This is Part 3 of our Stop Living Paycheck to Paycheck series.
Written by Mr. Crumbs
True story: The first year of our marriage, we lived in a small, one-bedroom apartment in Fort Worth, Texas. Our electric bill one August totaled around $350. Absolutely insane.
Granted, the reason our bill was so high was because our air conditioner was malfunctioning and acted more like a fan circulating hot hair, rather than an actual air conditioning unit… and because it never reached the set temperature, it ran 24/7.
Looking back, this bill could have drastically been reduced by at least a $200 if we’d had any common sense during those first few months of marital bliss. Simple things like calling maintenance earlier, buying a small “working” window unit, or just turning the air conditioner off and driving over to an air conditioned building for a day (like the mall) to hang out.
The smartest thing really would have just to have had the apartment maintenance guy come over and fix it, the minute it started blessing us with hot air.
In any case, we’re going to discuss a few simple ways, in which you can lower your utility costs each month and bless your bank account.
7 Tips Stop Living Paycheck to Paycheck: Utilities
(1) Power Strip… Everything
You know how when you turn off your television or dvd player, you still see little led lights? While the appliance is “off” – it’s still drawing power.
The quickest way to lower your electric bill, is to put as many items that draw power (while off), on a power strip. Items like televisions, stereos, DVD players, video game systems… you know, all those items in your entertainment area? Place those all on one (or as many strips as necessary) and simply turn your power strip off after each use.
One button. Presto! It requires very little effort, and can save you big each month.
(2) Unplug Stuff
While it’s not practical to have a large power strip or surge protector on your kitchen counter – for the microwave, the workaround is to simply unplug it.
Those kitchen appliances like blenders, toaster ovens and microwaves – many of them draw power too. Since most of them have a clock, or LED feature of some sort, there is a good chance they are increasing your electric bill while you’re sleeping!
Now, while this may seem trivial (it may be), we lowered out electric bill 26% one month simply by implementing one power strip for the entertainment portion of our house and unplugging the microwave after each use. It’s turned into a habit that we don’t think twice about.
(3) Automate
If you are paying way too much to heat and cool your house, use both the thermostat AND the time of day to your advantage.
During the summer months:
- Open the house up in the morning when it’s cooler, and turn on a fan or two to get the outside air circulating around the house. When it gets too warm inside, turn on the air conditioner to where you are just comfortable. Every day, try to raise the temperature on the air conditioner by one degree, until you have naturally become acclimated to a warmer temperature.
- At bedtime, you may be able to turn the air conditioner off, since it will be cooler outside and your house will not heat up as quickly.
- Additionally, consider preparing full meals on the grill, not heating the house with an oven. (Here’s a free grilling meal plan!)
During the winter months:
- Growing up, my dad would always tell us “if you’re cold, put on a sweatshirt.” It works! So, if you would like to run your heater less, dress in layers and learn to like coffee or hot tea. Plus, colder weather makes for great sleep.
- Same principles for opening and closing up the house apply here as they do during the summer, except in reverse.
(4) Do you really need that Smartphone?
I’m obviously biased here, but I don’t have a Smartphone. My phone is from the prehistoric era and at one point in its earlier life, was able to send a basic text message.
The cost of a data plan is through the roof now. Back in the day you could get unlimited data for what… like $20-30/month? Now you get 2GB of data, with a basic plan for $40/month? Correct me if I’m wrong, but if you like streaming music or surfing the web, 2GB won’t get you very far.
Anyhow. Just to be clear, I’m not judging you – as my wife owns a Smartphone.
My point is this, do you really need it? Most of us have internet at work, home and in public places – do we really need a phone that can do the same thing a tablet or laptop can do?
UPDATE: You actually can have the smartphone AND save money! Find out how here.
(5) Internet/Cable… and more Phone stuff
Now that we’ve discussed the taboo of getting rid of your smart phone, let’s talk about your home phone. If you have a cell phone, do you need a home phone?
Internet: Consider lowering your internet package to a slower speed. We found that the lowest plan of 3mbps streams Youtube and Netflix just fine.
Cable: You know where I’m going with this one… Do you really need cable? If you have internet, you do realize you can watch the same shows on the internet… right? In fact, I’d argue that you have a greater selection online, and you can avoid the commercials!
Netflix, Amazon Prime (which comes with a 30-day free trial plus all this other cool stuff) and Hulu are just a few options that come to mind for watching shows and movies online.
(6) The Trash Can
I said it. The trash can.
No, don’t get rid of your trash can… unless you have a truck and can haul your garbage and/or recyclables to the dump each month.
Practically, downsize to a smaller garbage can (if the cost of trash pickup is dependent on the size of your can). This will encourage you to recycle more, waste less, and will allow you to save a few bucks in the process.
