We use cold water all the time anymore. Plus now that it's warmed up we also make liberal use our solar clothes dryer (AKA a clothesline    ). Doing those two things REALLY slash the bill.

Our biggest bill slasher by far was replacing outside doors or making sure the insulation seal was good on all the windows.  Attic insulation is a big big one.  If its the blow in kind, it has to be deep, and after a few years it settles....and if its just the roll in kind, blowing some in on top makes a huge huge difference.

I don't know what you have your hot water heater set on...but ours stays pretty low.  I wash everything in cold water except the underwear load.  No scalding yourself on the water here..hah.

If you have a window that faces south and gets lots of sun...you can go to Lowes and get some tint, they have some you can't even really see, and it will cut down BIG TIME on the heat in the house on the south side.  (We did this when we lived in Texas and it really worked well)

That's all I can think of...grill outside instead of using the oven/stove.  That really is all I have.

Hey Tex -- Congrats on your house.

Another way to reduce electricity is to unplug vampire appliances when they aren't in use. TVs/radios/microwave/etc draw a lot of electricity when they aren't even on -- by unplugging them you can really cut down.

$87 for two weeks? Ours has been running over $500 a month! One of the problems with having a big house.

Roy: I am definitely going to try relying on cold water more for washing. I wish I didn't have so much laundry but with 5 of us, one of whom gets food all over herself throughout the day, two of whom have school uniforms and then play clothes on weekdays, and one of whom has a uniform then civies on weekdays...the laundry really piles up!

I don't think I have ever done a clothes line, but it might be worth the extra work.

Thanks for the tip!

Tova: Wow, a lot of that went way over my head! We are going to have to study up! Our attic opens up in the garage and doesn't have a door over it right now, so I know that needs to be taken care of. We have such a long list of things to do!

Something cool we learned, though, was that the original owner bought this house new for about $50k over what we paid. It definitely needs work, but I am feeling pretty good about the value for our purchase.

I will look into the window tint stuff. That sound really simple to do. I also read about a jacket for the water heater that is really inexpensive.

We don't have a grill yet (we got rid of our cheap charcoal grill in Hawaii because we didn't think it would make the move...heh, lots of things didn't!), but it's definitely warming up enough that we could do that regularly. Great idea!

Shades: Thanks!

Adrian has not been keen on doing those things, but I think it's a great idea. It's not a sacrifice at all to have something unplugged if you're not using it.

Ben: YIKES!! If ours was that high we would starve!!

Our home is less than 1,600 sq feet, so it shouldn't be too difficult to keep our expenses down. One of the things I love about it is the vaulted ceiling in the living room and the loft, but that does negatively affect our utility expenses.

I am really curious what a typical or good usage would be for a home our size. Anyone have any idea?

I don't know how accurate this is, but here's a chart for your "typical" 1,600sf house.

http://srmi.biz/Tips.Appliances.All_electric_energy_use.htm

We live in a four bedroom apartment home. Our electric bill was constantly high and drove me crazy.  I called the electric company, had them do an energy check for me and gave me ideas on what I can do to save.  They were very helpful.  Since changing over almost all of our regular bulbs, and being vigilant about lights being left on in unused rooms, unplugging cell phone cords, game console not being used, etc., and cooking only four to five times for the week, I've seen a major difference!  For the first time in a very long time I paid $103 for electric last month!

What you plan to do should help.  Definitely call your electric company and have them help you with this, giving suggestions etc., they will be glad to especially since you're a home owner.

I was also on a website the other day that was helpful, if I find it I'll link it for you!

Wow that is awesome Tex. Even with the housing market down right now the chances of you making a massive profit if you sold it today is greatly increased. WOO HOO!

The tint comes in a roll and we did every single window in our house when we lived in Texas...it made a huge difference especially in my nursery which pointed south with two big windows. It went from the hottest room in the house to being the same temp as the others, not to mention the fading aspect of the sun on curtains, furniture, and carpet.

It comes in diff colors and "strengths" like sunglasses. hahaha

It can be a little tricky at first but once you get the hang of it...it goes on fast and really makes a difference.

Our place is a double brick apartment on the ground floor of a two story building.  It was built in the 30's and has a north/south aspect.  This means that, for the most part, the house stays nice and cool in summer but can be a little chilly in winter.  While we don't have AC, we have gas heating.  This is so effective, we find we can turn it off once the living areas are warm.  I find it easier, though, to put on some warmer clothing.

