Using Less - How to save on energy

Well, I don't know about you, but every time I get an energy bill these days, I truly cringe before opening it.

Here are a few tips on saving energy around the house. Now, none of these individual ideas will save you a fortune, but it does add up (not to mention being better for the environment, which is a nice bonus!). Remember my saying, "pennies make dollars and dollars make house payments"!

• Turn off the oven a few minutes early. Turn off the oven and leave the food in, with the door closed - the built-up heat will continue to cook the food without using any energy. Here's a good rule of thumb - if you're cooking something for 50 minutes or longer, turn off the oven 5 to 7 minutes early. If you're cooking something for less than 45 minutes, turn off the oven 4 to 5 minutes early. If you're cooking something less than 30 minutes, turn off the oven 2 to 3 minutes early.
• In the winter, after you're done with the oven, leave the door open a few inches to let that heat warm up your kitchen (don't do this with "little ones" running around).
• Using the right pot or pan on stove burners...did you know that a 6" pot on an 8" burner wastes over 40% of the burner's heat!
• Beware wasted energy - this has been in the news lately, but it really bears repeating. Energy Vampires are electronics throughout your home that are always plugged in, even when not in use. Did you know that these items still use electricity, even when turned off? This includes: televisions, cell phone chargers, battery re-chargers, DVD players, gaming systems, etc. It has been estimated that this extra electricity costs US consumers more than $5.8 billion annually! Walk around your house and look for these things - for example, in our rarely used guest room, we had a digital clock, TV and DVD player plugged in; we started unplugging our cell phone chargers when not being used, etc. Easy changes that could easily add up to lots of money per year!
• Call you energy company for a credit on your bill (FREE MONEY) - Duke Energy (and many other energy companies throughout the country) offer many energy saving programs, but my favorite is one where they actually pay YOU! A program called Power Manager is a great fit for many families. They give you up to $35 credit on your bill (one month only) to let them install a PM box on your AC unit. Then, on the hottest days of the summer (usually only a handful of days) they may cycle your AC on/off a few times, for only a few minutes at a time. They credit your bill on the days when they do it IN ADDITION to the initial $35. They only turn off the AC during the week, during the day (when many are at work) and for only a few minutes at a time.
• Cold water - only wash your clothes in cold water. This saves Hundreds of $$ per year in energy costs and is actually better for your clothes. I've been doing this for years and honestly, there is NO difference in how clean the clothes get. (I do use bleach on my whites, but wash them in cold water.)
• Turn off the lights (or don't even turn them on) - Another good rule of thumb - with regular light bulbs - turn them off if you're going to be gone for 5 minutes or more. Flourescent bulbs - turn them off if you're going to be gne for 10 minutes or more. On that note, change all of those bulbs to flourescent and save 100's of $$ per year! (Some energy companies offer coupons or rebates, call yours to find out).

If you've got some additional ideas, please share!