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3 Easy ways to Lower Your Electric Bill

Here are some sure wire ways to lower your electric bill. Try one of them or all of them. The more you do, the more energy savings you will have. Here is a quick checklist. Go around your home and see what you can easily tackle. The effort will result in extra money in your bank account. Install dimmer switches Every time you dim your lights, you use less energy and extend the life of your light bulbs. Just think, dimming them by a mere 10 percent will shave 10 percent off of the energy that light uses. I love … Continue reading →

Seven Ways to Save Energy in Your Home

You can make a real difference in your energy bill by making at least one of these seven different smart changes in your home. Do all seven, and your energy bill will be reduced to record lows. The great part about the following changes is that they are all inexpensive, they can be readily purchased at any home improvement store, such as Home Depot or Lowes, and they can be applied or installed very easily. Most of these changes will also improve the value of your home as well. 1. Weather stripping Add weather stripping to doors and windows to … Continue reading →

The Brave Little Toaster (1987)

Do appliances think? And if so, what do they think about you as their owner? Apparently, it’s pretty easy for those lovable hunks of metal to get attached. Such is certainly the case with a toaster, radio, electric blanket, lamp and vacuum cleaner that live in a summer vacation cabin. Their master, a little red-haired boy named Rob, hasn’t been back to the cabin for a while, and the appliances are beginning to wonder if they’ll ever see him again. When they hear that the cabin and all the contents are to be sold, these five friends decide to set … Continue reading →

Save Money in The Shower

Practicing a frugal life can mean paying attention to the little details of your daily routine and finding ways to economize until those ways become automatic habits. Use the example of taking a shower, for instance. There are many ways you can save money if you approach the task with a frugal mindset. Here are some ideas you can use. Shorter Showers. We all know that shorter showers save water and therefore money, but do you realize how much it can actually save? Water is by far the biggest expense of taking a shower. Not only do you have the … Continue reading →

Frugal Lessons from The Amish

Want to get down and dirty with your frugality? There is no better place to find new ideas than Amish country. Here in Pennsylvania, we are settling into to our new home. We are so thrilled with the house and grounds, because we wake up to the sounds of birds instead of the sound of the trolley. Another benefit of our new home is that it is located only 40 minutes away from Amish country, in the heart of Lancaster, Pa. I love to visit Lancaster for all of the wonderful furniture, crafts and food items that can be found … Continue reading →

Turn Off Your Oven! Frugal Ways to Cook and Bake

Your electric oven is one of the worse energy hogs in your home. If you read my earlier article, Energy Hogs: Where Does Most of Your Electricity Go?, you’ll see that the oven uses 5,000 watts of energy! Compare that to the average light bulb at 60 watts. While we should be turning off our lights whenever possible, maybe we should also be turning off the oven. Toaster Oven If you are making a small meal, consider using a toaster oven. Because it is smaller, it uses less electricity to run. I don’t have a very large toaster oven, but … Continue reading →

Reducing the Cost of Oven Cooking

When you cook from scratch, you are already saving money. But did you know that the way you cook can affect your budget? Learn how to reduce your cooking expenses when you use your oven with the following tips. As I mentioned in an earlier blog, Energy Hogs: Where Does Most of Your Electricity Go?, the oven demands a lot of your energy dollars when it is in use to cook your food. There are ways to reduce this energy usage. Smart Preheating Do you always need to preheat your oven? Warming up a pizza or food that is already … Continue reading →

Energy Hogs: Where Does Most of Your Electricity Go?

Is it really important to shut that night light off when the real energy hog in your bedroom is running along happily chewing up your electricity dollars as you sleep? If you know what appliances in your house use up the most electricity, you can concentrate on reducing their energy usage as much as possible. This way you will reap the biggest savings on your monthly expenses. Although energy usage may vary slightly depending on the brands and models of your appliances, you can certainly use my guidelines to determine what in your home is eating up the most electricity. … Continue reading →