We have replaced all our standard bulbs with CFLs, turn off all lights when not in use and wash our clothes in cold water only.  We don't own a clothes dryer, preferring to line dry everything.  If it is raining, we have clothes horses for drying inside.  We also keep our showers to a minimum and run our dishwasher on the 'eco' setting.  This put our electricity bill for a quarter is generally around $120 to $150, even though we have two televisions, peripherals and my recording studio.  I'm not sure what you pay for your electricity, though, so I don't know how it compares.

We've been looking at the window tint too, particularly for the doors and windows out onto our balcony. 

Great article. I myself have been doing what I can to conserve. I changed the light bulbs and have been chasing my kids making sure lights in empty rooms are off. Not sure about the plugging and unplugging of things. It would get annoying after a while to have to remember to plug it in before use, but can be helpful for electronics that you hardly use. I do admit with 2 laptops in the house on almost all day, I can't save as much as I could but I will continue to find other ways. Hot water is another issue, my wife loves hot showers, I like it warm but can deal with cold if necessary.

Keep up the good work and before you know it, you'll be saving big time.

Adaquate insulation and insulating the cracks and gaps makes a huge difference.  The space behind light switches and outlets that are on outside walls are rarely insulated.....and it adds up to the equivalent of having a window open all the time! It's harder to find leaks in the summer but it's a good way to save money.

Good for you on resisting the A/C for now....but trust me, you will need it!  Fans in every room will definetely help the house feel cooler, A/C or not.

Drying on a line is actually not that much extra work.  Folding and sorting goes really fast so it makes up for the few minutes you spend hanging.  If you dont' want to take the time to hang an actual line, try IKEA's folding stand.  It's $14 and well worth the money.

 

Here in Denver, our highest bills come in the winter while yours are in the summer. A ceiling fan in the room with the vaulted ceiling would help circulate the air and might cut your energy bills when the AC is on.

I cant remember what our power bill is...mainly because we are usually behind and have two months we need to pay or something, lol.

As far as the dishwasher, I think the heated dry is just a time saver...in theory.  If the hot water is hot enough, the dishes should be fairly dry within a minute or two of openign the washer door.  The extreme heat will sort of zap off the water.  Thats how we do it anyways...I just open the door to let the steam out, and the dishes are mostly dry...if not, they are hot enough so that they will dry out in a few minutes up in tthe cupboard. 

When we do laundry, I always use cold water...never have been able to tell the difference.  I think hot is good for sanitary stuff, like blood or cat pee...etc.  Damned cats. 

Lots of dryers now have the air dry option where the heating element doesnt turn on.  Not sure how much power that would save, but its another option. 

As far as showers, you could, if you dont already, get one of those water saving shower heads.  the shower head we have is the one that was already in the shower when we moved in, and its fairly nice.  Has a wand, plus another showerhead that stays in place when the wand is removed...sort of like two shower heads in one.  When I wake up to take a shower first, I jsut turn the wand off and the other shower ehad hardly uses much water at all. 

If we ever buy a house or build one...Id like to get one of those tankless water heater systems.  The water tanks are such a huge waste of money. 

We use CFL's too.  In our trailer, wed replace the regular bulb with a CFL...and I think most of them are CFLs now in there.  In our apartment here, we have gone el cheapo and just replaced the bulbs with regular bulbs again.  of course, on average, we seem to burn a bulb once a week at least.  Right now we are replacing the bulbs with CFL's in lighting that we use most often...kitchen, living room...etc.

We wash in cold water and we have changed some of the light bulbs for CFLs but I find I'm turning into my dad. I go from room to room turning off lights asking, "Who left the light on?" or "If you're not watching t.v. turn it off". A few times I catch myself and think, "Damn, I sound just like him". And that's scarier than a high electric bill.

Our highest electric bill is in the dead of summer when using a/c, and that's a miximum of $100 for a 2,700 sq ft house.  So, there are probably ways to bring down your costs.

Are all your appliances electric?  Electric water heaters are a huge expense.  If you can convert to gas (or better yet, an on demand gas) you can make up for the expense of the appliance quite quickly.

It sounds like you are already on track for cutting down on your consumption.  You really have to just keep watching the bills and trying new ways to conserve to get down to what you can live with.