The Dreaded Electricity Bill

[itsmejan]

Originally Posted by pennywise

Cindy in NY: you are so correct. I was thinking about this in the past few days. One area we have not discussed is ways on cooking can add costs. For example, a boiled egg requires the water to boil for 10 minutes, whereas a fried egg takes less time. Can we discuss methods of cooking for cheaper menus?

1) I agree the crock saves time and makes great meals
2) last year, with the help of the savers on this site, I bought a toaster/oven and find I save alot not using my gas oven
3) the microwave is quick and easy.

What say all of you? Lets discuss cooking something in a way most won't think of to save.

I live in a city that buys it's electricity from the "big guys" and resales it to us dummies ...uh I mean citizens who live here.
I have decided to play their game I(like I have a choice). I lowered my electric bill so much they came out and checked to lock on the meter and then 2 months later actually installed a new meter...LOL...
Some of the ways I have done this are::
1.. I got rid of my stove (literally)
2.. I bought a very nice looking hotplate,
3.. I use alot of smal appliances
like,the hot plate,huge roaster
oven,microwave,toaster oven, pressure cooker,electric fryer.
4.. Wash clothes ONLY when I have a full load, and even then I hang it all up wherever I can find aplace.
5.. I turn off eveything not in use and unplug what I can
6.. I have a smaller size chest freezer,which stay full and I keep it covered with a heavy quilted type comforter.
These are a few of the ways have saved ad in my own way beat them at their game.I am still laughing at the meter guy who said he was here to change out the meter because city said my readings could not be right . They did not relflect my average useage over the last 20 years....HAHAHAHAHA.GOTT'EM
JAN in NC

[itsmejan]

Originally Posted by cicy33

I don't know the laws for each state but in my state the waitresses make 3.90 per hour. I agree, people that don't tip for the reason that they are "teaching the employer a lesson" has got to be the worst excuse I have ever heard. Do they really think that the employers care? I do tip and I also waitress. Strictly part time now. Most people I have found do tip. Very few don't. I tip according to the waitress not the food. It is not her fault if the chef can't get it right. If she or he handles the situation nicely and works to resolve it that says more to me than a perfect meal and a rude waitress.

I also tip . I tip 20% . The reason is. My son is a kitchen manager in a very nice family owned business and he makes a decent salary,but the waitress' are paid a small base pay. It is well below minimum wage. Here is the clencher,They are taxed according to their sales......you get the pic? Even if they do not get tiped on a $100.00 ticket they are taxed on it.
10% tip is exceptable ,but keep in mind that most waitstaff tip out their busbys if they have one and also in most cases they HAVE to tip the bartender on any bar drinks ordered.
I tip well and it shows with he service I get at the restruants I frequent. Also because I tip I feel ok in asing for a member of management if the food is not prepared well or services is lousey. I have complained 2 times ,because I know everyone hasa bad day, but I could not sit there with 2 hungry grandkids and a diabetic husband about to go low while my waitress was smoking a cigarette out front. I know what ticket time is for different foods 20 minutes past time is not excetable to me....the food was comped for that meal and tip was paid by mangement.
There is justice for those who behave well in public.....JAN in NC

[jermelh]

Those are such great ideas. Sometimes we just don't think of the obvious...

[Mathew Green]

Originally Posted by getforfree

Is it cheapper to use budget billing, or it's just good if you live paycheck-to-payheck. Sometimes i prepay my bill for 2-3 months ahead, to avoid spending time to pay it next month. All I have to do is to file it with the paid bills when I receive it.

No, it is never cheaper to use budget/average billing, it just levels out the monthly payments. You're going to pay the same total dollars regardless of which way they devide up the payments. Budget billing also carries a potential trap: "Average" billing is normally based on your average monthly bill, expressed in dollars. But some "budget-billing" plans are based on your average consumption, in KWH or CCF, multiplied by the current price per unit. When the price of gas or electricity shoots way up, such a plan actually increases the difference between your monthly bills instead of leveling them out.

Here is my "DIY Budget Billing" plan:

Part One -- I pick out the highest bill in the last 12 months for each utility, and I budget that amount for it every month. That virtually insures I will have too much money set aside for each of my utility bills. When a drastic hike in rates or an abnormally hot/cold month causes an absurd spike in one of my bills, I'm covered by the fact I've over-budgeted for all of them. OTOH if things go as planned and the bills don't spike up, the money I over-budgeted for utilities gets swept into my emergency fund at the end of the month or used for extra debt payments.

