Saving Money

when you cook, cook enough for at least two meal, then freeze. Less oven time AND you will love the nights you don't have to cook........just defrost!

Hello E.,

during the summer, use fans to keep the air moving and the thermostat a couple of degrees higher. get a timer and have 5 minute showers. any clothes you can use twice (like jeans) do! one pair of jeans that you do that, in a year that's 3 - 4 loads less. plan your errands so you save gas and time. buying in bulk is not always best if it's an itemt/food that will go bad before you finish using it. skip the fabric softener and dryer sheets. I stopped using them a few years ago (it made my daughter's skin itch) and have not missed it. run the dishwasher when full. have the one cup/glass per day per person... whenever possible of course. I say that because my kids will use a new cup every 5 minutes if you let them.

good luck! ~C.~

We upgraded and purchased a more efficient ac/heating/furnace system (about $15,000) and then my hubby put in about $2000 worth og insulation in the attic. We saw a dramatic difference with the electric bill. We do NOT skimp on the thermostat, we keep it where we are comfy.

We also upgraded and replaced our hot water heaters (about $2000) for higher quality.

We did the this a little over a year ago and the summer electric bills were a regular at the high $600's. This year nothing has been over $400. We have 2 story, 8 yr old home, about 4000 sq ft.

Other than that, we have not made any changes. I do laundry daily and use the dishwasher daily.

My huband just got some kind of special plug or adaptor for the tv's and computer that saves lots of electricity. its called a power safer/saver and he got it at at Fry's or Home Depot.

You can also get energy film which is a thin film that goes on your windows to insulate your home. Available at home depot.
http://energy-film.com/index.php?option=com_content&t...

don't wash your clothes during peak electric rate times.
only wash full loads.
keep your dryer vents, screens cleaned to use less energy.
you can look up about putting a bottle in your toilet tank to reduce water if you don't have low flush toilets.
don't over water your yard and don't water after 9-10 am.
keep curtains/blinds closed as they face the sun during the day.

Hi,
We are in the midst of installing a silver multi layered material in our attic. It is a radiant barrier blanket to help keep heat out of our home. You can buy the silver material at Home Depot by the roll and you cut to fit. The silver material just sits on top of the insulation in your attic. You can have it installed by professionals but it is very expensive! Our bid was about $5,000.00. My husband saw the material they were going to use in our attic and new that it was sold at Home Depot. The cost for our home to have this radiant barrier looks like it will be a fraction of the cost with us doing the labor. We have finished about 20% of our house which is on the west side of the house. We are told that it can decrease your electric bill by about 40%.

i wash everything in cold water & hang dry as much as i can. if you can use a crockpot or electric skillet as much as possible, they use way less energy than an oven or stovetop. hand dry your dishes instead of using the heat dry. now that cooler weather is (hopefully) coming you will be able to open your windows more.

We started hand washing our dishes. We were quite surprised to see a savings in water and electricity. Now I just use it about once a week to make sure we keep it running, keep it clean and give myself a little break on hand washing all the dishes.

If you own your home, you might do an energy efficiency test. This is a FREE test that was from a settlement ONCOR agreed to with the deregulation of energy. We did it and found our house was extremely energy efficient. We had replaced our exterior doors and added glass doors too which helped seal up the entrances better. Also our windows were sealed well. We had also installed the radiant barrier in our attic and this saved us money over the past few years. This energy efficiency company also offered suggestions to make our house even more efficient- solar screens. This energy efficiency helps you out financially but it also helps out the environment by using less energy. This is always a good side effect.

This is the company I think we used for our energy efficiency test but this is the site we used to get their number. We were very happy with them but geographically you might need someone else?

D&A Conservation
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http://www.oncor.com/electricity/teem/consumer/res/index....

Just go down in the article to pull up the list of other service providers to help you out. Reference this Home Energy Efficiency program as these companies shouldn't be trying to sell you new equipment, but instead they are replacing old weather stripping in the doors, installing insulation in the outlets on the exterior walls, checking to make sure your air-conditioning ducts are connected in the attic, etc.

Good luck and send me a PM if you have any problems.

When you're not home (even just during the day while at work or running long errands) turn the a/c up (or heater down). We also use fans if we get a little warm, instead of turning the a/c down right away. We've saved a lot by doing this. All of the little things do add up, but this has saved us the most money. Also, adjust the temp. on you water heater to 120 F.