This is another simple process that will take little to no time, but will show dividends on your next electric bill. For those of you without a dishwasher-hopefully our next article will help you. For those with a dishwasher-lets go.

Most dishwashers that are in production today have an automatic dry cycle at the end to dry the dishes. The way the dishwasher accomplishes this by heating the inside of the dishwasher via a heating element. Now, if you think that sounds like an oven you are 100% correct. We know what a energy hog a conventional oven is, and this is the exact same process. The temperature settings vary slightly between diswasher manufacturers, but Federal law requires all new dishwashers to have a no dry option.

The prelude has led to this-“If your dishwasher has an air-dry setting, choose it instead of the heat-dry setting. You will cut your dishwasher’s energy use from 15 percent to 50 percent.” Now that is a significant reduction. If by chance your model does not have an air dry option, simply open the door after the last rinse cycle.

Well, we are one tenth of the way through this series. We hope that you are receiving some help and we would love to here any measures that you have tried to reduce monthly expenses. We are also working on a resource page for this material as well as other things.

Have a great day!

This is an activity that only requires attention twice a year. First, I would like to say that those of you that have a refrigerator with the black coils in attached to the back of your fridge can skip this step. For the rest of us, here we go.

Just as when we discussed the importance of keeping clean heating and air filters, the same applies here. There needs to be proper air flow over these coils so that the heat can be removed and your refrigerator can stay cool. It is a very simple process, takes only about five minutes, and will not only save you some money on your electric bill, but it will also lengthen the life of your appliance.

At the bottom of your refrigerator you will see a grill underneath your door. Under usual circumstances there are only retainer clips that have to be pried lose in order for the cover to come off. If your cover does not freely come off with little resistance, check to make sure there are no retainer screws. Once you have the cover removed proceed to step two.

Now that the cover is removed you can see your coils and the dust that surrounds them. Take your extension wand from a vacuum cleaner and vacuum all the dust and debris off of and away from these coils.

That is it. You are finished. All that is left is to place the cover back on and make a note on your calendar to repeat this process in about six months. As always, we thank you for reading and hope you have a great day!

In the last post we talked about baking items together in a conventional oven to conserve some electricity. Today we are going to sing the praises of toaster ovens. These small energy efficient items are great electricity savers.

A well insulated toaster over, with the right amount of air flow will consume an amazing 50% less amount of energy than a conventional oven. That means you could bake those biscuits, casseroles, small pizzas, package goods, etc. for literally half the price! The reason for this is that the toaster oven has a smaller amount of cubic air volume to heat. If you bake a lot of little goods, this is the way to go! Have a great day!

Today’s tip is about baking items in your kitchen oven. We enjoy cooking from “scratch”, so a considerable amount of our breads and treats come from the oven. One way that we save on our electricity bill is to bake as many items at the same time as possible.

The idea is that it will require less energy to continue baking once the oven is heated; instead of having to heat the same space several times, we try to get as much as possible out of each use.

For example, lets say that we want to have biscuits for breakfast. Also, having somewhat of a sweet tooth we are aware that we are going to bake cookies for an after meal snack for the week. And let’s not forget that two days from now we are going to have pinto beans and will need a pan of cornbread. You see where this is going. We heat the oven once, and then all we do is change the temperature in between our items. Again, this is one of those money/time savers that can keep a few pennies in your pocket and add a few minutes available to you.

Action point: When planning your next menu (you do plan your weekly menu’s, right?), try to think of any baked items that you will need for a two or three day span. See how many of those items you can bake together and still have fresh when you need them. Have a great and blessed day!!

For an interesting book on createing you own electricity, and even selling some back to the electric company Click Here!

When it comes to remembering details and daily routines, we are always in need of reminders. Whether it be paper, or electronic, we always have to keep track of things that need to be done around and for the house. This is how we originally remembered to change our thermostat while sleeping and while being away from home. Until we were fortunate enough to be able to purchase our(drum roll please)…programmable thermostat.