(7) Water
Do not drink less, but use less.
If you have a water hungry dishwasher, consider washing your dishes by hand – rinsing only at the very end.
Before you hop in the shower, don’t turn on the water full blast waiting for it to warm up. Turn it on low and you might be surprised that it heats up quicker!
We’ve been faithfully using this technique and save $5 every month (which is a lot when your total bill is only $35).
Tip: Stick a bucket under the faucet as the water heats up, then use this water to water your plants and garden!
When you wash clothes, set the dial set to the appropriate sized load: small, medium or large. Ensuring the washer is completely full each load is one easy way to trim water expenses.
Use a homemade water displacement system to reduce the wasted water when you flush toilets.
This is list is certainly not all-inclusive, but contains a few practical, simple ways you can reduce utility costs around the house without much effort.
We do most of these, although our heating bills here in upstate NY are still quite high during the winter This summer we’re going to buy our own propane tank, which will enable us to shop around to get the best price.
I would also add to use sunlight as much as possible, at least when it’s not too hot. The first thing I do when I get up is open the curtains and blinds, so I can light up the house for free. 🙂
Ooh – good one Amy! I would think that depending on where you live too, the sunlight could be used to help heat! (I know our bedroom gets SUPER hot with the blinds open!)
These are some good tips. As far as lowering your cell phone bill and still having a smartphone, check out Republic Wireless. I have saved a ton money since switching. You buy the phone (Motorola options) and then you can pay $12.74 (that includes tax on the $10 plan) per month for unlimited talk, trees and data when you’re on WiFi. They have two other higher plans too if you need data all the time, which I’ve found almost every place I go has it free. http://www.republicwireless.com
I agree! I LOVE republic Wireless! I switched last August, loved it so much I would never go back and switched my husband! We went from $172 a month on Verizon to $62 a month on Republic for 2 smartphones! Never had an issue, even if we are in an area they say is questionable.
While you of course want to reduce overall utilities, one amazing trick to help make them more consistent is Average Monthly Billing. We can do it for both gas and electric and it makes the bills predictable within a couple of dollars each month.
Great tip Rosa! I had forgotten that we did this when we lived in Texas. It made paying the bills during those hot summers much more bearable!
I don’t have a cell phone, and use a net duo voip service for $50 a year with all fees included. We also save by supplimenting our heat with electric space heaters. This lets us keep the house mostly cool, but our kiddos can keep their room comfortably warm. In the summer we have elctronic hours, we only use our tv (we have two, but only one device to stream) and other electronics during certain hours. We save on electricity, but are more in tune with each other and more productive as well.
Window plastic in the winter! It cuts my heating bills by a lot! I live in Upstate NY, and the heating bills are exorbitant. I even double-layer it sometimes and go inside and outside the frame. I buy it in the spring on clearance and save it for next winter. For air conditioning, We use the “energy save” feature where it turns off when it hits temp, and then only use the one during the day when we are at work where our dog is crated. The cats love heat anyway so they are fine wherever. Our internet provider has the different levels as well and cut our bill for us when they came out with a promotional rate, which was unheard of in the past! So I am happy with them for now. We ditched home phone a while ago.
I have hardly used my dryer since the first of the year. I have a drying rack I put over the register in the kitchen. It can take a full day, but so what? I also hang them out whenever I can. I hung some out in 22* weather a couple weeks ago (9* windchill and snow on the ground!) We’ve saved about 5 to 10 bucks month probably. Our dryer vent also goes into an indoor system, adding heat and moisture in the winter if I do use the dryer. I use the oven more in winter, and the grill and crock pot in summer. I wish I could get rid of cable, but hubby enjoys sports too much, and we haven’t found a good way to substitute. We also keep the home phone for telemarketers and my fax machine. Our heat and AC guy told us it is actually better NOT to keep messing with the thermostat, to keep it at one temp or only change a degree or 2. Example, turning the heat down 5 degrees while you’re at work cools down the stuff in your house (furniture, etc). When you turn the heat back up, ALL that stuff has to warm up too, making your furnace work harder. We stay 67 in winter, 74 in summer. Sorry so lengthy. Lol
Not lengthy at all Cris – you’ve got some great ideas here. Thanks so much for sharing them with us!
Getting rid of trash pick up is totally doable even if you don’t own a pick up truck. I have a lot of recycling containers around the house and put my sorted recyclables in those. Our biodegradable materials such as food scraps go in the compost pile. Our minimal amount of trash goes in one can.
About once a month or so, I take the recyclables to the recycling center and the trash to the dump. The cans fit in the back of the minivan with the seats folded down. The dump charges me a nominal fee ($1-2). My approach saves us 90% of the cost of trash pick up and doesn’t entail much extra driving, since I would recycle anyway, and there’s no curbside pick up for that in our rural area.