Soaring electricity costs make conserving energy a crucial endeavor. A user asked the forum, What insane things are people doing to save money on electricity?
WEARING THREE LAYERS OF CLOTHES
“3 layers of clothes in winter, no heater. That saved me the most money.”
BUYING CANDLES
“For the love of God, don’t buy candles to save on electricity. I’ve heard of too many stories of people over the years who bought candles to save on electricity, only to have their house burn down due to a candle being knocked over.
Even if you’re using a 60 Watt incandescent light bulb for lighting, each 60 Watt bulb will cost 22 cents to run per day if you use each bulb for 12 hours a day, and your electricity costs 30 cents per kWh.
Also, buying batteries is not going to save you money either. For example, a pack of 4 D-Cell batteries for $10 is equivalent to paying for electricity at $100 per kWh.”
HAVING SOLAR PANELS
“I have solar. I often look at the weather forecast and try to only do the washing when the solar is absolutely pumping.
I cook dinner a little earlier so that I use the solar. I stick little stickers on all the electric appliances asking people to be mindful of the solar. I then fire up my gaming PC once a week and undo all my savings in a couple of hours of gaming.”
TURNING OFF THE REFRIGERATOR
“I know a couple who once got a high electricity bill, so they turned off their FRIDGE!!! And kept all their food in an esky for a month. And before you feel too sorry for them, they are both VERY highly paid professionals with no kids, just mega tight.”
LIVING IN A CAR
“Living in my car.”
TURNING OFF THE HOT WATER
Not so crazy at all, actually.
“If you can isolate your hot water (electric only) and you’re not home for most of the day, turn it off. I did this years ago when I moved from WA to NSW, and my bill tripled. Only took 20 mins or so to heat up when I turned it back on. It more than halved my bill. Just recently told my cousin about this, and she’s now doing it, and her bill has more than halved too.”
SPENDING TIME IN THE GYM
“I go to the gym during peak energy rate hours, so I don’t spend that time at home on my PC/TV using electricity and paying the higher rates for it. People wonder why I’m in the gym for 3 hrs.”
TURNING OFF LIGHTS
“I go around turning off lights after my family and always think about how much it saves me. If I can have ten downlights off for an extra hour each day of the year at 10W a downlight, that equals a whole $15 for the year.”
NOT USING A DRYER
“Tbh not much
I found the supply charges are half the bill, and I experimented with not using the dryer, which seemed to save $4/month. I am not really willing to cut out the dryer completely as an effort of that > $1/week.”
CHARGING PORTABLE BATTERIES AT THE LIBRARY
“I usually bring my Steam Deck and my portable battery to charge at Monash Caulfield Library. Man, the internet there was better than mine, lol.”
INVESTING IN THERMAL AND MERINO SOCKS
This man has insane saving habits.
“I invested in thermals and Merino socks a few years ago, and it saves me loads on heating. I’ll wear them through cold snaps and often overnight. I work from home but outside, so it helps to get me started in the morning, and then I can duck in and get changed when it warms up. I run the heater for maybe half a dozen of the coldest days and warm my bed for half an hour most nights before I get in. It’s luxurious!
I have turned the hot water temperature down and washed the dishes half an hour before a shower, so it’s scalding hot by the time I get in, but it’s not raising the whole tank every hour or so through the day.
I turn off the lights when I leave the room. I wash clothes and do food prep in the daytime when I can so I can take advantage of the solar energy I get.
It’s not really insane, but it makes a massive difference. I spend about $800 a year on energy.”
INVESTING IN BATTERY-OPERATED LIGHTS
“Brought battery-operated night lights and put them all around the house. It paid off. If I could post a picture of the difference in my electricity bills, I would. I can only insert a link. Electricity bills Aug to Nov $1936.23 Nov to Jan $585.28. Don’t own a washing machine; send all washing out working out cheaper to send clothes to dry cleaner. That I would have never believed till I tried it, never ever going back!”
USING DIESEL HEATER
“At the moment, I’m using a diesel heater on my balcony. Diesel works out at about 17c per kWh, which is about half the rate electricity costs. My diesel setup costs about $200.
I would love to do solar but live in an apartment.”
INSTALLING POWER WALL
“I installed a Powerwall and went off-grid to safeguard my energy bills for the next ten years.”
“I make my children ride bikes connected to a generator to power the TV.”
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This article was originally published on Mrs. Daaku Studio.