This will save you tremendously if you have a central heat/air unit. A difference of only 3 degrees can make a huge impact on your utility bill. Now, do not get overzealous and drastically change the temperature several times a day-this will make your unit work harder to try and keep up. We have settings that vary according to time of day, and we never deviate from these settings.

While no one is at home during the week, we have the temperature set 3 degrees above our comfort zone of 72 degrees. While we are awake and at home during the evening and weekend hours, we have it set to adjust down to 72 around a half an hour before we get home. Then, since we both like to be a little cool while we snooze, we set the temperature to 70 at night. Again, completing this action point allowed us not only to save money, but the time and hassle involved with remembering and changing the thermostat three times a day.

Action point: Find your perfect temperature for you and your significant other (if you have a significant other. If you can not agree with your significant other, here is that magic word that will save you a world of hurt…compromise!). Then research programmable thermostats at your local hardware store and try to find a way to fit that purchase into your budget within the next couple of months.

Have a great and wonderful day! If you enjoy this series, please forward to and tell your friends. Thanks again!

For an interesting book on creating you own electricity, and even selling some back to the electric company Click Here!

This one (as with many of the other tips that we have shared) has been preached all over the internet. We are simply trying to place all of these ideas into a single location, while picking the ones that we feel are the most relevant and the ones that we have tried.

When it come to electricity, I would say that this step was easily the third biggest energy saving tip that we tried. We have covered one already, and we will cover another in the near future. The price has come down considerably in the last year, and you can now get a quality CFL (compact fluorescent light) for around a dollar.

We have tried several brands, and most have worked fairly well as far a light output compared to incandescent bulbs. There is a difference to be noted though. For example, a sixty watt incandescent bulb was comfortable for us to read by; that was not the case with the CFL, and I hear that the LED’s are even a little fainter than the CFL’s. That was the bad news. The good news is that we now get the equivalent of a 100w incandescent bulb, and only use 23w with our CFL!! Now that may not sound like a big deal to some of you, but lets do a little math pertaining to our situation.

We have 37 light fixtures in and around our house. Some of these almost burn continuously, while others-such as in closets-rarely if ever get used. After doing about a half a month of collecting data, we discovered that we averaged around three hours a day per bulb. Now, that is 37(bulbs)X100(watts)X3(hours)=11100w per day average. That equals 11.1 kilowatts per day (1 kilowatt=1000 watts). In our area we only have one municipality electric system to get service from, and they charge an extortionate (compared to other companies just a few miles north of us) rate of a little over ten cents per kilowatt hour. That equates to roughly $1.10 per day just for lighting. The same figure with our replacement CFL’s [37(bulbs)X100(watts)X3(hours)=2550w or 2.55kw per day]? That would come to 26 cents per day! A savings of $25.20 per month!!

Action point: We highly recommend trying to change as many of these bulbs as soon as possible. Congress has already passed a bill that will do away with the incadescent buld by 2012 if I remember correctly. Only replace what you can afford to, but even if it is just one buld every couple weeks in a high use area, you should see the difference fairly quickly. Thank you for reading our articles, and have a great day!

For an interesting book on creating you own electricity, and even selling some back to the electric company Click Here!

Hello again, and thank you for reading our money saving tips. It is our greatest desire to see you decrease your monthly expenses by at least 20% with these 100 money saving ideas.

Washing only full loads of laundry is kind of like a double edged sword when it comes to slashing your utility bills-it cuts both ways! First, you will save on your water bill. By only washing full loads of laundry (or at least setting your washer to the correct water level) will lower the amount of water you use per article of clothing. Also, it will prevent extra time spent using the dryer (if you decide not to take action point three.

After we started doing this, we noticed about three loads a week difference in our laundry room. That saves water per wash cycle, and electricity for not only the dryer, but the washer motor as well. It will also save you some of that commodity that we are all too short on these days-time. That was an additional nine trips to the laundry room avoided (three to put them in the washer, three to place them in the dryer and three to get them out and fold or hang up), and also time saved by placing more clothes in their proper place at one time.

