I want to avoid the ridiculous energy bills that I seem to get every summer (plus do my part for the environment). I know the basic things like recycling and I understand the idea of reusing, but I'd like to know what everyone else here does.

Here are some of the things that I've started doing:

1. using compact fluorescent light bulbs (only 8 watts instead of 60 so it doesn't make the house as hot)
2. we've turned down the thermostat on the hot water heater (we heard that it helps with the cost of energy, not sure if it does yet)
3. I've started hanging up jeans and work pants instead of drying them in the dryer (it makes them very rough, but cuts my dryer usage in half!)


So what do y'all do to cut down on your energy costs that costs little to nothing out of your pocket?

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Kristee
Kritter0114@aol.com

"Hold on, let me check....YES! I do have a coupon for that!"

I do what you do (great minds think alike!) but also adding:

4. Set the A/C to 78 during the day, 76 at night... I keep windows open from the time that I wake up in the morning until the A/C kicks on.
5. Plant deciduous trees (the kind that lose leaves in the Winter) along the south and west sides of the house to provide afternoon shade. They take about 3 years to take hold but what a difference!
6. Put shade window screens on sunny windows that remain w/o trees. I bought a bunch of the solar fabric from Walmart Garden Center and put into the window screen frames using spline, etc. They look nice and really shade the windows.
7. We installed a thermostat driven fan in the attic. It exhausts hot air to the outside... It is located at the vent in the attic. It turns on when the attic reaches 100 degrees.
8. Fans (I have the box type that can sit in a window sill) and ceiling fans...

I am in Arizona... we also try to conserve water which is another story!

I'm working on making a solar cooker. I read about this and thought it would be a fun experiment, and maybe I can actually cook something in it, and not run the oven or BBQ grill so much.

Can't give up my A/C, but, I do keep it on 78*.

We've set the hot water heater temp. down, and did see a difference in our power bill.

pretty much everything that has been mentioned already.

Good Luck!!!

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Doing the right thing isn't always the same as doing the easy thing.

We don't open the blinds on the back of the house (afteroon sun) during the summer to keep the sun out. It keeps the house cooler.

We also keep it on 78 and put on the ceiling fans to circulate the cool air.

Lisa

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"It's not having what you want,
It's wanting what you've got"

I keep turning off lights and only will leave the one on in my bedroom if I'm working on coupons while I watch TV. My AC only comes on from say 5:30 PM - 8 or 9 PM when I go to bed. I have blinds on all windows, supplied by the apartment complex. I turn my computer off each night or when I am done for the night.

I live in an apartment so I can't change the hot water temp or do anything about the lack of trees.

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Laura
Please visit my blog
http://mylifeinlaurasworld.blogspot.com/

Idiot here... how do you turn down the temp on teh water heater--went down cellar took a look at the heater but didn't see any temp dial or anything...

we use the special lightbulbs as well.
I'm down to one bath a day.. down from 3..lol (I refuse to take showers)
right now the weather is just right to keep windows open .
we have blinds
we have campfires and cookout once a week on them

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Too many people spend money they haven't earned to buy things they don't want, to impress people they don't like. - Will Rogers

For water conservation, we installed dual flush toilets. The full flush is actually less than a standard toilet, and the half flush is only 0.8 gallon/ flush. I use the half flush for just about everything, but DH really needs the full flush sometimes.

We try to shut the lights out as much as possible. I also hang my laundry outside as much as possible, and when it rains I hang laundry on a rack in my spare room. I try to only use my dryer to soften my already dry laundry. In the winter I keep the temp at about 68 in the house and I try not to turn it up unless it is really cold outside. Living in Maine is a challenge in the winter, because our winters are often very cold!!!!

Solar cooker, gosh I remember years ago making one of these, back in the early 70's, my hippie days, as my kids like to call it. But those ovens sure do work, I could bake a cake in it, veggie stews were my speciality, lol, you know, I think I'm going to make another, it will be fun, and my deck gets sun all day so that's perfect, thanks for the flashback!

we set our AC at 78 during the day and 65 for the heat to kick on. 78 isn't too hot for me but on days it is (for hormonal reasons), it may drop to 75. I try to keep the lights off as much as possible. I feel like I'm always turning off lights. We recently put some compact Flourescent bulbs in our laundry room. The lights are on 12 hours a day in there because it's pitch black without light and it's the in/out of the house to garage. We have light blocking drapes on our huge windows in our sunroom (which is actually our office right now) and blinds on everything else. On hot days, we get up early and open the house up (windows, doors, etc) to let the cool air in and then shut it up before it gets warm. We are down to a bath or shower each one a day at home. DH takes one a work after exercising and I take one at the gym after exercising. I take LONG showers at the gym I figure most of my membership money goes to my showers LOL. We grill a lot outside so we don't use the oven inside. We are getting a quote on a tankless hot water heater so we just heat what we are using instead of heating water 24/7. We have made sure the chalking around windows and doors is good as well.

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Proud to say I haven't shopped at a Wal-Mart since Sept 2003

I take a nap at least once a week====saves on MY energy!

Not using my blow dryer on my hair, and not using a curling iron either. Now, on "special" occasions, I'll use them, but, my hair doesn't really need it, so that saves, too.

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Doing the right thing isn't always the same as doing the easy thing.

I like the nap idea!

Along the same lines as allin, I don't iron clothes. LOL.