Cutting the Cost of Household Bills? 370
schlumpf_louise asks: "I'm in the UK, and I'm about to move out of university accommodation and live in a house, for the first time. When we move, we will have to pay for water, electricity and gas. We'll still be students renting from a landlord, so we can't make any major physical changes to the property. The house has gas central heating and a gas cooker. Four computers will be running pretty much all the time, in addition to the usual general household appliances. What tips do any of you have for (legally) saving on bills? Are there any technologies that are worth buying for long term savings? What should we not do, or not use?" What other saving tips, and frugal suggestions might you have for a house full of college students?
Compact Fluorescent Bulbs (Score:4, Informative)
- They use ~25% of the power of regular bulbs (for the equivalent light output)
- They tend to last 5 times longer
- The electronic balasts of modern CFB don't cause flicker (and thus avoid headaches...)
- Modern CFBs use better phosphorescents that match the color temperature of typical incandescents.
The only real downside is that they *are* more expensive than regular bulbs, but the energy (money) you save in the first few months allows it to quickly pay for itself.
turn the heat down every night (Score:4, Informative)
Plastic on the windows (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Compact Fluorescent Bulbs (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Do your computers always need to be on? (Score:5, Informative)
Leaking appliances is certainly something to consider. Unfortunately you're stuck with countless bad decisions by your landlord, including inefficient appliances, lousy insulation, poor choices in heating/cooling systems, etc. For those that aren't subjected to a landlord's provisions and can call their own shots, I'd suggest a few options we've learned:
food (Score:4, Informative)
Seal it up (Score:5, Informative)
A few tubes of caulk to seal up small cracks and some stick-on weather stripping for windows and doors will go a long way toward keeping the temperature more stable. Also there are foam gaskets you can put behind the wall plates of switches and sockets to keep drafts out.
Drapes open on cold days to get in the sun's heat. Closed on warm days to keep it out.
Showers are a huge point of waste. A few dollars/pounds will get you a shower valve you screw in-line with the shower head. You can then reduce the water flow when you're not actually needing it and then turn it up again to rinse off. Showers generally cost you 3x, incoming water, heating water, waste water charge.
If you have access to your water heater and the pipes coming from it, add insulation to them. A water heater wrap and some foam tube insulation will keep the water hotter for longer in the tank and the pipes to the shower.
If you have a smaller shower room, hang your wrinkled clothes in there, it will help remove wrinkles and prevent you turning on the iron (ha ha, I know).
Keep the fridge full. The more "stuff" in the fridge the more efficient it is. Air heats/cools quickly and escapes readily when the door is opened. Stuff in the fridge will help the temperature come back to cold quickly and reduce run-time. Also, keep the door closed as much as possible. Standing in front of the fridge with the door open searching for something to eat is a tremendous waste.
Line-dry your clothes indoors instead of machine drying. On a breezy summer day indoors with open windows the evaporation will cool the air; in the winter the humidity will help make the air feel warmer at lower temperatures.
When cooking, use lower gas settings on the cooker. High-heat spills a lot of heat past the pan in to the air. Medium-low heat will usually get the job done just as well with only a slight increase in pre-heat and cooking time.
Find, and keep clean the filer for the central heat if it's forced air.
Try to cook for the entire house at one time instead of each member cooking their own meals. Economies of scale and all; better to heat the kitchen up once for 20 minutes that 4-5 times 10 minutes each.
Low-cost 1/2 Styrofoam panels can easily be cut to fit in to windows to block out cold nights, or to fit around the outside of a particularly lame fridge.
cooperation (Score:2, Informative)
This is the kind of thing that can test friendships.
Several of these have been mentioned before:
Controlling hot water use is often the hardest part.
Just went through this myself (Score:5, Informative)
* Cancel movie rental subscription (Netflix)
* Get movies and some books from the library
* Cancel old unused website costing a monthly fee
* Scour credit card statements, found another forgotton hosting account, cancelled it
* Called auto insurance company and raised deductible for collision to $1000
* Bought a stovetop espresso maker so we don't need to buy good coffee by the cup now
* Continued living with our old outdated computer monitor
* No cable, no gaming accounts
* No alchohol, no drugs, no lottery tickets
* Pay things on time and avoid late fees
* Remember if taxes take 50%, you have to earn $2 for each $1 you spend.
* Stop buying stuff.
* Get cheaper broadband plan
* Cancel unused text messaging on wife's cell phone ($5/mo)
* Cancel unused roaming plan ($5/mo)
* Cancel unused Canada roaming addon ($3/mo)
* Cancel unused "nights start at 7PM" addon on cell plan ($5/mo)
* Ask nicely and get $10/mo unlimited cell data plan, including modem use (Sprint, Treo 650) instead of faster Cingular $40/mo+ plan
* Refrain from getting car. Get exercise instead.
Lots of little amounts, and some big ones. They add up.
"Living frugally without hardship" (Score:5, Informative)
It is pretty long, but full of valuable information.