Action point: For the next four weeks only wash full loads of laundry.

I know we say it often, but we really mean it: Have a great day!

For an interesting book on createing you own electricity, and even selling some back to the electric company Click Here!

This action will only apply to those of you who do your laundry in-house. If you use coin operated laundry, or a laundry service (why are you doing this if you are trying to save money?), this will only help if you someday begin to do your laundry at home. If you can not use this tip, read no more; just be sure to check back tomorrow!

Now, for those of us who can benefit from this. Your clothes dryer is one of the most energy eating appliances in your dwelling. Whether it be gas, or electric, drying your clothes naturally will make a tremendous difference in your utility bill. Remember how we told you that we had gradually brought our electric bill down by $45 over a five month period? Well, the month that we started doing this caused an $18 drop. Nearly half. Now I will grant you that our dryer is not the newest, most energy efficient model, but I know that you will see a noticeable difference if you try this as well.

One thing that we found though (just a personal issue) is that we could not tolerate the way the clothes felt so stiff after being air dried. We tried fabric softener in the rinse cycle, but nothing seemed to help. We eventually compromised and let our clothes air dry most of the way, then we placed them in the dryer with a dryer sheet for about ten minutes just to soften them a little. Drying for ten minutes is still a lot cheaper than drying for an hour a load. Let us know how it affects your bill once you start implementing some of these actions.

Action point: For one month hang clothes either on a line outside (if available), or on door jambs, shower curtains, etc. inside the house and see the difference in your utility bills. Another aspect to consider is that during the winter time, due to the drying of your inside air by heat, this will add some much needed humidity to your dwelling. In the summer time, this same humidity is removed by your air conditioner! Have a great day!

For an interesting book on creating you own electricity, and even selling some back to the electric company Click Here!

Welcome back to this series. One thing that is often neglected, or delayed too long is changing your air/heat filters. These filters are relatively non expensive, and the time to change one generally takes less than a minute. For people with severe allergies, look for specific HEPA filtration standards on the label. Install these and notice the difference within 48 hours.

OK, entertain us for just a moment. Once you have finished this sentence, place your hand over your mouth and try to breathe deep, slow breaths….how did that feel? You would have to work hard to maintain the proper airflow into your body, would you not? The same is true for your air/heat system. The harder it has to work to get and force air, the more electricity it will use.

Action point for today: Check your filters and clean/replace the ones that are in need. There really is not a set time to change these filters, as different environments will have different requirements, but I would check them at least weekly and change as often as needed. Once again, we would like to encourage your comments on this series, as well as any suggestions you may have for the site in general. Have a great day, and we will see you tomorrow!

For an interesting book on creating you own electricity, and even selling some back to the electric company Click Here!

Welcome to our first post in this series! Most of the post in this series are going to be short, specific, and to the point, with possibly a couple of action points each. The majority will be actionable by both homeowners and renters, but there will be a few targeted directly at each. Take what you can use and leave the rest!

OK, first, lets talk about what we mean by “appliances and electronics.” Basically, anything that plugs into an electrical outlet and uses electricity. Did you know the 20% of an items electrical consumption takes place while the item is not in use? For instance, if you use a blender regularly throughout the month and it consumes 1kw (1000 watts) of electricity during that month, 200 watts, or 1/5th, of the blenders consumption took place while it was not in use.

So that is our first step-Unplug unused appliances and electronics. For us: blender, toaster, toaster oven, DVD players, stereos, VCRs, etc. We completed this task during a seasonal change, so it was hard to pinpoint whether the savings were due to this or the use of less heat, but we have seen a consistent drop (from $200 a month gradually down to $155 a month) over the last five months. Not all of the savings are due to this step, some came from other actions we took-but that is another set of posts! Hope this helps, and we would like to encourage your feedback-have you done this before? Could you tell a difference in your bill? Please leave a comment below, or contact us personally via the contact us page. As always, have a great day!!

For an interesting book on creating you own electricity, and even selling some back to the electric company Click Here!