The weather man is telling us that the temperatures are going to start soaring down here in West Texas and you know what that means — with soaring temperatures come soaring electric bills. This past month we got a pleasant surprise in our electric bill — it was only $97!!! The Frugal Hubby and I were quiet happy! Then we started thinking what we could do to continue to have electric bills in that price range every month. Below are some tips that we came up with:
Picture by QualityFrog
1. Open the windows when possible. Last month the temperatures were not so unbearable and there were quite a few windy days. We took advantage of the windy days by opening windows on both sides of our house so that a cross breeze could blow through the house. Not only did it help to keep things cool but it aired out the house (The Frugal Hubby is a smoker!). We don’t leave the windows open when we are gone to work. Maybe I watch too many crime stories on TV but I don’t want my house to be one that is burglarized because of an open window.
2. Use portable fans and ceiling fans. We have three portable fans that we can pick up and move to various parts of the house. We use them whenever we are at home. It may not be the most attractive, fashionably decorated thing to have sitting around your house but it sure helps reduce using the air conditioner and keeps the electric meter from spinning out of control. They are also nice to have running at night when we are sleeping.
3. Check the thermostat before leaving for work in the morning. There is no use cooling the house when we are not there. Turning the thermostat up to 78 usually keeps the house cool enough for the cat.
4. Turning off unnecessary lights. It’s very easy to walk out of a room and leave the lights on. The kitchen is the room we usually have a problem with. We are in and out of there so much that sometimes it’s just easier to leave them on. We’ve also found ourselves waiting longer at dusk to turn lights on in the family room, maybe because the kitchen and family room open up into each other, so we are lighting the family room with the kitchen lights.
5. Hanging some clothes up to dry instead of using the dryer. My shirts that I wear to work are always hung up to dry instead of put in the dryer. If you like the smell of dryer sheets with Febreze, a spray bottle of Febreze does the trick! I actually like it alot better than the dryer sheets. Plus by hanging up my clothes, we avoid shrinkage which can be caused by drying them on the wrong temperature!
6. Avoid using the oven as much as possible. Not that this was one of my biggest energy problems, but it gives me an excuse not to bake!!!
I am sure that there are many more summertime energy saving tips. Please leave us a comment and let us know your energy saving tips!
Till next time,
JT Locke
The Frugal Housewife
About The Frugal Housewife
Just a note to say that your site make over looks great!
Thanks Marcy!!! Had to do something! There were a lot of blogs using the other template plus it just looked too crowded! This one is super easy to adapt to what I’m wanting. It’s my goal to eventually buy a premium template.
I like the idea of hanging up your clothes whenever possible. I like to hang dry jeans because I always shrink them in the dryer. We are always very conscious of how many lights we leave on. I am constantly running after the kids to turn off lights. As for the oven, I do like to bake but I will not bake on hot days in the summer. One tip that I can share is to share bathwater. I have 3 kids so I’ll bath my daughter by herself and then bath the boys in the same water after she’s done. I just add some hot water to warm it up.
We’re still having winter so our utility bills are still soaring from the use of the furnace. My kitchen light is on all night long because we are in and out of there too much.
So wait… no ovens… how can I work this to get dinners out?
I like the idea of febreeze on shirts – especially after they hung dry. Will try it for sure
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do you hate to bake???
It’s not my favorite thing, except around Christmas. With our hot summers down here in South West Texas, it gets a little too hot to keep the oven on for extended times. It’s one of the tips for helping to keep the electric bill down.
I love this time of year for many reason, one being that I don’t have heat or air on running up my electric bill! Thanks for the tips. I’m looking forward to the summer off (school employee) so I can hang my laundry outside to dry too!