Family Chow Hall

More… Money Saving Tips

January 28th, 2009

I promised some more money saving tips and here they come…

Before I lunge into the kitchen area, I will give you some tips on saving electricity. These are things our family practices constantly. In our location, people have a tendency (especially in the summertime) to compare high electric bills, and I can tell you that ours is usually lower than peoples’ around us.

Alright, folks, I know none of this is big news, but if any of it serves as a reminder, then I have accomplished something. We all need to tighten our belts in economic hard times, and besides, energy conservation is becoming the big issue of the present and even more so, the future. We’d better all get used to it and get creative about conservation. Here are some simple things we do:

First, change out your old-fashioned light bulbs for the fluorescent ones. It seems pricey, (and they look a little goofy) because the fluorescent bulbs are more expensive than incandescent bulbs, but you won’t regret it. Your electric usage will go down and you won’t have to change bulbs very often! When we first made this switch, I had one light which we left on all the time, sort of as a night light, and I’d been putting a new incandescent bulb in there about every 2 months. In the last 5 years, I have changed this bulb twice now. The only old-fashioned bulbs I have in the house now are decorative ones.

Secondly, shut down the computers when you’re not using them. For me, this means at night and if I’m going to be out for most of the day. Computers may not be huge energy-suckers, but many of us have them on 24/7. For our family, this is a big one, since we have five functioning computers and four of them are on most of each day. We shut them all down at night and when we are going to be away for several hours.

Thirdly, try to be efficient with major appliances… Do all of your baking at once, so you only have to heat up the oven once a day. For instance, if you are planning to bake bread and make a casserole for supper, plan to bake the bread either right before or after the casserole. Leaving the oven on for an extra 30 minutes takes a lot less energy than heating it up twice. Another big energy user is your clothes dryer - check the clothes near the end of the cycle so it doesn’t have to run longer than necessary. You can also save some electricity or natural gas by checking the temperature on your water heater. Is it hotter than it needs to be? If so, that’s wasted energy. Run your washing machine only when you can fill it up (or if you really need clean underwear!).

Another way to save power is with the thermostat. Air conditioning doesn’t have to be set at 70 degrees, try warming it up a few degrees. Go the other way when running the heater. We set our A/C at 74 and the heat at 66. If the outside temperature is somewhere in-between, I turn it off. Once it’s set, though, leave it alone. Constantly changing it because you are a bit warm or cold is an energy waster.

If you have ceiling fans, use them. All the time. They help the furnace and the air conditioner by circulating the air.

Train the kids and yourself to turn off the lights. There’s this thing called the sun that comes every morning and if you have windows, it lights up your house. Use it to your benefit.

Next — saving money at the grocery store.

If you are impatient, check out a new site I just discovered: The Dollar Stretcher

Entry Filed under: Mixed bag, Table talk