Part Two: I set my conservation goals based on consumption (KWH or CCF, not $$$) because rate changes and so-called seasonal adjustments make utility bills jump up and down, but actual consumption (KWH or CCF) isn't effected by price changes and you can check your progress as often as you like by just reading your meter. I find reading my electric and gas meters once a week is a valuable 'reality check' that keeps usage from slowly creeping up and warns me when I'm not doing as well as I thought I was.

On the Subject of Phantom Usage:

If you really want to know what your phantom usage is, pick a nice day that requires neither heating nor air conditioning, read your meters first thing in the morning, and then spend the next 24 hours at a friend's house. When you come home, the new meter readings will tell you how much gas and electricity your house uses while just sitting there with nobody home.

When you do the phantom load experiment, it's a very good idea to include your water meter as it will warn you of any unseen water leaks in your house. I discovered a silently leaking toilet valve as a result of doing this test and seeing that my house used 5 gallons of water during the 24 hours I wasn't there.

[Trillian]

Another article vindicating unplugging, from CNN!
http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/12/12/vampire.electronics/

We save $25/month this way-- first month I was really insistent on turning off lights, etc, the bill went down to $8 from $32. My late night insomnia has brought that up a bit, but it's on it's way down again!

[browneil]

And one more tip for not using the dryer in winter - if you live in an area of the country that typically uses forced hot air - put your clothes over the hot air vents to dry. I occasionally have to turn over a pair of jeans, but otherwise, a full load of clothes dries in one day over the vents. It's a lot faster than hanging laundry in the basement, where it can take up to 2 days to dry.

[saving4mykids]

We have had a good year with our electric bill. I'm always after the kids & husband to turn the lights out around the house. That's frustrating, but it's working on somedays.

[getforfree]

This winter we didn't have much rain, so I dried most of my laundry outside. If I am washing the bedding that day, I would try to do it in the morning, so it would be dry by the evening. It wasn't always completly dry, so I had to use dryer for like 10 min, so I can put it on the beds, because I have only 1 set for each bed.

When it was raining, I used to do my laundry in the evening, and hang the clothes on the chairs, the bathroom road, the doors, just anywhere I could in the house. It was like half dry by the morning, so I would take the items that were the most dry and were getting in the way, and dry it in the dryer, but the other clothes were drying for almost 3 days.

I use crockpot a lot. But I have only one. Most of the time we have at least 4 different things cooked, because everyone likes different food. I just like to have assortment of food, not just one thing. I think, If I would have 4 crockpots, I almost wouldn't use my stove. I do use oven for baking and pizza. It's much cheaper to bake your own pizza from scratch than buying a frozen or ordering a ready one.

I cannot unplug my stove, microwave, and the tv and stuff in the living room, it just impossible to get there without moving everything, so I give up on those items. I unplug my computer, tv in the bedroom, phone chargers. I heard, unpluging washer and dryer won't make any difference, so I don't know if I should continue to do that.

I have a set of those dryer balls that suppose to move clothes in the dryer and speed up the drying process, but I ddo'n't use my dryer that much, so I guess I am not saving much there.

[froshie1]

Greetings from Manila, Philippines!

Folks, can you tell me if the electricity rates of my country is so high. I'm living here in Manila and rates of electricity when I started to have a family and become independent when it comes to financial matters starts around at Php4.6 per Kwh and sometimes it rises to Php5.00 per kwh. Exchange rate is $1US = 50 Php (Php = pesos) add also environmental charges and taxes. 4.6 pesos is approx 9 to 10 US cents.

I average around $84 a month. With the following electric appliance utilization:

1.) 2 ACs (One is 800 watts while the other is 1000 watts) = 1 (the 800 watts) being utilized everyday for 8-10 hours. I really need this because I always work during night time. The other one is being used seldomly.

2.) 1 rice cooker ( 400 watts) = used for 45 minutes everday, 3 times a day.

3.) Lots of Compact Flourecent Lights but only turned on when used.

4.) 2 computers (250 watts each)

5.) Xbox and PS2 (approx 100 watts) used 2-3 hours a day.

6.) Washing machine (498 watts) used 4 times a month, 4-5 hours each usage.

7.) 2 Television sets and a VCR/DVD player = used 2-3 hours a day (daughter loves to watch brainy baby)

8.) 1 Refrigerator (100 watts)


I think that's all. No water heater, no electric stoves we use gas here.