LED Flashlight (Score:5, Informative)
LCD's (Score:3, Informative)
Find and eliminate "wall warts", those little black inverters / chargers that are constantly drawing anywhere from 4 to 15 watts. I'd suggest getting a cheap power strip (one that has a switch) and putting it on top of your desk, then taking plugging as many of the warts into that as possible. Phone charger, laptop brick, iPod Charger, PC speaker inverter, and anything you can plug in that has a remote control.
When you're not using those items, turn off the strip. You can cut out anywhere from 20 to 80 watts of useless power. Multiply that by the hours you save (because hey, your PC speakers need to be sucking power when you're fast asleep...) and you can make a decent dent in your bill. (it's also a bit healthier for battery charged items to not be sucking power all the time.)
Aside from that? Compact flourescent bulbs help, and not being a dumbass helps more. Don't heat anything with electricity if you can avoid it, don't leave lights on all the time, enable powersave features on the PC's when you can.
refrigerator efficiency (Score:2, Informative)
Actually, the small "dorm" refrigerators are so horribly built that they use about as much electricity as a normal sized fridge. The thing that will make a difference, though, is having a new fridge versus an older one. Same goes for old A/C units, don't bother with those.
Re:Stop-and-go (hard) driving (Score:2, Informative)
There is a reason server rated hard drives cost more and it's not just because they spin faster.
Several easy measures... (Score:2, Informative)
2. Programmable thermostats. Run $35 US or less here. Again, many utilities will rebate you, but YMMV. This is also the kind of improvement that landlords generally won't complain about, and it will more than likely pay for itself over a winter.
3. Shorten your showers.
Finally, about those computers. I do not know why you need four running 24/7, but you should reconsider this. Assuming they are desktops, you are drawing a LOT of power this way. I would recommend if you are using any of them for general uploading/downloading of "stuff" you should consider picking up a laptop with a broken screen and run it either headless or through a KVM switch. Attach a large hard drive, your printer, etc. and network it. Then keep all the other computers on standby (or hibernate...I'm assuming you want them to come on as fast as possible, though). The power you save over a year will probably pay for the laptop, hard drive, and any networking accessories you end up needing to buy. Look around, and you can probably find a laptop with more than enough power for fileserving, print serving, and P2P for dirt cheap...and it will draw a fraction of what even one of those desktops draws.
two principles (Score:1, Informative)
Two principles (1) get rid of the things you don't need (2) reduce the things you need/have no choice about.
I'll mention energy-saving devices at the end.
Things you don't need
- any form of internet access, whether dialup, dsl or cable - if you're still a student, use the university-provided facilities. Annoying, but cheap.
- and form of subscription tv, cable, sky, etc. Stick to the terestrial channels.
- you probably don't need a landline phone if *everyone* in the house has a mobile.
Things you can reduce
Heating
- turn the thermostat down to 17C and wear extra clothes. Multiple thin layers are better than fewer thick layers - e.g. tshirt+thin sweater+baggy sweater.
- make sure every window has curtains. Hang a blanket if they don't. Contrary to what someone else suggested, opening curtains in winter to let the sun in will NOT warm the average UK house unless the window is double-glazed and catches direct sunlight (south-east or south-facing) for several hours. And you still need to close the curtains once the sun moves past. In general keeping the curtains closed will keep more heat in than you gain through sunlight. Exactly when to open the curtains during the day (to save on lighting costs) is a judgement call.
- turn off the hall radiator and keep room doors closed. You don't live in the hall. Heat the rooms you use and keep the heat in.
- wear pajamas in bed (!) fleecy ones if necessary.
Cooking
- avoid the oven, whether gas or electric.
- put lids on pans when you cook and turn the heat down once they are at the boil. Even for rice and pasta. Incidentally heating water is energy-expensive, but generally the kettle is more efficient than saucepans, and a gas boiler is more efficient than the kettle. Use hot water from the tap, boil in the kettle, pour into saucepans at the moment you need to use it.
- if you're house-sharing, share meals too. Separate meals waste fuel.
Washing/Cleaning
- dont use a tumble drier if you can reasonably avoid it. Use a clothes line, get a free-standing airer and/or drying racks for radiators.
Lighting
- turns lights OFF! (turn anything off when not used. And that's OFF, not standby).
Energy saving devices.
Generally, on a limited budget (student), there are few energy saving (E-S) devices worth buying because they're initially expensive and they wont have paid for themselves until long after you're a student. E-S light bulbs take around 5 years. On the other hand if you take the long view, they're only expensive compared to plain bulbs (£5 or less) and you can take them with you after.
An appraisal (Score:4, Informative)
Power used over 1000 hours: 60 kWh.
Cost of power over 1000 hours: $4.80
Total cost for 1000 hours: $5.40
Cost of 17-watt CF (60-watt equivalent, in 6-pack from Home Depot): $1.75, with tax.
Fraction of lifespan used in 1000 hours: 10%
Total cost of CF for 1000 hours: 17.5 cents
Power used over 1000 hours: 17 kWh
Cost of power over 1000 hours: $1.52
Total outlay for first 1000 hours: $3.27
Value of remaining bulb lifespan: $1.57
Total cost for 1000 hours: $1.70
Appraisal of you: you're much more dogmatic than geekishly analytical. Turn in your geek badge to security on the way out of Slashdot.
