Leahey.org

Part 1: The Bills

It’s a fact of life, living costs money. Whether you own or rent, lease or buy, have gas heat or electric, if you own/rent/lease/borrow/squat in a dwelling, its costing you money. There are lots and lots of howto’s on the net detailing exactly how you can save “hundreds” on your heat bill, this is not one of those. This is just a writeup of how I saved hundreds, if it works for you, wonderful. If it doesn’t, don’t bother me.

Lets start with bills, and work our way out from there.

Electricity: Electricity isn’t cheap, the average electric bill costs $175/month where I live, which sounds a bit low to me. Anyway, there are a few ways to knock your price down a couple pennies.

You could, of course, get a windmill, or harnass the power of the waterfall you have in your back yard. Assuming however, that you don’t have that kind of dough or…natural resources at your disposal, your best bet is to basically, turn things off.

Air conditioning: Do you have central air? Do you live alone, or does your family not use most of the rooms in the house? If you spend most of your time in the living room, why do you care if the dining room is a little warm? Either close the vents in the rooms you don’t use, or do what I did and invest in a window or wall air conditioner. (Whichever one you choose, spend a little bit more and get one with a good energy rating, it’ll save you much more in the long run.) Plug that bad boy in and shut off that money-grubbing central machine.

Dishwasher: I personally do not have that many dishes at the end of the day, so it was beneficial for me to switch to hand-washing. However, if you have enough dirty dishes (or you’re really slow at washing them), you may actually save money by using the dishwasher. Figure out if you can handwash your dirty dishes in approximately half the time it takes the dishwasher to do it. If you can, handwashing is the way to go. If you can’t, you’ll probably spend more in water than you’ll save in electricity.

Think cold: Every time you use hot water, you make your hot water heater heat more water. Now, you may not have an electric water heater, it may be gas, or oil, but whatever it is it costs money. So don’t use hot water when you could use cold. (You shouldn’t be using hot water for anything you’re going to eat, either, like for boiling pasta. The hot water sits in the heater and gathers….bad little things, and hot water has a better chance of collecting nastiness from the pipes it flows through.)

Lights: Halogen lights suck up electricity like you wouldn’t believe, don’t use them, go instead for fluorescents. In addition to that, if you have any outdoor floodlights, make sure they’re set on some kind of timer or trigger. Either have them come on at dusk, and off around 3-4 AM, or install motion switches. If you go for the latter, make sure you aren’t installing them near a tree branch, or flag that will set them off when the wind blows.

TV: Most newer televisions have sleep timers, don’t leave your TV on all night. When you think you’re falling asleep, set it for 90 minutes, you’ll be out cold by the time it clicks off.

Get a laptop: Next time you buy a new computer, think about investing in a laptop. There are many pro’s, and as machines are improving, very few cons.

Water: Some the electricity tips there will also help with your water consumption, but beyond that, a few good ideas:

Get a well: In my area, well, I’m actually directly above a stream, so digging for a well isn’t much of an issue. 25’ and you’re there. You should do some research in your town, find someone who has a little “Irrigated with well-water” sign in their garden and ask them how deep they had to dig. You might also be able to find a reputable well driller this way.

I don’t think anybody, or at least I don’t, uses well water for anything other than watering the garden and the lawn. I suppose you could use it to clean your clothes, but I wouldn’t. Nevertheless, the savings on the water bill in the summer is nothing to sneeze at. Not to mention, if your town has an odd/even watering policy, you can thumb your nose at your neighbors burned grass.

Shower faster: This may sound obvious, but a lot of people do a lot of things other than showering in the shower. Don’t stand there and think about how much you don’t want to go to work today, do that in the kitchen, it’s free.

Finally: Read the tips on electricity, a lot of those will help you here, too.

Gas/oil: I don’t have too many tips here, most of them have been covered under either electricity or water. One tip outside of that would be if you have a gas dryer, utilize the wonder drying power of the sun.

Cable: How much TV do you watch? Do you really need all those premium channels? Analyze your watching habits and figure out how much is necessary, and what can be eliminated. I personally cancelled my cable-tv subscription entirely, I don’t need it. You may not want to take such drastic steps, but perhaps there are a few channels you can get rid of. (P.S. If you have a cable modem, be sure to find out if there is a requirement for maintaining a cable-tv subscription in your area).

Move on to Part 2: Staying healthy