Saturday's Super Savings-Electricity

Today I opened our electric bill from Arizona Public Services and I about killed over.
$789.00 Big Ones!  Holy Helen Keller!
Yes, it is summer, yes it is hot, yes we run the AC but seriously this is ridiculous.
Well, rather than whining about things I can't control I'm taking charge of what I can control.
I've decided I need to start being more frugal.  I know how to save money, cut corners and get good deals but I've been lazy about this because if there isn't a huge need to do something than a lot of times we just won't do it.  I'm going to start having regular posts on my blog on how to save money and I'm calling them Saturday's Super Savings so check back on Saturdays for ideas on how to save.  If this is something you need or would like to learn GREAT!  Follow along.  At any rate I'm going to do this and save money and keep track of what I actually save.
First on the agenda is Electricity!  What a shock since this is what sent me over the edge.  Have you ever looked closely at your electrical bill.  There is a lot of crap in there.  Taxes and fees you can't do anything about but there are things you can do stuff about.
 Peak and off Peak consumption.  Here in Arizona the peak hours are from noon-7pm and off peak are all the other hours.
For my current bill:
Off peak costs $88.68 for 3416 kWh
On peak costs $402.20 for 1923 kWh
$206 in Fees
$91.76 in taxes.
 It's an Obamanation!
 Do you think how you vote doesn't affect you directly? Think again. I'm already paying over $300 and I haven't even flipped a switch. But that's a topic for another day.
So back to the topic... even though I'm using more electricity during the off peak hours the on peak usage is killing me!
What to do about things you can do something about.
#1 Vote--If your not sure who to vote for, ask me I'll tell you.
#2 See where you are using electricity on peak that you can switch to off peak.
For us we didn't have to look too far and I'm embarrassed to even show some of this.  The environmentalists would have my head.

Can we say Refrigeration?

Energy efficient fridge we moved from the garage to kitchen

Consolidating all fridge contents into 1 fridge, plenty of room

Our "wine" cooler we use to use to chill our beverages, Now we use it to "store" them until they can be moved into the "main" kitchen fridge.  This one has been unplugged.

When we moved into this house it came with 3 Refrigerators AND we brought one with us!  Crazy I know.  One full size in the kitchen.  One full size in the garage.  A wine cooler (and we don't drink wine) that we use to chill our Gatorade and a smaller fridge outside by the pool.  Running two refrigerators that are outside in 115 degree Arizona summer weather is nuts!  Of course this didn't dawn on me until today.  Talk about a DUH moment.












The fridge by the pool was super convenient and nice but a electricity sucker for sure.  Being outside in over 100 degree weather?! Crazy waste of electricity.  It's been unplugged and look-all my lovely chilled beverages are gone.  Good news is if we have people over or decide to have a party we can easily plug it back in and not pay for all the days when we don't even look inside.

Well the last fridge we are saying so long too.  As of tonight it will be up on Craig's list.  The truth is we can manage just fine with one refrigerator and while I will miss the convenience of having two I won't miss the cost.  Keeping a refrigerator in the garage when you live in Arizona is just not practical.  In Colorado or other cooler places it worked out fine and wasn't that much more of an expense but it won't work here!  So long sucker!



The other big killer for us is likely the pool and water features. This is an easy fix.
You have to run the pool cleaner and the water features or your pool and water fountains will end up looking like a big brown swamp but you can set the timer to do this during off peak hours rather than during the middle of on peak hours.

Having this pool cleaner run at night during off peak is just as effective as having it run in the day it will just cost you less.

Same with running the pump for water features.


So I have 4 refrigerators and a pool.
Your thinking "I don't have those problems" so this post doesn't help me at all but I'm guessing if you take a look around your home sweet home you'll find your own electricity suckers.  How many TV's do you have? Is there a VCR hooked up to each one?  How about a DVR? Do you change your filters?  What kind of lightbulbs do you use? Do you turn your computer off when your finished or let it idle all day? Etc. Etc.  The list goes on and on.

So let's see if all these little changes make any difference in my bill next month? If not we might need to move in with some of you during the summer months....any takers?  :) Kidding, kidding.
Let's start being more green shall we?  That way when we have unexpected expenses we will be covered.  See you next week!

Happy Savings :)