Advice from a British former student (Score:5, Informative)
Anyway. Assuming no structural changes allowed (so you can't touch wall cavities etc) and assuming you don't have UPVC double glazing etc.
1. Draught insulation on all doors and windows. Find every draught and stop it. You can get thses strips in Homebase, Do It All etc. They come in different thicknesses so choose wisely. Be prepared to get dirty cleaning all the spaces in the joints where the spiders live otherwise the strips won't stick.
2. When it's cold, wear more clothes and only heat the rooms you use and keep the doors shut so you don't heat the rooms you're not using.
3. If you want to heat a room quickly (say you're the first one back after being at lectures all day) get a small desk fan and set it blowing across the radiator in the living room. It will cirulate the warm air surprisingly quickly.
4. Cook and eat meals together as a group. This is cheaper, you'll eat better and it's relaxing to have everyone sit down together after they have all been out (hopefully) studying all day . Do the obvious like learn how to skin and quarter a fresh chicken rather than buy expensive chicken pieces (hint: kitchen scissors). You don't need to be a great cook, learn to do one simple meal such as a Chilli Con Carne, expand your repotoir later. We had a complicated looking list (it would be a spreadsheet today) of money spent by each person either for the group or for other individuals so we could work out who owed each other what at the end of the term. It saved any arguments and meant the whole 'cooking for the group' thing did work.
5. Much has been said about computers already. If you can get to a power socket in the library, consider working there. This would obviously require a laptop but you keep warm, have free electricity and hopefully *don't* have a distracting net connection.
6. If you have big windows, consider that platic double glazing stuff you can get. For what ammounts to some double sided tape and a sheet of clear plastic stuck over the window, then shrunk tight with a hair dryer you do get pretty good insulation.
One more thing. University is getting stupidly expensive now in the UK, you are going to get into a lot of debt anyway. But you are not there to get a degree as cheaply as possible. You are there to enjoy yourself, to learn about life and yes; to get a degree. So have some fun along the way and don't sit freezing in a room when being warm isn't going to make much difference to the £20k debt you might well be facing at the end. Which is why I don't suggest not drinking beer. You'll be spending more on beer than on food and possibly utility bills as well.
Re:And lose Internet access (Score:3, Informative)
if this happens you better ask for the rep's boss on the other end of the line because they will sell you just road runner and no tv. Many cable companies try to bully people into signing up for cable tv along with their roadrunner, but you don't have to have both. If it was actual policy to have buy both time warner would be in the same boat as microsoft with their bundling issues. However, they simply try to make people think that they need to buy tv to get internet, but when you ask around and talk to enough supervisors at your local cable company you will find that this is a lie.
Water Heater insulation (Score:1, Informative)
Re:Insulating (Score:1, Informative)
Moving bookshelves to outside walls can help as well; you might be surprised at the insulation factor of six inches of paper.
Checking outside doors for drafts and eliminating them helps too.
BS (Score:3, Informative)
Your facts are WAYY wrong. If you want to refute something, at least do a lazy Google search and you could have saved yourself a bad post.
1) LEDs approach 100% efficiency.
2) Florescent lights are about 50% efficient (and varies.. compact Edison style bulbs are less efficient... LED doesn't care about the form factor)
3) Incandescent lights (including halogen) are about 5-10% efficient. That is NOT a typo they are 90% heat waste.
Not sure where the heck you live, but in most US cities they have begin using TWENTY WATT LED lights to replace TWO HUNDRED WATT traffic bulbs. The LED lamp uses 90% less power but has 100% the same brightness.
The LED bulbs longer and does not burn out all at once -- lowers the accident rate and requires less maintenance.
cite:
MIT Technology Review: http://www.technologyreview.com/InfoTech/wtr_1317
http://alt-e.blogspot.com/2005/04/energy-efficien
etc.
> Not only that, but white LEDs cost so damned much that even if they were more efficient it would be a REALLY LONG TIME before you ever saw return on your investment.
I'll concede that point.
It also takes a REALLY LONG TIME to recover the investment in a hybrid.
It's gonna get cheaper now that China is in the manufacturing game. Their government has "selfishly" decided they don't want to export their newfound wealth to Saudi Arabia they want to keep those energy costs at home (something a lot of Americans would shrug off unfortunately).
I'd expect something competitive with CF bulbs in 4 years tops.
>There's a reason you can't by LED lightbulbs for your home lamps.
Good thing I did not ask you before I bought one. And yes, I only bought one they ARE expensive.. like $35 when I got one and down to like $25 now. The nice thing about it is there's no heat waste. When the cost goes down, I expect air conditioning to be cheaper since you're not fighting waste heat generation.
The early adopter applications will drive this down... think of all the bulbs running in car lights and RV's and motorcycles. LED replacements for those are just as bright and not much more. Bright LED brakelights are already standard on many commercial trucks.
Yes, $1.75 for a CF bulb (Score:3, Informative)