55 Ways to Save on Your Electric Bill

I love that my electric company allows us to view our electric and how much we use each day. The other day I was looking and realised we were spending $15 a day! OUCH! Yes I know it's winter and all but still OUCH! So I sat down to think of all the way i know wo to save electric and asked around for a few I didn't know and I got a list of 55 and was able to cut my electric bill. We were able to save $5 a day! This saved us $150 a month! Here is what I came up with!

Remember not every option will work for every one, Some will only work if you are remodeling your house! Others you might already be doing every day!

1. See if you can change carried to a lower rate – Many states like, PA offer you  a choice of who you can get your electric by. Call your choices and see what your rates are!
2. Turn off lights when not in the room – The trick your mom drilled into your head. If you aren't in the room, don't waste the electric!
3. Turn off the fan when not in the room – If you are like my hubby and use a fan at night (yes even in the winter!) turn it off when you leave the room. There is no benefit to having it on if you are not in the room.
4. Plug your chargers to a power strip – Plug all your devices into a power strip and charge. When you are done turn the strip off. The chargers still suck electric even when not charging anything.
5. Turn the AC up – In the summer turn the AC up for every degree you turn it up you will save 5%!
6. Turn the heat down – In the winter turn the heat down. Tuning the heat down 1 degree can saving you 1% off your electric bill and that really adds up!
7. Get insulated curtains – This stops the inside air from getting out and the inside air from getting in!
8. Open/ close the curtains – Between 1pm – 3pm is the heat of the day and you can work this in your favor! If it's summer time close the curtains keep that heat out! During the winter? Open the curtains that are in direct line of the sun and let the sun heat those rooms!
9. Clean your air filter – Make sure to change out your air filter every 3 months. If it's dirty not only are ou breathing in dirty air but your air unit had to work twice as hard to heat or cool your house!
10. Change out light bulbs – Changing your light bulbs out to Energy Smart lights, such as CFL, can save $100 a year.
11. Limit TV time – Many people turn the TV for back ground noise, DON'T DO THIS! It will run your electric bill up faster than you think!
12. Turn off computers when not in use – I have a BAD habit of letting my computer just got to sleep instead of turning it off. Dont do this, your computer will suck electric all night!
13. Leave oven open in winter – When you're done cooking with the oven don't waste that already paid for heat. Leave the oven door open while you eat! Every little bit helps!
14. Use slow cooker or grill in summer – don't heat your house in the summer! Use the grill outdoors and use a slow cooker. One person I know goes a step further and uses the slow cooker on her back porch!
15. Open the windows and turn AC/ heat off – When the weather is nice a bearable turn the air off and open the windows! We use the AC in the heat of the summer, and the cold of winter. But if the AC is anywhere from 60 -79 degrees we open the windows!
16. Use solar powered outdoor lights – If you have any lights out doors, to light a walk way  or any area, use solar power lights. They might cost a bit more upfront but will pay off big time on your electric bill!
17. Plastic seal windows in winter – This one helps us big time every year! It stop cold air from getting in and great for any leaky windows.
18. Only heat one room – Depending on how your house is set up you can do what we do. When me and the kids get up in the morning i turn the heat OFF. I then use a personal room heater to heat the one room we are in. The kids rooms get heated by the sun in the morning/mid afternoon and are warm for nap time later that day. When they go down for  anp i do turn the heat back on but turn it down.
19. Use a clothesline – In the warm months skip the drier and hang your clothes outside on a clothesline!
20. Wash full loads if clothes – Make sure to only wash clothes when you have a completely full load! You are using the same amount of electricity no matter what size load you do, so maximize your spending!
21. Wash clothes in cold water – Don't waste money heating water for your clothes! Washing in cold water! Make sure to use Cold Water Laundry Soap.
22. Run a full dishwasher instead of washing by hand – surprisingly this uses less HOT water in return saving money.
23. Skip heated dry on the dishwasher – When running your full load (see above) make sure the heated dry is off!
24. Take a time shower not a bath – Take a timed shower and you will use less water than a bath!
25. Use the microwave to reheat not the oven – I know some people use the oven to reheat food. This uses up to 3x more energy to eat food! Use the microwave!
26. Unplug small appliances – If you are not using the coffee maker, toaster, microwave, slow cooker ect unplug them! You would be surprised how much energy these items use even when not in use!
27. Cover pots and pans while cooking – This will help your food cook faster meaning you use less energy!
