I h ave energy efficeint bulbs throughout my house. I don't see a big difference, but just knowing that I am saving a little money makes me feel better. I try to turn everything that does not need on, off, but my electric bill is pretty much the same...

__________________

I may still try the energy efficent bulbs, I just don't want to pay that much when I'm trying to get the energy bill down.

The proof is in! The electric bill came today and its almost $10 less than it was last month. No telling when it will be next month when I have to pay for the Christmas lights, but that was nice to see! If changing to energy efficent bulbs will bring it down even more, I'll be all for it! I just can't have them blowing out once a month like normal. I may try one or 2 and see how it works out.

Edit: I actually just looked at the bill to see exactly how much we saved. Last month was 138.04 and this month is only 127.98. SO even more than $10!

__________________
~Missy~Mommy
Meghan8.Samantha7,Cameron4

I try and turn lights out when I'm done. DH is HORRIBLE at leaving the tv on even when he isn't watching it.

You got me thinking. I've tried to not turn on lights at all whenever possible. For example the toilet and toilet paper haven't moved so last night I went in and didn't turn on the light at all (just have to make sure no one left the seat up). I usually leave a small light on in the kitchen but I've turned that off as well.

For all that are interested...

Here is a link to a neat little printout that you use to keep track of your utility monthly bills throughout the year.

http://www.cindysporch.com/images/snapshot5.pdf

I'm keeping mine on the fridge!

Neat thanks! I printed that out!

I bought 1 energy efficent light bulb at Walmart just to try it out. It was actually only about $3.50. We are gonna put it in our kitchen since we believe its the only room that is grounded. LOL Plus the kitchen light tends to stay on way more than other lights through out the house.

__________________
~Missy~Mommy
Meghan8.Samantha7,Cameron4

I love that form! I'll keep mine on the fridge. I do a spread sheet for all my bills each month but it will be neat to see the whole year on one page. My mom uses the energy star bulbs and loves them. Our electric bill isn't too bad usually, except our Christmas tree was on 24/7 for a month (per dh's plea) so this bill should be interesting! Now if I could only get our water bill to go down. Geez.

What a GREAT chart! I'm going to use that this year. Talk about motivating. I am learning so much here. Thanks! :D

__________________

Thaks for the chart its going on my fridge too.

I wanted to say that the cheap walmart bulbs blow out a lot. so it may not be because they arent grounded.

I'm actually very paranoid about fires, so I unplug a lot of things that I'm not using, like the coffee pot, toaster oven, etc. I didn't used to be so paranoid, but have had a few episodes that got me that way. For one, my grandmother was using a fan that was somewhat new and woke up smelling electrical smoke, you know how it smells like metal? Somehow the motor was trying to run, but the fan wouldn't go. The metal part was glowing red! She was lucky to wake up when she did. Another time, I was running our dishwasher at an apartment we used to live in and started smelling something burning. The repair guy said that it was very common for that brand/model of dishwasher to start house fires!! And they KNEW about it!

Anyway, I do believe that I save money, even just having things unplugged that I'm not using right then. I would be too paranoid to let the Christmas tree lights stay on while we were sleeping. Those are only on for a few hours at night. I've also started using the CF lights. Someone on another post told me that the electric companies a lot of times have rebates for those. Check with your local company. The ones we bought run on 13 watts and give out the same light as a 60 watt bulb. Not bad. We have soft light fluorescents (the long ones) in our kitchen that don't use much power, too. I try not to use the lights during the day, but with the way our house is built, we don't get much light from the windows, only for a few hours. Even with my paranoia of fires, I do keep candles in the bathrooms, mostly in the evening. Helps with the smell that sometimes lingers after DH is in there. But it also makes it so we don't have to turn on the light everytime someone has to go.

I read somewhere that kerosene heaters and lights are very inexpensive and can cut your utility bills in half or even more. With my fire paranoia, it may be a while before I try that out. Has anyone else used these?

__________________
www.myspace.com/vioburn

Frugal is being wise with your money and resources and cheap is forcing everyone else to.

Check out my blog, I'm starting to add more to it, as I can...vioburn.blogspot.com

Vioburn-we use kerosene heaters in the winter time to keep our house warm. Our furnace runs off of propane and it was costing us too much money to keep the house that way (almost $300 a month 3 years ago!). I can't really tell if it helped our electric bill since at night time we use oil filled radiator heaters to keep the house warm. We get up before the children and warm the house up with the kerosene. I have to say- you get used to the odor (only smells when you first light it and when you shut it off- burn the wick outside, that really stinks!) and it does not scare me- as long as I know it is off!

BTW- I saved over $30 on our electric bill this month- I think some of our bill being lower is due to the weather being decent- I only had to run the heaters (for the most part) at night!