Comments on: Ways to Save Money on Heat and Electricity – Rebekah Answered

By: George Thistle

George Thistle — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 13:08:19 +0000

People nodays just whack the heating on at the slightest breeze. It’s really not necessary, put a jumper (or 2) on and save the planet!

By: This Week in Personal Finance - January 29, 2010 | Redeeming Riches

This Week in Personal Finance - January 29, 2010 | Redeeming Riches — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 19:04:57 +0000

[...] It’s stinkin’ cold in the Chicago area right now and it’s tempting to blast the heat, but we don’t want the big bill that comes with it – so grab your Snuggie cuz Matt Jabs at Debt Free Adventure looks at a few ways to save money on heat and electricity this winter. [...]

By: Matt Jabs

Matt Jabs — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 04:33:00 +0000

Yeah my wife and I use TED (The Energy Detective) and also love discovering and limiting energy hogs.

By: Dollars Not Debt

Dollars Not Debt — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 04:30:56 +0000

CFL bulbs in the most used lighting is a huge win for me. It has saved me about 20% on my electric bill. Also, buy a kill-a-watt thingy to track usage. It gets addictive to see what uses watt.

By: DIY Round Up: How to Build a Laundry Drying Rack on One Project Closer

DIY Round Up: How to Build a Laundry Drying Rack on One Project Closer — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 10:32:47 +0000

[...] gives us several ways to save on electric heating bills. I added 7 more ways in the comments to Matt’s post. Our #1 choice: insulate the [...]

By: Rebekah

Rebekah — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 04:15:19 +0000

Great tips! Thanks

By: DB

DB — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 01:14:08 +0000

I know this is not feasible for most people, but we have a wood-burning insert in our fireplace, and we heat our entire 2000 sq. ft. tri-level home with wood. Our home is on 20 heavily-wooded acres, and I selectively harvest all my own wood (I won’t cut standing live oak or maple – mostly just poplar and dead-standing and deadfalls). As a teacher, I have the summer off, and I spend many of my summer days out in the woods cutting, hauling, splitting, and stacking wood. We have not sent a single dime to the power company for heat for over four years now. It’s hot, sweaty work, but great exercise – plus it’s excellent heat on a cold Michigan night – like tonight!

By: Jason @ One Money Design

Jason @ One Money Design — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 18:45:37 +0000

Wow! 64 degrees? You guys are machines!!! Seriously, there is definitely a big savings in turning down the heat. Just when we think we’re cold, it’s always good to step outside and then come back in for a nice warming (even at 64). Love the off the grid idea. Touch to do with two little ones around, but hey, that’s all the more opportunity to get the family involved in doing something creative, or going to the park. My favorite idea: if you’re not in the room, there is no reason for the lights to be on. We catch ourselves leaving lights on quite often. Now we even have our daughter trained to correct mommy and daddy.

By: Kevin@OutOfYourRut

Kevin@OutOfYourRut — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 21:27:47 +0000

Drop the heat at night to the lowest level possible (to not allow the pipes to freeze) and get a space heater or electric blanket for the bedroom(s). The space heater will be counter productive if you need one for more than 1 or 2 bedrooms.

On sunny days when your home, lower the heat to the minimum during the warmest part of the day.

By: BG

BG — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 19:21:58 +0000

thisisbeth) I have recessed lights that I put CFLs into, and they all burned out within two years (supposed to last 10) — huge net loss. Perhaps I could try the LEDs instead, not from a cost POV though — these lights are hard to get to, so something that lasted years would be great.

As for space/floor heaters, they are good savers if you only need to warm your bedroom. Turn-off the thermostat, close the doors, and turn on the space heater.

One other thing, you can purchase a device called Kill-A-Watt (about $20 I think), that will tell you how much electricity phantom devices use when they are off (TVs, chargers, etc). But, don’t be surprised when you find out that your phone chargers, laptop chargers, and other similar things, consume ZERO watts when left plugged in. If attached to the phone, they will consume more, but if not attached, practically nothing.

The biggest user of electricity in my house is probably my side-by-side refrigerator. Best fix for this would be to convert to a floor model (with door that opens on the top), so all the cold air doesn’t spill out onto the floor when you open the door. Unfortunately, I don’t have room for such thing.

