Energy Bills Getting Too High 5 Tips to Save Money

We live in Maryland and last year Constellation Energy became unregulated. Most of the Maryland citizens found their Baltimore Gas and Electric Bill increase upwards 75% to in some cases almost 100%. Panic struck all of us and we had to find ways to save money and energy. We had to replace some of appliances anyway, our washer was almost 20 years old and the dryer was right behind it. So we figured it was time to upgrade to Energy Star Applicances. We shopped around and found the lowest prices for the appliances were from our local Lowe's store, they were offering rebates so we could not pass it by.

Here are five tips to help you save energy and money throughout the year. Every dime that you save can be spent somewhere else.

- We replaced our Washer and Dryer with Energy Star Appliances. Yes the initial cost of the two were a bit more than I wanted to spend, however I will be saving approximately $100.00 per year in energy use and if I can keep these two for twenty years like I did the last two the energy savings will have paid for them

-We purchased a Thermwell Water Heater Blanket, it cost us around $20.00. We wrapped this thing around our water heater, it reduces the energy that we have to use to run the water heater, maintaining more heat in water level, thereby reducing the need to have the water heater turn on and off. We will be saving around $40.00 per year in energy use. It all adds up

-We took out all of our regular 40 watt bulbs( these light bulbs last us around 2 months on an average, they are inexpensive, so we would purchase them around 6 times a year). We replaced them with Compact Flourescent Bulbs, that last upto 10 times longer and uses less energy. We purchase these bulbs from our local Walmart when they were on sale. We will be saving around $40.00 per year in energy use.

- My husband is not mechanically inclined, however he was able to install a programable thermostate inour living room. It took him around 45 minutes to put the blessed thing in but it works. It cost us $40.00 for the programable thermostate, however it will save us around $80.00 per year in energy use.

- Almost everyone I know has a computer, we found that if we turn the computer completely off we will be saving around $50.00 per year in energy costs. If you are thinking about replacing your desk top,think about purchasing a lap top, the lap tops uses less energy and would save you additional dollars.