28. Insulated your hot water tank – So much heat is lost from your hot water tank the better the water stays hot the less energy it has to use. There are many blankets made to help insulate your hot water heater.
29. Wear an extra layer of clothes – wearing more clothes allows you to turn the heater down saving you money.
30. Run drier loads back to back – If its to cold to hang up your clothes and you must use the drier run it back to back so it doesn't have time to cool off, this will save electric from it having to warm up again, and letting you dry your close faster.
31. Turn your water heater down to 120 degrees – This helps prevent burns but also save electricity! Not sure how to do this? Google it for your water heater!
32. Seal your windows – take a caulking gun to your window frame and make sure it is sealed good to prevent leaks.
33. In the summer set your thermostat to 78 degrees when you are away – You will see up to 3% saving for every degree you turn your thermostat up when you are away for more than eight hours. No need to cool your home when you are not even there! This will equal bigger savings when you go on vacation too!
34. Lower heat by 10-15 degree if gone for more than 8 hours to save 10% – On the flip side from above, in the winter if you lower the heat you will save money as well!
35. Close off unused rooms and close air vents – Look around your house, Is there a room that doesn't get used often? For us it's the ‘closet room' it's supposed to be a bedroom but it's so small it would barely fit a bit so we store clothes in there for a big closet. We closed off the vents in that room and keep the door closed. No reason to heat or cool it! Think of an office, storage room, basements, guest rooms ect.
36. Toss a dry towel in a load of wet clothes the load will dry in about half the time – This works because towels are made to soak up water and dry fast!
37. Clean the lint trap in your dryer before every use – This allows better air flow, drying your clothes faster!
38. Use a humidifier in the winter to warm the air – This trick also helps prevent dry throats and the stuffy noses.
39. Use a dehumidifier in the summer to cool the air – Use the water collected to water plants!
40. When replacing old appliances replace with energy star – Energy star appliances can save you up to 50% depending on the age of the old appliances!
41. Wash dishes or laundry during off peak hours – Many electric companies have off peak hours where the electricity is cheaper. This is generally at night. Use this time to wash dishes and run laundry, things that suck electricity!
42. Insulate your attic – Lots of air escapes from your attic as well as gets into your house. Insulate it to keep the air you paid for in!
43. Switch to a tankless water heater – This will save you not only on your electric bill but also on your water bill. You only heat what you need WHEN you need it.
44. Pull your fridge out from the wall – the coils of your fridge heat up as they cool your fridge. When the unit is pressed against the wall it has to work harder to cool the fridge down.
45. Don't put freezers or fridges in the garage – This is fine in the winter takes less to cool them but in the heat of summer they are going to work twice as hard to keep cool!
46. If you have a self-cleaning oven, clean it immediately after use – It’s already hot, it will take less energy to get to the heat cleaning stage
47. Turn off your coffee maker and pour the leftover coffee into an insulated container – After your second cup of coffee keep it hot with insulated cup instead of wasting electric
48. Use small appliances that plug into electrical outlets instead of rechargeable devices – such as hand-held vacuum cleaners and lawn trimmers when they are constantly charging it uses more then when it's plugged in while using it.
49. Close the damper when the fireplace isn't being used – About 14% of air escapes your home through the fireplace chimney
50. Seal unused fireplaces – One step further from above, seal the fireplace to keep the heat from escaping or the heat from getting in in the summer!
51. Try not to run the fireplace and central heating system at the same time – You may not think about it, but when you are using your fireplace turn your heating off no need to heat the house twice!
52. Save on lights, paint your walls light colors – This one is a bit unconventional because light bounces off walls and ceilings, you’ll get more light for the money if you paint your walls light colors
53. Insulate water pipes – Hot water running thru cold pipes = cold water meaning you use more hot water to warm the pipes and get hot water to you. Then your hot water heater has to run more to fill back up. Insulate any exposed pipes!
54. Living Room: Plug TVs, Game systems, DVD players into a power strip – Then before bed turn it off for the night until you are ready to use it again. If you have  DVR and recording shows leave the box plugged into the wall and it still still record.
55. Insulate your electrical plug outlets – YES! Sounds silly but this has shown a savings of about $5 a month which is $60 a year! That is my internet bill free for a month and a half! Use these electrical outlet insulation covers for all outlets, Most importantly the outlets that are on a wall that are facing the outside of the home!