Lowering the cost of your utilities

[funmommy]

It's amazing what one little thing can do. I lowered the temperature on my water heater.. it was set pretty high since we've been staying here and the bills went down at least 50 bucks. The temperature still gets hot for a nice hot bath, but it's on one of the "warm levels" now so it's not as scorching as before and the money saved is great! I live in a mountainous area that has cooler temperatures so I've really noticed a difference.
I'm sure people may even be hauling in their own trash bags to the local garbage dump to save on the trash bill. I see people doing it in my area, but not sure on how much they actually save. If you put out the trash just twice a month, I can see how this can be helpful. I have also been recycling my cans and bottles for over a few years now.

[jennster]

Congrats! It is always exciting when we can lower our utility bills. Great Idea with the Water Heater.

I went to Kmart and picked up a bunch of those plastic child proof plugs and put them in all my outlets I am not sure how much it saves us because we have been doing it since we moved in but my electric bill is never over $50 and we have 4 kids that love to leave lights on.

I recently started hand washing and drying our families clothes instead of spending the money at the laundry mat. We have 2 bathrooms so I put a batch of clothes in every morning to each tub and in my kitchen sink. It takes me about the same amount of time 1 hour and then I set up some rope lines to hang dry the clothes.

Started making all my own laundry soaps,ect. So literally it only costs me pennies to do all the family's wash every month. We live in an apartment building that pays for the water so I just wash everything but the whites in Cold water so we don't have to pay.

Also we have to buy our water out here so Instead of continuing to buy gallons of water, I went and bought a Brita Tank. I like the Zero Pitcher better but this one will do for now. So now we no longer pay for our drinking water.

There are just so many things you can do to cut back on those expenses it is unbelievable.

[robynec]

Oh wow great tip. Definetly gonna do this. Thanks for sharing~

[homeformyboys]

I never thought about lowering the temperature of the hot water tank. I wash all our clothes in cold water, which makes a difference- now, I'm going to see how lowering the water temp helps. Thanks for the tip

[cmyrtle]

I never though to turn the thermostat down on the water heater. What I have been doing is turning off the breaker to the water heater. We turn it on 1 hour before we take our shower, or wash the dishes. We save about $30.00 a month doing that alone.

[iambarbara]

great! I am going to tell my husband to do this!

[JesterJoker]

ill have to try this.. we already use cold water tide so no water there...besides cold.

[JMH]

Originally Posted by cmyrtle

I never though to turn the thermostat down on the water heater. What I have been doing is turning off the breaker to the water heater. We turn it on 1 hour before we take our shower, or wash the dishes. We save about $30.00 a month doing that alone.

what do you mean? Do you turn your water heater complete off at night?

[JMH]

I turn my heat down to 65 a night and set my thermostat so it only warms the house up when we are home at night. If I am home during the day I bundle up rather than turn it up. I also shut down my computer at night and unplug things like the toaster, coffee maker etc because leaving them plugged in still pull energy.

[ApronGuy]

I don't understand why the water is on all the time here in the US. In Europe they time it to save energy but they still pay more there (Taxes). It really makes sense to keep the temperature at a reasonable level. You can also buy a cover for the water tank and SAVE more.

Have fun saving that's how we keep our hard earned cash in our pockets !