noticed much of a change with your lightbulbs? We were surprised!

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Guest Godless

If you have blinds on your windows, try to get them adjusted in a way that will maximize the amount of sunlight that comes through them. It probably won't make a huge difference, but every little bit helps. My apartment windows face south, so on the (very) rare occasions that it gets too cold in here, all I have to do is open the blinds in the morning to warm things up a bit.

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Not sure if this is in the right place.........................

As the winter monthes are fast approaching I was wondering what every one does to cut costs in their electric bill. I absolutely loathe having to pay $200 plus in electric (yes I do live in an all electric home) :( and any tips would be greatly appreciated. And yes I have switched my light bulbs.

Thanks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Put clear plastic on your windows. You can buy the kits at nearly any hardware store.

Wrap your outside water pipes in insulation. Again, this can be purchased in any hardware store. Turn your hot water heater down if it isn't already, and wrap it in insulation, unless it states on it NOT to do this. Newer hot water heaters are not to be wrapped in more insulation.

Is your home properly insulated? You can go to your electric company for help not only with determining whether it is, but also in making it more insulated. You can lose a lot of heat if your attic or roof crawl space is not insulated enough and/or not vented properly.

Wear warmer clothes indoors and turn your heat down about 5 degrees.

Change out your light bulbs from incandescent (give off a yellowish light) and replace with real light (daylight) ones. Believe it or not- the daylight bulbs make you feel better- when you feel better you also feel warmer.

If your floors are not carpeted, then put down area rugs. Check to see what the insulation is under your floors. Also if the area around your windows is cold and drafty, do the plastic and also put up heavier curtains/drapes.

The first winter I lived in an old trailer house, I liked to freeze to death. I didn't have the money to re-insulate- so I covered all of the exterior walls (from the inside) with plastic. I think it was 3ml or even 5ml. From ceiling to floor. Duct taped it up, and used my husbands 1 lb. fishing weights to hold it down at the floor. I even put extra over the windows. I stuffed old tube socks with sand and rocks tied them off and stapled them to the bottom of the exterior doors to stop the drafts that were coming in.

I also covered the flimsy skirting outside with plastic and nailed it back up around the house. The kitchen and bathroom floor were the only ones not carpeted, and man oh man were they cold. Couldn't afford to buy area or even toss rugs, so I made them.

I "harvested" old towels from friends and friends of friends, sewed them together to make toss rugs, and block the cold.

My electric bill dropped from $120 to $65.

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I'm amazed at all the 70-degree people! 70 for us is really, really indulgent (and too hot anymore)!

I heard a fellow on the radio who was talking about windows. He said for short-term return on your investment, it's better to find all those places where pipes and vents and such come into your house, and seal them up.

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If you are willing to invest in energy saving ideas, new products are comming out. In south korea, LED bulbs light up a office environment. You might want to google LED bulbs.

I was lucky to find a house that was being demolished. I purchased used pink insulation from the house cheap, then double lined our bedroom ceiling.

If you want to prevent the wind from sucking the heat from your house, buy hay bails and line them up eight feet tall outside the wall. That will help substantially :) Or just stack them against the wall.

line your windows with shrink wrap plastic.

Put your chest freezer outside.

Put your fridge against the coldest wall in the kitchen, if possible.

Deplug phantom power robing devices that are rarely used.

This and other ideas can be obtained from homepowermagazine.com

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If you are willing to invest in energy saving ideas, new products are comming out. In south korea, LED bulbs light up a office environment. You might want to google LED bulbs.

I was lucky to find a house that was being demolished. I purchased used pink insulation from the house cheap, then double lined our bedroom ceiling.

If you want to prevent the wind from sucking the heat from your house, buy hay bails and line them up eight feet tall outside the wall. That will help substantially :) Or just stack them against the wall.

line your windows with shrink wrap plastic.

Put your chest freezer outside.

Put your fridge against the coldest wall in the kitchen, if possible.

Deplug phantom power robing devices that are rarely used.

This and other ideas can be obtained from homepowermagazine.com

Use straw bales- they don't attrack insects or animals such as rodents. Hay can spontaniously combust too. Ask the dairy men in AZ- Three of our clients (I am in insurance) just filed claims on hay stack fires. Granted the stacks were much larger than what you would have around your house.

If you want a wind break, plant hedges. It is living, gives off carbon dioxide. Do not put your deep freeze outside. If it gets colder outside than the inside of your freezer, your freezer will shut off and you will lose the food that is inside. Keep your freezer full of food- a full freezer costs less to run than a partially filled one. Keep it clean around your freezer and refridgerator too.

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Another thing that I was told is minimize the user of bathroom fans. I was told they can suck all the heat out of an average home in just over an hour. They can actually increase your energy bill.

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PAM,

Actually do not minimize the use of bathroom fans. The humidity left behind can cause rot and mold to build up in the walls ect. Its best to open up the small bathroom window, turn the fan on then close the door. that way you evacuate the huminidity and heat from one room.

Igy, in COLD locations around the country, hay would least likely to combust. If you pick up fire retardent and spray it on the hay bales, then thay would not combust.

Modern green homes are now, in limited supply, are being insulated with straw hay. Adobe brick walls are built with hay.

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