Lowering electric bill
Posted 01-17-2009 at 02:34:42 PM by justmama
My first bog EVER.
I am on day two of 67o thermostat. Down from 72-75 depending on my mood :shrug7:The biggest thing i have noticed is we sit too much
. If i am up doing something, i am not cold. My boys also stayed in their underwear far too much. It's interesting to see them in clothes while we are at home. 
I found 2 windows that were no locked into place, we have newer windows (our house is 8 years old). If the windows are locked they are virtually draft proof. I opened up all the curtains and mini blinds. Our bedroom is the coldest. It also doubles as dh's office, and i am not sure how he will function. I am now toying with the idea of using a space heater. We have one that plugs in and looks like a radiator. I heard on the today show, that using an electric blanket costs less than turning the heat up.
We need to replace weatherstripping on both doors.
Does anyone have a clue, if the aquarium is using that much energy with the light on? Is it worth it to not have it on, it is rather close to a window.
I am on day two of 67o thermostat. Down from 72-75 depending on my mood :shrug7:The biggest thing i have noticed is we sit too much
. If i am up doing something, i am not cold. My boys also stayed in their underwear far too much. It's interesting to see them in clothes while we are at home. I found 2 windows that were no locked into place, we have newer windows (our house is 8 years old). If the windows are locked they are virtually draft proof. I opened up all the curtains and mini blinds. Our bedroom is the coldest. It also doubles as dh's office, and i am not sure how he will function. I am now toying with the idea of using a space heater. We have one that plugs in and looks like a radiator. I heard on the today show, that using an electric blanket costs less than turning the heat up. We need to replace weatherstripping on both doors.
Does anyone have a clue, if the aquarium is using that much energy with the light on? Is it worth it to not have it on, it is rather close to a window.
Total Comments 3
Comments
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I know this sounds strange but I have started putting my towels,etc. on hangers and then placing them on the front side of the house( inside) windows . Like where the curtains should be well we have blinds so I just hand them there. I place a towel on a hang then put it there and the heat from the sun that comes through dries it.
I use the 2 windows in our master bath. I can do a few towels or anything that I can get on the hanger. No company to worry and if so just pull the door shut. Oh yeah, noone can see in either.Posted 01-17-2009 at 04:00:31 PM by nmeadows0101
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power bill help
Rolling the thermostat back should help. We keep ours on 67 in the winter. Be careful about plugging up additional heat sources. They can suck the power up. Especially those tower heaters and radiator heaters.
Swapping to a new digital control makes the thermostat more accurate and saves money. A few yrs back we noticed that the old thermostat kept kicking back on every few minutes,,,,even when the temp "felt" ok.
The hvac guy said the old models are inefficient. mercury or something made them not as good as the new ones. They don't cost a whole lot either.
The new spiral light bulbs do lower the power bill. I noticed ours dropped last yr just a couple of dollars. Our power company bills shows last yr and last month on the bills. The current yr is usually up from last yr $10. Didn't see that last summer when we swapped out the bulbs.
We went through the house and unplugged all flashing digital reading things. I keep the micro unplugged now too.
I do larger loads in the wash. Just one extra towel or shirt...cuts us down on 1 load a week.
Vac the lint screen in the dryer. It helps cut down the drying time. I read a post that says the chemicals on dryer sheets adhere to the lint screen. Stuff you can't see. Cuts down on efficiency.
I cut my stove off a little early for
boiling eggs, potatoes, boiling chicken. Just put the lid on it and cut it off about 5/10 min early. The stored heat finishes the stuff. Depending on the kind of pan you have, you might can just bring it to a boil and cut it off. I do that for my boiled eggs. I have an old club dutch oven that I use and it finishes the eggs. In about an hr I run cold water and peel them.
I do the same with what ever I cook in the oven. I cut the oven off a few minutes early like for stuff in baking baking bags.
Cook more in crock pots.Posted 01-18-2009 at 01:48:57 AM by thickbluebug - I was told that you can't get a programmable thermostat with a heat pump, i might have to get a second opinion.Posted 01-18-2009 at 06:25:20 PM by justmama
