Saving On My Water & Electricity Bills

 

Once I became an empty nester I felt I was now in complete control of the household consumption around here and I wanted to experiment a bit to see just how much of that control I actually had.  Turns out, quite a bit!

 

The first place I noticed a substantial decrease was with the water bill.  I no longer had teenagers taking never ending showers (once the hot water ran out, they got out) and I had put in low maintenance landscaping last spring.  Plus, I was also focused on lowering my own water use to economize even further.  I only shower once a week (I prefer to take baths) and when I do take a shower I get right down to business, in and out.  I also started taking what I like to call "WWII ration baths".  I found I only need a few inches of water in the tub to get the job done so anything over that was just a waste.

 

I have enough clothing, towels, dish cloths and wash cloths to last me a full week before I need to do any laundry.  I also have a large capacity front load washing machine and have found that I only need to run a full load of wash once a week now.  And that includes my bed sheets.  Yay for big washing machines and no more mountains of laundry!

 

I used a box fan at the door to blow in cool air each morning

As far as my energy consumption (I live in an all electric house with baseboard heat) I have been very mindful about leaving lights on in rooms I'm not in, hang my laundry to dry most of the time, didn't use the A/C much (even though we had a long period of record heat) and in general just used less electricity.  Now that it is much cooler weather with some pretty chilly nights I'm using the electric fireplace during the daytime turning it off once the house is warm and comfortable and using my electric blanket on my bed at night.  As it gets colder I'll make other adjustments, but so far this has been very successful.  I do not and have never had to turn the heat on in the upstairs of our home (as heat rises) or likewise, have an air conditioner installed in the first floor of the house.  Fortunately, my house is very well insulated and we have the benefit of large shade trees.  I only heat the downstairs in the winter and cool the upstairs(for about two months) in the summer.

 

My latest bills have been rather surprising given the rate increases we've had in the last couple of years.  This summer my water bill was the lowest it has been in twenty years at just $30.94 for two months of water use, even with watering all the new plants and my garden beds.  My last electric bill for the month was the lowest I've ever had in the entire 27 years I've lived in the house coming in at $32.94.  Amazing!

 

The biggest changes I made to curb my energy use was to use my clothes dry less as well as my range in the kitchen just to see how much electricity they actually do use and I think that made a huge difference overall.  Both of those appliances are 220 volts which is twice what a normal plug in appliance uses.  So I swapped out using my stove and oven during that time and only used my 110 volt appliances, just to see what would happen.  I used my toaster oven, microwave, slow cookers, coffeemaker, electric kettle, bread toaster and an electric skillet I have for travel use.  And during this time I only used the clothes dryer once for 30 minutes because it was raining outside.  Along with being mindful of leaving lights on unnecessarily, and only washing my laundry once a week, those were the only changes I made.

 

I "baked" this meatloaf in my slow cooker

I feel a lot more confident that I can actually make a difference and control my utility bills now, especially as we head into winter.  Subtle, little changes can actually make a BIG difference.  As a result I can keep a little more money in my pocket while decreasing my overall footprint on this earth and that is the best part of all.  I'm really proud of myself.  How are some ways you conserve energy and save water around your house?