[Carolyn]

And change those filters on your ac. Dirty filters make it work harder. I change mine once a month.

[Marjorie]

When you have a number of small appliances plugged in, they add up! Particularly during peak times.

It’s convenient to keep everything plugged in, but my utility bills showed a significantly lower total when they were not. It may not make a big difference to your budget, but it sure did to mine ($40 lower!)!

[Kristin]

I disagree to a point. Yeah, the unfancy $19 coffee pot isn’t drawing much, if anything, when it’s plugged in, but the behavior modification that stemmed from unplugging things brought my usage from 1150kwh a month down to a hair over 250.

The bill went from $124 to $59.

In the cold months.

It didn’t have a darn thing to do with that $19 Walmart special, but don’t discount one or two small acts having a huge ripple effect.

[Jamie]

I agree, I tried it and even turned most items off when we were gone for 5 days and nothing really changed. I am able to see my usage by day and by hour and there was no big change.

So, I just leave everything as is and go my merry way. I have learned to turn the thermostat way up in the summer months and use black out curtains, along with foam boards on my windows.

I use LED lights and it makes some difference. So AMEN to what you said.

[Shelly]

I unplug everything I can lighting hit our house and fry everything that was plug in, we fix the lighting problem but still have PTSD over the lighting and replaced everything one thing at a time not fun.

[Jamie]

True. We got a meter from our library and tested a bunch of stuff. Turns out our bedroom fans use most of the electricity we pay for. We were paying roughly $100/month to run our fans and our bill was $175/month. Ow we have smart plugs and turn them off when we aren’t in the bedroom or don’t need them. It has saved us so much money!

[Toni]

Those are fire hazards? I had no idea. Why? Also, just to point out, I don’t unplug most of those items to help with our electric bill, I unplug them because they can be a fire hazard too. The most extreme example………good friends of ours told their son to leave his rechargeable battery plugged in and then plugged into his little car. It started a fire and half their house burned down. My sister’s neighbor left her hair dryer plugged in and it started a small fire in their bathroom. Although I don’t think it was the hair dryr, I think it was the plug because it was all black around it. Anyways, good info. TY

[Tami]

Mostly agree. I don’t waste my precious time running around the house every day unplugging & replugging my small lights & appliances to save $50 per year.

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