Compiled and written by Bruce David Feel Free to share with others.
bedavid@yahoo.com
INTRODUCTION If your electric meter is spinning as fast as slot machines for as long as you can remember, then today is the right time to be concerned. You are paying large electric bills month after month right? And you are still trying to figure out how will you be able to lower down your energy cost to somehow make paying easier for you – right?
or the perceived costs associated with going green. Making your home completely energy self sufficient or ‘off-the-grid’ can easily run $35,000 and up for installing wind turbines, solar panels, geothermal, etc. Even though you will recoup those costs over time through tax incentives and monthly utility costs, many of us simply don’t have the upfront costs of accomplishing this task.
You will find a resource in this brief guide where you can ‘rent’ solar panels, including installation, and often, lock your monthly bill into place – a viable alternative to large out-of-pocket costs.
What this resource guide offers are ways and resources in which you can reduce your energy costs through low cost and low tech devices. Where possible, I’ll indicate various sources to purchase the item and in some cases, I’ll report if I’ve personally used them.
As you’ll see, we were able to save $175 per month off our utility bill with just a few adjustments and we spent less than $200…making for a rather substantial savings. What can you do with an extra $175 or more each month in your pocket?
We lived in Arizona for ten years and watched as area utility costs rose each year to where our monthly A/C and electric bill rose to more than $300 a month with only two adults in the home. Within a month of installing solar shades across our front deck, window treatments to block sun, substituting two window A/C units for our old, outdated central air and the substitution of a solar clothes drier vs. an electric dryer, substitution of our electric oven for a convection oven and microwave, we dropped our bill to $125 a month. Saving nearly $175 a month on these costs allowed us to use that cash to pay down other bills faster.
Consider that a whole house A/C can account for 45% of your energy bill and you see why it’s important to own one less than 10 years old. Every degree you set your thermostat up can save about 4% on your utility cost so why cool the whole house at night? Consider keeping the temp up but use a smaller window or circulating fan to keep yourself cool at night? You might also do a search for a product called a “Chillow.” You put this into your freezer and then inside your pillowcase at night to keep cool. I believe Walmart sells them as well as eBay sellers.
You can order solar shades and/or insulated curtains, or door draft guards to save money on heating & cooling at HarrietCarter.com, Walmart, HomeDepot, Lowes or many hardware stores. See our resource section for sources and online how-to videos.
Upon relocating back to Michigan (due to family obligations), we discovered high utility costs again. There must be a water shortage in the Great Lakes state because our water bill was $20 higher a month than when we lived in the desert and the state government here tacks on about $50 per month just to our heating bill. But, plans are underway to eliminate and/or reduce those bills as well (water miser shower heads and not using a dishwasher didn’t help our water cause here).
It’s a sin in, my opinion, that governments gouge citizens by adding taxes and other fees to basic utilities. Have you looked at your phone bill lately? A basic monthly, no-frills phone bill is advertised at $19.95. When you add in the taxes and fees, that bill becomes $35 per month. Many of our Poor Man subscribers have dropped their home line in favor of cell phone only in order to save some cash. Another alternative to look at is MagicJack.com, Vonage or other internet based phone system. They represent lower costs but often, there is a trade off on quality of service. Some have very favorable experiences, others, not so favorable. You can purchase MagicJack directly from their site, at Radio Shack or on eBay.