After I opened my electric bill in January, I knew it was time to make some changes. We have a relatively new home with mostly energy efficient appliances. Our home is on the smaller end, which is less for me to clean, heat, cool, etc. It’s roughly 1,500 square feet. I just want to give you that for perspective.
With that out of the way, there are three people who live here and it’s fair to say that I don’t keep our electric bill a secret from the little ones. If they are really responsible and do a great job with turning off the lights and closing doors behind themselves when they go outside, I always reward them with a treat at the end of the month. I would way rather invest any saved money in my children’s happiness, rather than handing it over to my energy company. I digress….
I am only sharing this, because after I got serious about cutting our energy bills, we were able to cut our bill by around 30%, which is huge to me. We didn’t make any major life changes. We just added a few items to our home and became a little more intentional about when and how we used energy. To that end, with the economy being, well, you know, you have access to the news, I thought it would help y’all to save some money.
First things first, call your energy company and find out what your local peak hours are.
Across most of the United States, peak hours are:
-Summer: 12 noon to 6 PM (when the AC is getting worked harder than an Olympic athlete)
-Winter: 6 AM to 9 AM and 5 PM to 9 PM (when people are getting ready and after coming home)
So, all of the other hours are Off Peak hours and 9 PM until 5 AM are the least expensive. This is why you should run your dishwasher overnight and not in the middle of the day.
Once you understand when it costs less to use energy, now it’s time reduce your overall daily consumption of energy by letting science do the heavy lifting. I have separated the process into steps below. Do one a quarter. Heck, do one section a year, but knock these things down like bowling pins until you get your bill where you want it.
You can check out my ‘Lower Your Energy Bill‘ Amazon product list to see all of the items that we used at our home.
1. Lower The Temperature Inside Your Home.
-Mirror Film
-Mosaic Film
-LED Lightbulbs
-Black Out Curtains
-Cook Meals On Stovetop Outside
2. Be Energy Efficient.
-Energy Efficient Appliances
-Lower Your Water Temperature
-Use Wool Dryer Balls To Cut Drying Time In Half
-Wash Only Full Loads In Washer and Dryer
-Run Appliances During Off Peak Time
-Install Solar Panels
-Use Daylight Instead of Interior Lights
-Wrap Pipes In Insulation
3. Keep The Air Circulating Constantly.
-Merv Filters
-Fans, Both Small and Large
4. Stop Air Conditioning/Heating From Escaping Your Home.
-Door Draft Strips
-Install Weather Stripping on Doors and Windows
5. Charge Electronics With Solar Generators.
-Jackery
-Solar Power Bank
6. Use Alternate Lighting At Night.
-Tom’s Solar Lights
-LE Rechargeable Lights
-LE Battery Lights
Well, that should be enough to have your head spinning.:-) Seriously though, it took a few months to get it all done, but our energy bill went from $185 per month to around $125, which is roughly $660 per year. That money is money that you and your family get to hold onto, year after year, so it really does pay for itself.
I hope you found this helpful. Please share it with a friend if you know someone who could save some money, so basically everyone with a pulse :-). See you in the next one!
XO,
Raphaela
She Found It On
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