This is the story how I managed to cut my electric bill 74% over this winter. No I did not freeze my balls off. I kinda hate the cold so the idea of sitting around shivering or having to stay bundled up all winter did not appeal to me at all. No I remained nice and toasty all winter long while averaging a monthly electric bill of $55.32.
I’m a pretty cheap guy. I’m always looking for a way to save a buck or two. Well when I read about a way to save a few hundred dollars. I jumped right on it. Last year I had pretty high electric bills, right at a monthly average of $214! However I had a roommate at the time and his rent made up for the high bills. Well when he moved out I knew I had to trim the fat or face being homeless again. I went on a cost reducing rampage. Gym canceled, cable tv gone, and anything else I could find to cut. But the biggest expense was still the electric bill. I was desperate to cut that down to a manageable level. I remembered seeing an article written by Paul Wheaton on how he cut his electric bill 80% one winter. So I went and read the article several times and the thread about it on Permies.com. Not all of his measures would work for me but I could adapt most and invent more to help.
The first rule is STOP trying to heat your entire home. There’s no need to heat everything only yourself. Think a cozy bubble of warmth.To fulfill this I bought a small (twin size) electric heating pad and on electric blanket, total cost around $40. Since the majority of my time at home is spent either on my futon watching netflix or reading survival forums or asleep. I put the electric blanket on the futon. I would turn it on the medium setting and sit on it and wrap it over my legs usually sitting cross legged. with this it conducted heat into me very effectively and kept my entire body warm
The second step was I started turning off the electric breaker for my hot water heater during the times I wouldn’t be home. My job keeps me away from home about fourteen hours a day so my trick was to turn the breaker on for about an hour a day before I showered. On days I was off I would sometimes leave it on a bit longer if I needed the hot water for dishes. So maybe the heater runs fifteen hours a week. On top of the so I didn’t lose any of the heat I did get from the hour I wrapped the heater in R30 insulation. this will carry at least some of the heat several hours for small things like shaving at night.
The next step was maybe the hardest for my to adjust to. My beloved dishwasher had to stop being used. It’s just too much of a power hog. Even on a conservative mode it uses too much of the precious hot water and just energy. Now I was dishes in a large plastic tub with maybe a gallon of hot water and rinse with cold. At least my dishwasher makes an excellent drying rack. Also just as a precautionary measure
the breaker for that too is off.
The last step I did was to cover my windows in black plastic. Since my only windows are south-facing the black coverings absorb
heat all day long and radiate it out into the room. With a little fan blowing air from the top of it to evenly distribute it and even on the
coldest days it’s not too bad.
I think that the hot water heater and hand washing dishes, alone makes up for the majority of my savings. Anyone wanting to simply adopt just those two should see a dramatic drop in their electric bill.
Thinking that maybe saving some money on your electric bill is not Survival? Since I was saving about $150 a month in doing this lets see some of the things you could be doing with that instead: almost 400 rounds of .223 ammo, 1 Hennessy Hammock, 2 cases of MRE’s, A Buck Hoodlum knife…the list goes on and on with things that can help you survive rather than fatten someone else wallets.
So the choice is your get wrinkle fingers from doing dishes by hand with water that’s just got heated and enjoy shooting a few hundred rounds in you AR or throw money down the drain.
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