How to Lower Your Electric Bill

Now that it is the summer, air conditioners will be used a lot more often. That means higher electric bills. There are ways to cut down your use of electricity if you don't want to sacrifice your air conditioning. Here are a few tips I've used to save electricity. Remember, every little bit counts.

Hang your clothes to dry instead of using the clothes dryer.

Turn off the lights when you are not going to be in that room for awhile.

Turn the television off if you are no longer watching it. Don't keep it running if it's no one is paying attention to it.

Air dry your hair. If you must use a hair dryer to dry your hair, try letting it air dry for awhile before blowing it dry.

Use shades, blinds or room darkening curtains on your windows when it is hot out. This will keep the room cooler so that the suns rays don't come through and warm up the room.

Do you charge your cell phone and forget about it, letting it sit there for hours? Try to unplug your cell phone charger as soon as it's charged.

Make sure to clean or replace the air filter in your air conditioner every now and then because they can become dirty and your air conditioner may not be as efficient.

I never had a dishwasher, but if you do, my aunt told me that she will not use her dishwasher unless it is completely full to save energy.

Replace your regular light bulbs with fluorescent bulbs. Fluorescent bulbs save you money because they use less energy and they last longer than regular bulbs.

If you don't mind turning the air off, you can always use fans. Some newer fans are more attractive than older versions and don't take up much space. They work pretty efficiently at cooling the room. You could use a spray bottle, fill it with cold water and squirt your arms or legs down to keep yourself cool. I've done that before when my air conditioner broke.

Unplug appliances that you rarely use. Even though you are not using the appliances, they still use energy just by being plugged in. You could also purchase energy efficient appliances whenever you need to replace one.

If you have a power strip that is loaded with things plugged into it, you can flip the off switch when you are not using any of those things, such as a printer, dvd player, vcr, radio, etc.