What have you done? I am always looking for new ideas. We have double and triple pane windows, solar panels, low water toilets and shower heads, CFl light bulbs, HE washer, drip system xeroscape, evaporative coolers. We try to turn off the lights when leaving the room and turn down the heat at bedtime. Not really much sacrifice. Any unusual ideas?
Ditch the CFI and get LEDs. We did that and our bill dropped more.
We also got a new fridge. Energy consumption dropped. And we only use our large upright freezer at holiday times.
Cashmere robes, sheepskin slippers, and British hot tea… Wait. That’s a very expensive solution!
What thumper said! LED lights are amazing. We were burning through a lot kilowatts with our regular lights.
Mr. wants to get a personal solar panel farm. Sigh.
I stand corrected- H just told me we have LED not CFI lights. I also noticed a big reduction in bills when we became empty nesters and actually turned off lights. I do like my robes and sweaters, too in the winter and t-shirts and shorts and smoothies in the summer. When we replace our frig some day it will be better. Our solar panels are on our roof - the state gave a big rebate. H would like a windmill but they say we have too much fierce wind for it. Thank goodness.
I assume those windows are low E glass as well. Replacing the single pane leaky windows our current house came with cut down on electricity for air conditioning, noise and dust.
LED lighting- we switched out most to day light spectrum (we like the cooler light) only a couple of years after we moved in, renovated and switched to CFLs. Son visited and didn’t like our LED choice- but he doesn’t live here or have aging eyes. Like the instant on. But- for some lanai fixtures chose to stay with circline fluorescents because they still don’t make LEDs with enough lumens. Also kept tube lights in baths and other places. Changed outside front lights so could use LED bulbs. I suspect in a few years prices will drop even further and more choices will be available.
Don’t forget insulation, caulking and perhaps attic fans. How about air leakage/heat loss from a fireplace? Dark/light roofs absorb heat differently. Light walls can change the brightness (Behr paints now lists the light reflectance value on the Home Depot paint color set).
Use a dishwasher (newer use less energy/water but take longer) instead of the extra water to do by hand- and wait until it is full. Likewise fill the he washer instead of two small loads.
Our refrigerator can be put in a vacation mode to cycle less when doors not being opened. We turn off the water heater and adjust heat/AC when we’re going to be gone. Programmable thermostats are wonderful- we’re in Florida and our Honeywell (dislike Nest) can be set for both heat and cool without needing to switch- nice if a cool spell ever comes/goes. Here we have a heat pump, your type of HVAC depends on your climate.
Waiting for solar power prices to come down and our roof needs replacing. Rules about those are changing- and homeowner’s association old, old rules get modified.
It was hard to look at bills and notices savings because we had house renovation then window/door replacement times when the house was open to the Florida heat (even some winter time).
We keep the heat off when we are away at work. We turn on just the main floor heat and then when we go to bed, we turn that off or low and turn on the upstairs heat. When I came upstairs for the night, my bedroom was at 60, but it’s warming up now. My H is really cheap, lol.
We don’t put our outdoor lights on much and turn off lights in rooms we aren’t in.
We leave outdoor lights on at night - two front porch lights , a back door light and two lamp post lights - it’s become a safety precaution in our area due to break ins, car break-ins,etc.
As far as saving, we wash almost all our clothes in cold water. And use the multiple dryer settings so that we don’t overuse energy with the dryer.
Almost never use air conditioning. Walk a lot. Lots of other things said here already.
‘Our refrigerator can be put in a vacation mode to cycle less when doors not being opened.’ that’s interesting. our frig and dishwasher are 15 years old- just not need replaced yet.
During heating season, our thermostat is set at 59 at night and during the day when we are gone, and 64 when we are awake/at home.
60 and 68 here. We have to keep the cats pampered. 
We keep the temps low in our house as we both like it cool while sleeping and don’t mind wearing sweats and covering up with throws. It’s even cooler during the day when we’re at work although I had to turn the heat up on a recent work from home day.
I have 2 very large TVs in my apartment, but I only watch one, so I unplugged one TV. By doing that, it saved me $30/mon.
You saved $30/month just by unplugging a tv that wasn’t even on??? Can that be???
We also keep thermostat low-54 degrees during night, 60 during evening. May have to bump that up now that kiddos are home. I wash laundry in cold water, express setting (shorter cycle). I use very short or no dry cycle and use my dry rack or hang to finish drying.
I have always heard that running a full dishwasher is more energy efficient than hand washing, but my dishwasher developed a leak last month and I’ve been hand
Is divorce my husband an option? When my kids are home, they are generally too lazy to turn on lights, and they prefer to play video games and stream Netflix in the dark. But when I come home and my husband is home, the house is lit up. He doesnt seem to know how to turn OFF lights. Drives me crazy.
We keep the heat low (often at 64) but we “need” the AC in the summer.
Having a person look at and physically pay the electric bill helps- or write a check to reimburse you.
When one of my sons takes a shower I try and notice the time he started the water…After 5 minutes if I can still hear the water running I pound on the bathroom door. Otherwise he will be in there forever wasting water and my water bill will be higher.
My sons routinely take very long showers. I gave up worrying about it, unless we have several people that need to get through showers quickly. I know we use more electricity and water than we should.