Help cut this bill.

[redpoint5]

Sounds like you are doing pretty good.

I pay $10/month for each of my parents cell phones through Ringplus.



I've got my wife on a $30 unlimited everything plan on Replublic Wireless.

I know this is more than your current expense of $0, but $10 a month for a phone with data can pay for itself in ways such as finding cheap fuel with the gasbuddy app, navigation, and consolidating trips by asking if anyone needs something while you are already at the store.

[Cobb]

Do your windows get fill sun light? You could make a solar window heater thats like a black box that ducts into the window and the sun heats the interior and either convection or use a small solar panel and fan to move it.



FYI, in my 822 sq ft condo with all electric and heat pump I tried using a space heater in the room I was in only on low and then the whole house heat pump. It was cheaper to keep the whole place warm with the heat pump vs just me and the room I was in 16 hours a day.

I always cut back the heat or ac when Im not there.

[dirtydave]

Yes I have Windows on all 4 sides of the house. Imma look into that!

[Cobb]

When I worked part time I would open the south facing windows when I left for work when it was sunny. The living room would be hot by time I got home a few hours later and I would close the shades before the shadow was cast over that part of the home. I also use the oven more for cooking vs microwave as it further helped to heat and I cut the heater back.

On the other hand I had an apartment with FREE gas heat. Well, hearing it run all the time got old fast. I would replace my Cf lamps with regular 75w bulbs and that helped to offset my heater needs so it would cycle off and on. I had a few I left on all the time and in the bathroom. I normally left them on but had used CF bulbs to save power.

One of my grand ideas to offset my heater and cooler needs is to turn a cube fridge into a water chiller. Water to air deal with 2 water pools, one on the hot and one on the cold side and switch them depending on what I wanted heat or cool in the room. The other coil would cycle water from the toilet tank. This way as I flushed the toilet the warm or cold water from the refigerator coils would help to remove waste from the toilet and new water would fill the tank and the process would repeat. Question would be how long a tank of fresh water would last before it reached its thermal absorption limit and I needed to flush again.

[IamIan]

Originally Posted by dirtydave

Dudes downstairs have a washer and dryer.

Shame you can't divert that downstairs dryer hot air output as a hot air input into your space... waste heat recovery.

[dirtydave]

Its vented inside. Just not upstairs.

[Cobb]

I had that idea once. Ended up all the windows fogged over and the air was full of lint/dust. I got one of those gadgets to connect to the dryer exhaust, but it didnt work out.

Originally Posted by dirtydave

Its vented inside. Just not upstairs.

[sid]

You can go through the slides in these presentations and see if there is anything that you can do that you are not already doing:

Reduce Electrical Use - Part 1

Reduce Electrical Use - Part 2

I give public talks on saving energy. My electric bill averaged less than $20/month before I added photovoltaic solar power to my house (now it is zero most months).

These presentations were intended for the general public and talk about things most people would find acceptable. They don't include more off-the-wall things like bubble wrap on the windows (which is a good technique) because most people, particularly women, wouldn't find them acceptable and may not be code compliant. Code compliance is important in my case since I give many of these talks at local government events. These talks were also focused on Florida, where I live.

There are also more articles on saving electricity, solar power, and other topics you may be interested in within the "Rants and Raves" section of this website.

[rwaddington]

That looks complicated

[dirtydave]

cool site sid, i missed the message the first time around..