The Dreaded Electricity Bill
I dreaded our January hydro bill. I still remember the shock
last January when I opened the bill, and it was over $300.00
This past year, we have implemented ways to cut our electricity
consumption. This years bill arrived, and I opened it slowly. It
was only $185.00 Quite a difference from last year. We had cut
our consumption from 3881 kw to 1904 kw for the same time period
last year.
We never really paid much attention to our electric bills
previously because we were too busy going to work. And, we had a
steady paycheck coming in so there was always the money to pay
the bills. But, now we have simplified our life. We run a small
craft business and our income is limited. So, a $300.00
electricity bill was not welcomed, and it certainly captured our
attention!
Here are some of the tips that we implemented which allowed us
to reduced our electricity bill:
- our biggest expense is our electric heat. So at night we
turned down our heat by 10 degrees. We put an extra blanket on
our bad. Yes, it was cold when we got up in the morning, but it
only takes a few minutes to warm up the house.
- We also use our wood stove to take the chill off in the
morning and in the evening. (we practice safe burning in our
stove and have the chimney cleaned twice a year)
- We switched our incandescent light bulbs to compact
fluorescent light bulbs.
- We installed motion lights outside. Rather than having our
outside light on all night, the light now only comes on if there
is motion around it.
- Rather than turning the oven on to bake just one thing, we
bake more than one thing (a roast, our bread and a cake) Once
done baking, we leave the oven door open to allow any heat to
circulate in the house.
- We buy bigger roasts. Once cooked, we slice the roast and
freeze dinner size portions. We reheat the portions in the
microwave rather than in the oven. Microwaves take less energy
to run than an oven. This not only saves us electricity it also
saves us time!
- We consciously turn off the lights when we leave a room. Our
parents have been saying this for years, and finally we now do
it!
- We use our ceiling fans to help circulate the heat in the
winter and in the summer to cool down the house
- We reset our dishwasher to eliminate the dry cycle. The
dishes now drip dry.
- We wash all of our dark clothes in cold water
- At night, we close our curtains, allowing the curtains to
insulate against any cold air from the window. And during the
day, we open all our curtains to allow the heat of the sun,
however limited, to heat the rooms.
- While we still use our clothes dryer in Jan, we set it to dry
for only 20 - 30 minutes. The clothes dry fine. Previously the
setting on our dryer was for one hour! In the summer time we use
our clothes line!
- We open and shut the fridge - sounds stupid, but standing at
the fridge trying to decide what to get, uses electricity! The
cold air from the fridge escapes making the fridge work harder
and making our electric bill higher!
- We fixed the one leaky tap in our bathroom, so no longer does
our hot water drip away causing our electric water heater to run
more often.
- We also do not take long showers, we get in, we wash, we get
out.
- We no longer let our hot water run. We fill up the sink
rather than just run the hot water.
- Even a small thing like unplugging our coffee machine when we
are done saves us money as there is a clock on our coffee
machine and the clock takes electricity to run. We have a clock
on our microwave and on our stove, so we do not need another
clock in our kitchen!
- When we are not using our computer, we turn it off, including
the monitor!
All of these things may seem small, but the savings do add
up! And, in addition, we are helping the environment by
reducing our electricity consumption!