my electric bill!

[rainbowmoon]

was only $97 this month! (we have had bills up to $200 in the past.) my lowest ill was for $93 in Aug and how I managed that I am not sure..

the only things I have done differently is NOT replace the hall light that's always on and turn the computer off when not in use (I have a really bad habit of leaving it on for days : )

I also line dried a few loads of clothes this month which I don't normally do (I don't have a clothesline, so I just hung up blankets and heavier stuff on our fence to dry) I am definitly wanting a clothesline come spring though!!!!

I neeed to replace all the weatherstripping (doors and windows) this coming month and repair a skylight that has a broken seal. my house is super drafty! we just turned our heat on last week but it's sort of pointless as it's not warm unless it's running. : we are in the desert so it's not THAT cold but it did get down to the low 20's last week!

what other things can I do to keep my electric bill low?

[Aura_Kitten]

hey good job!


i found this link ~ "how to stay warm without a heater" ~ and it has some great tips... one i've been using very effectively is filling my bathtub with about 1 1/2 to 2" of VERY HOT water. i can soak my mama cloth and keep extra heat in the home at the same time.

another tip was to put down dark rugs to soak up the sun's heat, and along those lines i also found one thing that helps is to keep a very dark blanket on my bed, under the bright-colored bedspread, and then i fold down the bedspread and let the sunshine heat up my bed... when the sun goes down i toss the bedspread on top and it keeps my bed warm until i go to bed, which lets me keep the heater turned down a few degrees.


i've also been switching all our lights to fluorescent, which saves a ton of money. and in the evenings instead of keeping all the lights on (which i was in the habit of doing) i keep only the christmas tree lights on, and then one overhead light and we all congregate in one main room.

[rainbowmoon]

thanks for the tips!

our biggest cold producers are the windows and floors (tile & concrete). they both keep the house sooo cold. great for our hot summers, but not so much in the winter.

[mwherbs]

also wanted to mention a few options for people who are elegible there is a reduced rate... find out if you qualify- call the electric co for details.
if you have wood heating there are also vouchers available for cord wood

for us we use stuffed things across the door/floor crack.- blankets over the sliding glass door blinds-- we also only use the garage door entry so we limit the amount of heat loss- because of that baffle...
I was just out at a client's house who have a thing that filters their drier exhaust so when they run the clothes drier it heats and moistureizes the house-- it was a pretty cool little thing.

[Sharlla]

our electric was $66.59 for the month of Nov. That is about double what it was for Oct. Our lowest bill was for september ($24)

[scatterbrainedmom]

i would LOVE a bill that was $97! our highest bill was a bit over $590 and our lowest bill to date was this months, $247. I am going to implement some of those tips in the site another member posted

[excitedtobeamom]

April, I know how you are feeling my bill was only $86 this month. Hooray! We have been replacing light bulbs with the new compact flourescents, turning off everything, turned down the pool pump, and we haven't used the air conditioner since the beginning of October, even though I have been tempted. We are paying $250 a month on budget billing and we hope to get that below $200 a month in a few months. Thank goodness it is finally cooling down around here! We also replaced our Christmas lights with the LED ones because every year they make our bill go up $100 in December!

[mwherbs]

I have been using the compact flourescent bulbs for a couple years now but had one burn out the other day and it literally burned out- there was smoke and luckily no flames that I could see- right were the glass tubes go into the plastic is where the smoke came from and it was very hot had to let it cool down to take it out.

[rainbowmoon]

K- I am glad you got your bill down a little! that is just crazy though! why does it seem the electric costs more up in Tucson when it's just the next county? :

btw my house is about 2200sqf and we are on all electric. we are on top of a hill though at about 4,000ft so very exposed and it gets WINDY and very chilly in the winters! (and very hot in the summer) my drafty house desperatley needs some work to help with this!

when my parents were here for a visit over the summer, my dad replaced some of our bulbs with 5 year bulbs?? what kind are those? any idea? I am a bit clueless!

we just have a very small xmas tree (2.5 foot potted rosemary bush) it only has 1 strand of lights, but I KNOW our bill is going to go up this month with the furnace use! (I usually only turn it on in the mornings for about 3 hours)

[rainbowmoon]

sharon- that is freaky about the smoking light bulbs! do they normally do that?

[excitedtobeamom]

Our house is 2200 sq feet also but it is sandwiched between a lot of other homes. Thank goodness we have a gas water heater, stove and dryer. That really helps. Getting a pool put in really has added about $50 a month or more at times to our electric bill.

The 5 year bulbs are probably the compact flourscent but geez I hope they don't all burn out like that!

[mwherbs]

that is the only one I have had burn out like that but now I am going to replace my lamp shade-- ; ) it is a bit raggedy and I think I have a stained glass one my mom made I can pop onto that lamp- I hope. maybe it was just one bad bulb.

I pay a fortune for electric and everything in the house is electric-- our house is good for the summers- only one small end is south facing but winter the house is an ice box- or atleast our bedroom end is. we do keep the empty rooms closed off in the day --- and something you might think is weird I use the insulated car window things in the windows to keep the heat in.

I was visiting this one gal who had built her own 3 sides earth hogan and the south side had windows- and she made her own indoor shutters out of wood and foam sheets-- kept her house cooler in the peak heat and warm in the winter.