Hellobee Boards

I don't do it bc its freezing cold here in NY 7 months out of the year and I don't like "crispy"but clothes, but I heard dryers use a ton of energy. Try hanging up clothes to dry?

@DesertDreams88: $30-40 per year or month? For $40 a year I’d gladly use the dryer.

Following along because i feel like our utilities are so high. We got new windows and insulation which has helped some but it’s still a big old house to heat and cool.

@Foodnerd81: per month.

@hypatia: yeah we do 4-6 loads a week so it adds up I guess. Kid clothes, cloth diapers, my clothes, DH clothes, kitchen towels & bibs, bedding. I try to combine 1 or two of those but usually it's a full load.

It takes me about 15 extra minutes. 10 min to hang, 5 min to take down (I just hold the laundry hamper below as I unclip so it falls in). My ILs do the kid & kitchen laundry since they babysit daily at our house, so that helps.

@Hypatia: just be careful line drying if anyone has allergies! We can’t consider it for that reason. We also have the keep the house a couple degrees colder than I would like in summer because it makes it less humid which helps dust mite allergies. Ugh.

We’re lucky here though that we have competition in the electricity market so you can get a good rate/plan and also make choices about how renewable you want it, etc. A little more work to figure out what to sign up for (the plans are not always straightforward) but worth it. There’s also now a service locally that for like $10/mo handles changing your plan as needed to minimize your cost.

Another simple thing I figured out a year after we moved here is that our sewer rate (which makes up a big portion of our water bill and only changes once a year) is based on water usage Nov-Feb so I try to be mindful then (essentially it’s estimating your usage without sprinklers, but plenty of people here use them wastefully in winter anyway because our lines don’t freeze). I also signed up for notifications from the county about how much to run the sprinklers based on weather conditions - really helpful since it’s so hot in TX but most grass is low water. That service also taught me things like running multiple short cycles to save runoff and maximize your benefit.

We got a new HVAC system that is more efficient - we may never see the $ breakeven but the old one was leaking coolant. The installation guy told me in addition to keeping up the filter changes it’s helpful to hose off the outside unit once a month or so.

We have a solar water heater which shaves off at least 1/3 of the bill. Toaster oven. Line dry things like jeans, sheets and towels. We air dry the dishwasher dishes. My worst energy sin is I leave my computer on sleep mode a lot instead of turning it off. We don’t use air conditioning or have a heater and we have lots of natural lighting so lights stay off much of the time.

@Hypatia: I’d love to see how you find the time of use plan. We’ve been thinking of switching. Our regular rate is 13.1. Time of use would mean off peak is 8.96 and on peak is 19.68. We would get to pick our off peak time ie 6-6, 7-7, 8-8 and weekends and holidays are off peak by default. So it sounds doable to me and I would hope we would come out ahead

You can bargain with internet companies to lower your monthly and I like the discount mobile phone company named Ting. For movies/tv, we watch PBS, redbox and use hulu every few months as there are deals with Amex Offers or other discounts that make it close to free. I have a hard time shaving off water bill as it is mostly sewer charges.

@Hypatia: in WA state water heaters have to be set to 120 deg for safety - so I wouldn't worry about Legionnaires at that temp.

Sweat in the summer and freeze in the winter.

These are good tips! Hope you figure out a good system to save you $$$.