How much electricity do appliances use? and How to reduce your utility bill

Here is a table showing the typical costs to run all the appliances around your house. Some examples of costs are:

Air conditioner - running every day for a month $44.00
Electric heat- 90 hours $90.00
Electric range- 1 hr a day for a month $4.00
Electric oven 40 hours $6.60
Microwave $.60 an hour
Dishwasher $4.50 to run a cycle a day for a month
Refrigerator $3.00 a month
Freezer $3.00 a month
Clothes dryer $11.00 for 1 load a day
washing machine $7.50 for 1 load a day
Incandescent bulb .5 cent an hour
25 watt fluorescent bulb .2 cent an hour
Electric water heater $32 a month
TV 1-2 cents and hour

These are just a sampling of the items on the list. If you have gas appliances or heat they have listed cost of use for those items as well. One thing that is apparant is that we focus on the small things like leaving a light on or changing to fluorescent bulbs when they really don't make as big of a difference as some of the larger items.

Cook with a microwave or crock pot versus on your range on in the oven.

In the summer try not to use the oven because it heats the house.

Put your crockpot outside to cook on hot summer days.

When you do cook in the oven fill it up. Make several meals at one time. Bake a cake or batch of brownies. Bake some breakfast muffins. Throw in some potatoes to bake. Instead of wasting the energy take advantage and get ahead on your cooking.

When you make rice or pasta go ahead and cook extra. It will use the same amount of time but you will have extra for another meal. It will keep in the refrigerator or freezer.

Use ceiling fans to make it feel cooler.

Turn the air conditioner up when you are not home.

Turn the heat down at night and when you are away.

Invest in a programmable thermometer for your air and heat.

Only run the dishwasher when it is full. Use the same glass all day.

Let dishes air dry rather than use the heat dry setting.

Keep the coils clean on the refrigerator and freezer.

Keep your freezer full. If it is not full fill coke bottles or milk jugs and freeze. When you shop take a cooler with these frozen jugs. You can buy groceries and it will keep cold until you can get home.

I wash two loads of clothes a day. Quit washing clean clothes. The kids don't need fresh, clean clothes to play in. Keep clothes that have been worn to wear to play or for you to work around the house in. Don't wash until they are really dirty. When you wear church clothes or go out in a special outfit that you didn't wear long enough to get dirty take it off and hang it to air dry immediately. Wear an apron to avoid stains while cooking. Use your bath towel all week or at the least use for two days. Hang it up to dry so it does not sour.

I try to hang most of our clothes. We can't have a clothes line so I have three wooden folding racks that I put out on the deck. I spread sheets out over the patio chairs. I hang rugs over the deck rail. To save space I hang everything that I can on hangers in the laundry room to dry. Hang pants upside down by the legs. In the winter or on rainy days I place the drying racks over the floor vents so the air will dry them faster. If I run out of drying rack space I hang two towels per hanger with clothespins. I don't like to have clothes everywhere but you can use a bath shower rod to hang items. I used to place the folding rack in an extra tub and close the curtain. I like to dry buttondown and polo shirts and towels in the dryer for 10 minutes so that the shirts aren't wrinkled and the towels are not so crisp and stiff.

I have not done it but you are supposed to be able to turn off your water heater at night and it will stay hot for your morning bath. Then, you can turn it back on around 4 PM to heat up for washing supper dishes and let it heat again for your morning bath again. Has anyone experimented with turning off your hot water like this?

Turn your hot water temperature to 120 degrees.

I like to do batch cooking. When I find ground beef or chicken on sale I buy a lot and make up a bunch of meals to freeze. You use a lot less energy doing it all at once instead of heating and cooling the oven or stove multiple times each day.

Turn off your computer at night and when you are away from home all day.

Make sure your home is insulated well and caulked. You can put outlet insulators in your outlets to reduce leaks. Seal the cracks to the pull down stairs that lead to your attic.

Lock the kids out so they don't come in and out.

Keep your garage door shut so the heat/cold doesn't come into the house.

Open blinds in winter and let in the sun. Close them in the summer.

Use heavy drapes in the winter to keep drafts from coming in. You can even hang quilts. I have even seen people put up batting or foam padding in rooms that don't get used. If you have an entry to your home you can hang curtains at all the entry ways off the foyer. This forms a block for all the air when you open the door and keeps it out of the other rooms.

Put some clothes on in the winter. Don't walk around without a shirt or socks and say you are cold.

When you are sitting to watch tv or are online cover up with a blanket.

When it is really hot or cold go to a public place that will be cooler or warmer like the library or mall.

In the winter get moving to heat up your body. Clean house. Work on a craft project. Do your baking. Iron clothes.

Heat a water bottle and put it in bed with you to help keep you warm until you fall asleep. You can also use these when sitting under a blanket. You can also make and heat the bean bag warmers and use them as warmers while sitting, in bed, or in your jacket pocket.

Use a microwave to boil water instead of heating on the stove. Put a top on items on the stove while heating.

You can bring noodles and eggs to a boil, cover, turn off the heat source and then let sit for 10 minutes. It will cook the noodles and boil the eggs.

Turn off your hot water tank when you go away on vacation. Turn up the air or down the heat while away.

Change your filters on the air conditioner regularly. Clean out the dryer vent after each use. You can compost the dryer lint.

Snuggle.