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| Solar panels on houses do nothing for people living in apartments. |
Why does electricity cost so much? There are a hundred reasons. Most of those reasons have nothing to do with anything you or I do. But I think you'll agree that we're responsible for how much we neglect the power we use at home. Here is what my wife and I have been doing to save on electric bills.
Eat Cold Meals At Least Three Times A Week
It's amazing how much time you save when you eat a cold meal. What does that consist of? Maybe a high protein cereal in milk, some buttery crackers instead of toast, and Vienna sausages or other cold cuts instead of cooked bacon or sausage.
The best cold meals are my wife's home-made Cobb salads. She does hard boil eggs a couple of times per week but everything else is served cold. That includes lettuce, radishes, grapes, tomatoes, peas, carrots, sweet onions, and a nice ranch salad dressing.
And when you just need a snack there is nothing like a nice sandwich or pita stuffed with things from the fridge or pantry. We have to be careful about how much bread we eat. Sometimes we substitute yogurt mixed with fresh fruit and nuts for a sandwich.
The less you cook the less power you use even if you have a gas stove. And the less time you spend cooking the less power you use. I'm not saying you should microwave all your meals, but choosing foods that can be cooked on lower power settings or lighter stove and oven temperatures for only a few minutes really adds up the savings.
Invest in Camping Solar Charging Gear
Campers can take their computers, smart phones, and other electronics with them if they have solar charging devices. These look like floppy solar panels and they are very portable. They are also very inexpensive. Honestly, we charge our phones and our laptops on a portable solar panel now. Sometimes I still plug something into the wall but we expect to save money over the next few months, especially by solar charging the laptops when we're not using them.
You need to set the right expectation about this stuff. It's not a substitute for a big city power plant. If you live in a cloudy area you'll probably have to buy a more expensive solar charger. The more you pay for it the longer it will take to pay for itself. But I think it's well worth the money.
To save battery life so we don't have to recharge as often we removed or disabled as many apps as we could on our phones. We weren't using them.
Replace Your Old Electronics with More Energy Efficient Ones
If you're using a 10-year-old microwave I applaud your ability to keep a cheap appliance working for so long. But have you considered it may be using more electricity than a comparable modern unit? You should check to see if you can save money by replacing the old microwave.
That also goes for television sets. Almost everyone has flat screen TVs now. I don't know anyone who doesn't have one. But some of the newer models use less power than the older ones. You may be able to start saving money on your electricity within a few months of upgrading to a comparable modern, more energy efficient TV set.
The same goes for all of your appliances. Calculate how much you need to save with each appliance.
Wash Your Clothes Less Often
When my wife suggested this I thought I would walk around smelling like last week's dirty laundry but we have enough clothes to last us 7-10 days. The Europeans have ways of reusing their clothing before they launder it and we've tried some of their ideas.
My wife also bought a spritzer bottle. She mixes rubbing alcohol with water and sprays our jeans and shirts to kill most bacteria. You can also use most types of Febreeze if they list alcohol as an ingredient on the bottle.
The less laundry you do the less electricity you use, and so you save more money. We still wash our sheets regularly but I've caught my wife spraying the bed with Febreeze a few times. I had to admit I hadn't realized she was doing this until I saw her head into the bedroom with a bottle.
Change Your Light Bulbs
You know, I still have friends who buy regular incandescent light bulbs because they are cheaper than LED bulbs. The price differences aren't that much any more and LED bulbs use about 1/6 the power of old style bulbs. Your savings pays for your light bulbs in about 4 months.
We tried putting some solar lamps on our apartment patio and that didn't work so well. But I found that I can stand a couple of tac flashlights on end on the patio and we have a nice soft evening light outside. The tac flashlights use LED bulbs so their batteries last a long time.
We also use rechargeable batteries for the flashlights. That was a smart deal. If you can find tac flashlights with dimmers you'll save even more power.
Unconventional Thinking Can Save You a Lot of Money
My wife and I realized that we were paying extra money for convenience in a lot of ways. We don't have to make a lot of sacrifices to live comfortably. How much money have we saved? So far this year's electric bill is about 10% less than last year's bills. I'll take it.