By: Craig

Craig — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 17:11:27 +0000

Now if your snuggie was a cool PSU snuggie like mine is then your picture would be better.

By: H Lee D

H Lee D — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 14:07:46 +0000

Depending on where in the south, you’ll save on heat but not so much on AC (says she who lives in Phoenix who hears her heater running as she types).

I remembered another thing I used to do when I was tight on cash: I would take all my showers at the gym. Go, workout, shower, come home. It also ensured daily workouts, however small

By: MD

MD — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 06:27:12 +0000

I think I’m going to have to agree with Mr. Samurai and PT. I think the move could be very expensive though.

Btw, love the new beard.

By: thisisbeth

thisisbeth — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 21:19:40 +0000

I bought a couple of LED light bulbs to replace some incandescent bulbs in my house–they’re in recessed lights that have problems with overheating florescent bulbs. They’re more expensive, but more energy efficient–and don’t require special recycling like florescent bulbs. That’s almost a curse of florescent bulbs lasting so long–I have to wait until they burn out to replace them with LEDs!

By: Matt Jabs

Matt Jabs — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 20:05:58 +0000

Slanket… not Snuggie!

Yeah, suppose I’m missing the boat living in the frozen tundra.

By: Ann

Ann — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 18:39:23 +0000

1. Switch over to fluorescent bulbs wherever you can. From what I understand you cannot use them in fixture that dim, but there are some you can use in outside light fixtures even in colder areas (like in MA where we hit single digits last week). The outside fixtures take a few seconds longer to become fully lit when it is cold outside, but other than that they work just as well as the regular bulbs.

2. Don’t know if you heat your water with electric, but turn the thermostat down on the water heater. In conjunction with that, install a shut-off valve on the shower head and shut off the water except for getting wet & rinsing off.

3. Use task lighting. Instead of turning on the overhead light fixture when I am working at the desk/computer, I bought a $5.00 desk lamp at a discount store that works great & has only one light bulb in it instead of four. Also consider a small reading lamp or even a battery-operated book light for reading.

By: PT

PT — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 17:41:35 +0000

You snuggie wearing dude. Move to the South. You’ll save a ton on heating costs.

By: H Lee D

H Lee D — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 16:00:16 +0000

Our entertainment system is on a power strip, and we just turn the whole strip off when it’s not in use.

Does your electric company have different rates for use during different times of day? We switched to a “time of use” plan and are careful not to run dishes, washing machine, etc. during peak hours. This has saved us some money.

We’re also clothes-on-the-line folk here most of the time. There are a few items that will go in the dryer. We don’t have enough room indoors to hang an entire load, but our dryer is bigger than our washer, so we’ll wash two loads and dry them together.

I’ve heard that putting a tennis ball in the dryer makes clothes dry faster, but I’ve never tried it.

Keep your freezer full. If you don’t have food to fill it, put bottles of water in there or something. It maintains frozen foods more efficiently than frozen air.

By: benedictus

benedictus — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 14:01:57 +0000

Hi, my first two suggestions require a little extra time and effort but have helped us cut down on our electric bill a good bit.
1) Instead of using the dryer to dry our clothes, I’ve been hanging our clothes outside on the line. They come out a little stiffer than by using the dryer but smell so fresh when you bring them in. On days when the weather didn’t allow me to hang them outside, I hang them in the bathroom on the shower curtain rid or on the kitchen counter and tile floor.
2) Our dishwasher broke about a year ago and we couldn’t afford to replace it so I’ve been handwashing our dishes ever since. We noticed a big savinge from both of these changes which gives me the incentive to make the extra effort.
3) My husband recently got a second job at a well-known appliance store and in training they taught him that the TV was the biggest consumer on an electric bill. Keep the TV off when not in use or even go so far as to unplug it when not in use or during the day when you are away at work.
4) Turn all lights off when not in use and get in the habit of turning off the light every time you leave a room.
5) We too, have tried not to run the heat or air until it got completely unbearable. Then we would only run it long enough to take the chill off or to circulate cool air then it stays off again. We adjust our clothing accordingly and have also suprisingly adapted. We also leave it completely off when not at home. We do need to look at getting a programmable thermostat though – that was a great idea!

All the little things add up. Thanks for a great article and great comments!

By: Mark

Mark — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 09:03:05 +0000

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