Cutting Electric Bill

We have six floodlight style light bulbs in our kitchen ceiling and two regular bulbs in two pendants hanging over the kitchen island. Seemed they were going out about once a year at the cost of about $5 per bulb for the recessed lights. For an extra couple of dollars per bulb, we replaced them with compact fluorescent (CFL), energy efficient bulbs which are supposed to last much longer.

Once these bulbs had made it past a year, we decided to replace all of the bulbs in our house with these. They're all still going strong and I'm confident we'll have saved at least the $120 it would have cost us to replace those kitchen bulbs this year.

At first we bought the bright white CFL bulbs. They're not kidding - they're bright. My kitchen looks like a landing strip at night. When we replaced the rest of the bulbs, we went with the warmer, more natural lighting. It's perfect. The one thing you have to get used to is that these bulbs need a short warm up period before they hit their full glow. It takes about a minute so it's taken me awhile to not flip the switch twice thinking I didn't really turn on the lights the first time. Well worth that extra minute to save that money each year.

Annual Savings Per CFL Bulb

Annual cost of a 60 watt light bulb used 8 hours a day every day of the year compared to annual cost of a 25 watt CFL bulb:

kilowatt hour = 1000 watts in an hour
US average cost per kilowatt hour = $0.1159
(per Energy Information Administration as of Apr '09)

60 watt light bulb run for 2920 hours (8 hours/day * 365 days/year) = 175,200 watts

175,200 watts divide by 1000 = 175.2 kilowatt hours per year

175.2 kilowatt hours * $0.1159 per kilowatt hour =

$20.30 per year25 watt light CFL bulb run for 2920 hours (8 hours/day * 365 days/year) = 73,000 watts

73,000 watts divide by 1000 = 73.0 kilowatt hours per year

73.0 kilowatt hours * $0.1159 per kilowatt hour =

$8.46 per year

At a run rate of 8 hours per day per bulb, you could save $11.84 a year per bulb. In my kitchen alone, I had six ceiling lights and replacing them all equates to cutting my electric bill by $71.04 per year. That doesn't even include the money I'll save not having to replace those light bulbs as often as I was before.

Most new houses come with a programmable thermostat but the one that came with our house still wasn't the most effective one on the market. For example, it didn't have an automatic switch from cool to heat. There are several months of the year when the days are warm but the nights are cool and I had to manually switch the thermostat from Cool to Heat to keep the house at the determined temperature.

We switched to this more flexible thermostat, allowing me to manage our electric bill more effectively. This one also has a reminder to change your filters - another great tip for cutting your electric bill.

Appliances that are plugged in - even when they're not being used - drain energy and cost you money. Those appliances also get warm while running, increasing the overall warmth of your home and causing you to use more air conditioning, even though you might not notice. This includes all major appliances, even your microwave, computer, and device chargers.

Get in the habit of unplugging appliances when they're not in use and get the kids to help out, too.