Power prices are soaring across the world making it difficult for many people to heat or cool their homes. Bill shock is now a common thing for many as budgets are being stretched to the limit.
Darren and I have always been fairly wise about our power usage but increased costs have made us find new ways to save on our bills.
Here's what we've been doing lately -
* Using solar garden lanterns at night when we are watching tv and moving around our home. Before we had the solar lanterns we turned a lamp on in the lounge room or turned a light on when moving from room to room.
* I'm using a solar phone charger as a light to move around our home when it's dark. I bought it from Kmart a year or two ago and just put it aside for when my phone needed recharging. The light on this charger is quite impressive.
* I turned our hot water system temperature down. I did this without telling Darren and he didn't notice a difference in the shower. I did tell him a few weeks later and he was quite surprised.
* Recharging phones, razors, headphones, handheld vacuums, stick vacuums and laptops when the sun is shining. When we had the solar panels installed in 2014 we were advised to use electrical appliances during the day especially when the sun is shining to make the most of the power being generated.
* I bought a stick vacuum from Kmart that I use to clean our floors when the sun isn't shining or at night time for quick clean ups.
* Using the dry mop head to clean our bamboo floors instead of getting the electric vacuum cleaner ( not the stick one ) out.
* Turning the bathroom exhaust fan off and opening a window after having a shower.
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| Our solar lanterns |
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| Solar phone charger with light |
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| 2 in 1 stick vacuum. |
We have solid hotplates. I try to use residual heat to finish my cooking as testy hot for a while. I also. cover pots when using them for pasta water etc.
ReplyDeleteFans use less power than. air-conditioning.
Fans are super cheap to run.
DeleteI'd be lost without our stickvac! Its so handy with 2 kids and 2 dogs...I do a lot of vacuuming! Would love to hear what you think of the Kmart one, I have an expensive Tineco and it does the job and the various attachments are handy but don't think it was worth what we paid. Might go for something like the Kmart one when we need to replace the Tineco :)
ReplyDeleteCheers, Jess
Hi Jess. The Kmart one is pretty good for $79. I can do our whole home before the battery needs recharging and that's using the higher power setting. I use a microfibre mop afterwards on our bamboo floors and I find there is little to no dirt residue left over from vacuuming.
DeleteWe have a power Tarriff that gives us half price power between certain times of the day. I time the use of our larger electrical appliances to those half price times. I have lamps with led bulbs around the house instead of using the downlights so I think we save a bit here. I have also stopped using the dishwasher! Not just because the tablets are so expensive now, but to also save on power. I like your idea of solar lanterns, I might look into this. I have also started using a thermos for boiled water as you suggested in an earlier post - great idea! Thank you for you inspiration. Gill
ReplyDeleteGreat ideas!
ReplyDeleteAn LED downlight left on for 1 year will cost around $4.15 per year. Walking around the house with a solar charger seems a bit excessive. Gillian
ReplyDelete