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Monday, January 14

Another $56 Electric Bill

It seems our electric meter is stuck.  The last three months the bill has basically been the same.  One of my tenants had a $400 electric bill and wanted me to feel sorry for them and understand why the rent would be late.  I felt like telling them to stop being so wasteful.

So, how does one spend $56 per month for electricity in a house full of three adults?

  • Living in Florida helps, at least in the winter.  We haven't used the heat yet.  With daily highs in the low 80s last week I started to worry we were going to need the A/C.  
  • Speaking of A/C, we haven't used it since early October.  That's what ceiling fans are for.
  • Not having Internet at home means our laptops aren't draining.  They get charged at the library when we access the Internet there.
  • Not having cable TV means we don't use the one TV we have that often.  The TV is usually on for a couple hours at night, that's all.
  • I have a strict rule about the clothes dryer:  We only use it to dry socks and towels.  We wouldn't dry those except the high humidity in the South means they absolutely won't dry before they start stinking.  We use a drying rack I bought at IKEA to dry all our clothes.  As a side benefit, our clothes last forever because we aren't subjecting them to hellish temperatures all the time.
Of course, we still spend nearly $2 per day for electricity.  I would love to cut that in half, but it would be difficult to do.  We are cooking our meals at home more and more, so I would wager most of the electricity we use is for cooking and heating water.  I've considered getting a tankless water heater but haven't been able to justify the expense of switching yet.

4 comments:

  1. Consider getting a black water bag that you can leave in the sun. Then take your showers late afternoon with that water.

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    Replies
    1. Something I had not thought of. This sounds like something campers would use.

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  2. We have more than cut ours in half since last year. My mother is the only one at home during the day since oldest son is a teacher, middle girl is in college, youngest girl in highschool. DH works nights usually and I am mostly days. But we unplug everything. We use power bars and then flip them off and unplug them(though I know some say you dont have to).

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    Replies
    1. Judy,
      That's great! I use a couple power strips where we have multiple electronics, like with the TV and DVD player. I think my biggest power user now is the water heater.

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