I know almost everyone has heard these phrases uttered by their parents as kids “Turn of that light your running up the electric bill,” or the dreaded, “Close that door I’m not paying to heat/cool the neighborhood.” As children we were constantly told to turn lights off, close the refrigerator and house door. We were running up the electric bill by doing these things. In our young minds we were saying yeah right.

Today we are a little older, hopefully a little wiser, and now we are paying the bills. So the question is do the little things matter when it comes to our electric bill. The answer is a most definite yes. It is amazing how much energy the average house hold wastes each year. That energy is costing you money.

As with most things in life it all comes down to money, the bottom line. I know I am making it sound like a business, but in these tough economic times you might just want to start thinking about you house hold in business terms. A good business cuts unnecessary costs.

If you aren’t using it unplug it. Most people assume that if it is off, it is not using power. This is not true. Many electrical devices are in stand by mode when they are turned off. This means that even if you have turned the power off electricity is still being used. Mp3 players, laptops, and cell phone chargers are big energy wasters. Many of these items require less than a few hours to fully charge, but stay plugged in around the clock. If you aren’t charging your device unplug the charger.

Sometimes simply unplugging a device when not in use is a big hassle. We have a home entertainment center, with tv, cable box, PS2, dvd player, and audio system it is not easy to just unplug every thing when not in use. For situations like these we use power strips. When there is plug that is hard to reach or many items in one area we plug them into a power strip. At the end of the day we turn off the strips before going to bed.

There are many free ways to cut your energy bill and save money. Take windows for example they are not there just for looks. You can take advantage of natural light. The sun is free, but that light you just turned on costs you precious cash. Open those curtains and blinds during the day to cut down on using unneeded indoor lighting.

The window can also help with your heating and cooling costs. Open you windows during the spring and fall months to take advantage of the nice weather. Cool your house for free instead of running you ac. Like wise during the summer you will want to close your blinds and curtains because that sunlight is heating up your house. In the winter open them up again to let those natural rays help heat your home.

As with business sometimes you have to spend money to make money, or in this case save money. There are many ways to cut your energy costs from the relatively cheap to the expensive. In the long run some of the more expensive things will save you money, but lets discuss some of the less expensive ones first.

The energy saving light bulb, or the compact florescent light bulb has been around for awhile. Some people dislike them because of the expense, but to me they are well worth it. It took us several months to switch all of our lights over to these bulbs. They are a bit pricey to go out and replace all of the light bulbs in your house at once, but if you do them a few here and there it is a bit more manageable. Today you can even buy ones that are covered so you put them in places like your ceiling fan or bathroom light fixtures.

We replaced all of our light bulbs with the 40 watt equivalent. The equivalent to a 40 watt bulb only uses 9 to 13 watts of electricity. On Energy Stars web site there is a savings calculator. Energy Star states that replacing one 60 watt bulb with a 13 watt CFL bulb can save you $30.00 or more over the life of the bulb. You can buy a package of four 9 watt CFL bulbs for about $6.00 at any home improvement store or department stores like Walmart and Target.

Heating and cooling the house has a big effect on your electric bill through out the year. Buying a digital thermostat cost under $50.00. We bought a seven day programmable thermostat. It came with a little book that had an energy saving settings already figured out for you. I tweaked ours a bit, even so it still paid for itself within the first few months. The nice thing about a digital thermostat is you can set it so you heat and ac won’t run when you aren’t home and to kick back on before you get home.

The closer your set the temperature inside to that it is out side, the less money you are paying to heat and cool your house. You may like to run around in a t-shirt and shorts in the house when it is 40 degrees outside. If you want to run the heat to keep it nice and toasty 80 in the house it will cost you more. Instead throw on a comfy sweater and turn the heat down to 75. Same holds true in the summer. I work at home and I used to sit in the living room when I worked, but I realized I was running the ac way too much. I was sitting next to a window and on the opposite side of the room from the vent. For me to be at a comfortable temperature I was running the ac on 74 or less. I moved to working at the dining room table under a vent and now run the ac at 77 degrees.

There are tons of recourses on the internet on saving energy and money. Energy Star is a favorite of mine it has tons of tips. On everything from small changes to major ones. Next time you need to upgrade an appliance think about buying an Energy Star rated appliance. They are ratted to be more energy efficient than other appliances on the market. Energy efficiency equals more money in your pocket.

The little thing do add up. Your Mom was right to tell you to turn that light off you weren’t using. Now while your at it replace the bulb with an energy efficient alternative. In the summer time at one time we would spend over $400 a month on the electric bill. Since we got on the energy efficiency band wagon we have dramatically cut our electric bill. Last month we got our first bill for under $200.00. I never have been so happy to spend $164.00.