Saving on Electric/ Hydro Bill with Kids – Painless Ways to Save Electricity
By Lisa - Homeschooling Mom
My hydro bill was out of control last month. I live in a modest sized home and last month our hydro bill was 200.00!!!! It should be closer to about 125.00.
Now, we are home all day and “Living” in our home 24 hours a day- its not like we all leave and go to work/school. I work at home and my son is homeschooled and we are pretty active. I do a lot of cooking and baking so oven is on a lot.
I am trying to get the kids more involved in helping with the hydro bill- not only from an economical stand point but also in terms of being conscientious of our resources and the environment. I tried this method a few years ago with pretty good results.
Instead of nagging at my kids to shut off lights and computers, etc not in use to save on hydro ( In Ontario we call electricity bill “Hydro” most people get their electricity produced by water i.e.e Niagara Falls , I am trying a more positive approach and rewarding ourselves for less electrical use.
If I can bring down bill by 10 % this month- which I THINK is do-able we will go out to the movies – something we rarely do because of cost. As a starting point tn I would rather give money to our family than electric company.
For each family the “reward” might be different. I think it has to be a goal that is attainable and that the whole family will enjoy. I could easily have made it a night our for dinner or a new video game.
Ways to save on our Hydro bill:
Most obvious is shutting off lights/TVs / PlayStation off when not in use. Newer LCD TV’s use WAY more electricity than older tube ones.
I have also been really working at timing dishwasher, dryer and washing machine for use in off peak hours when electricity is cheaper.
We have alot of computers going on in our house. Kids lap tops, my work computer, etc. I have changed on the power settings on them- to power off and hibermate disk AND monitor, This was an easy and painless one to do. Just go into control panel of your computer ( Windows) and look for “Power Options”
Any other ideas???????
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