Three Ways We Reduced Our Electric Bill by $30

My wife recently became a stay-at-home mom again and, as part of that decision, we had to find ways to reduce our monthly bills so we could live comfortably on just one income. While some bills (like our mortgage and car payments) were a fixed amount, we realized we could achieve this goal by finding ways to reduce our utility bills.

This included our electric bill which, on average was running about $80 per month (not counting what we pay for heat). At first, we figured we could reduce it by just a few dollars. However, after making three major changes, we were able to reduce it by a surprising $30 each month.

The first thing we did was replace all our light bulbs with energy saving florescent bulbs. This part actually wasn’t as big of a deal as it sounds because we have slowly been doing that over the past couple of years anyway by replacing burnt out light bulbs with the energy saver bulbs. As a result of that, we only had to replace about five bulbs total and even had a couple spare bulbs leftover.

The second thing we did was crack down on waste. It would be easy to blame just the kids but everyone was guilty of leaving lights on in rooms that weren’t being used. This was especially true of our back hallway. At first, we weren’t really sure how to combat that and considered some drastic measures like 25 cent fines every time it happened. However, as it turns out, we just needed to discuss the issue and explain the need to reduce waste and everyone (including the kids) stepped up and started turning the lights off.

The last thing we did was stop turning on lights when it was daylight out. This step was, by far, the hardest. Our house doesn’t have a whole lot of windows and, even when it is bright outside; it is usually pretty dim inside. However, at least during the daytime, we can still see well enough to function so, other than rare occasions (such as during thunderstorms) the lights stay off. So far, we’ve managed to stick with this and, while it isn’t always easy, we know it’s probably having the most effect on our electric bill.

As a result of these steps, our electric bills are much smaller and, as a result, it is much easier to pay all our bills with some money leftover despite having one less income.