If you’ve been reading my blog for a while, you’ll know that we recently moved into a rather large rental home. With a bigger house comes higher utility bills. I obviously knew this going in but when you’re actually paying the bill, it stings a little harder.
Last month, we slightly decreased our outrageous utility bills – including water, gas and electric. When we first moved in, our electric bill was $197. Last month, it was $117 which seemed like a big drop, but really we just didn’t have to pay the activation fee and the cycle was shorter.
Electric cont…: This past month, our electric bill was $104. I’m pretty content with that. I’d like it to be less, but I’ve done everything I can think of to decrease it. We don’t leave any lights on, we unplug appliances not in use, I don’t have the TV on in the mornings when I’m working anymore and we don’t use our washer/dryer all that often (about twice a week). The dryer was the thing I suspected was making our bill so high, so now we hang our clothes in the laundry room to dry and then fluff them in the dryer for about 10 minutes. Since our bill still is pretty high, I’ve just come to terms with it. I do work from home and my girls are home with me often. If the house were empty all day it would be a different story.
That being said, if I’m missing some obvious way to lower my electric bill, please share!!!
Water: I haven’t blogged about our water bill but it’s been right around $45 all three months. Not bad!
Gas: This is where we made the biggest improvement, but it’s not by anything that we did. The weather was warmer, so our heater rarely turned on. I wish I could say that I got tougher and lowered the thermostat, but nope. Maybe next winter 😉 Last month, our bill was a whopping $197 and this month…$62!! I will take it.
Now, we just have to turn the thermostat high so we don’t rack up a massive electric bill when it starts to get hot out. The hottest it’s been inside so far was 82 degrees. While not preferable, it was certainly manageable. All of the rooms have fans which makes a huge difference. I’ve also been leaving a few windows open to cool the place off at night when the weather gets cooler again. My husband can’t sleep if it’s super hot and I don’t blame him, so when it starts hitting the mid-80s regularly we will be turning on the AC.
If you’re looking for ways to save on your utility bills, check out my post on 13 ways to save on utility bills.
And that’s a wrap for our utility usage this month. How was everyone’s weekend? We have been getting an incredible amount of rain here in NC for the past week. I love the rain, but I wouldn’t mind some sunshine so I could take the girls out on walks and to the park! John and I finally bought some new bedding this weekend. We had been looking for quite a while (a year?) and finally found 1000 thread count sheets for $49.99 at Belk and a comforter at Costco for $48. I read somewhere that the reason hotel beds look so comfy is because of the white sheets. Our new ones are white and so far after one night sleeping on them, I would agree!
My 2-year-old (who will be 3 in a few weeks!) also FINALLY peed on the potty. We have been working with her for a good 3 months and she never went until today. Unfortunately for us first-time parents, we had bribed her with TONS of Frozen items (including a bike…) from Target if she would pee on the potty. So tonight at 6 we headed out in the rain to Target to purchase all of the items we promised her (and yes, she remembered each and every item).
I’ll probably do a post in the next week or so on spoiling kids, haha. Ours actually aren’t spoiled at all, but I’m pretty bad with bribing and Cami literally remembers everything that I say. Lesson learned!!
Hope everyone had a good weekend. I have a new post on my Become a Freelance Writer blog that’ll be live Monday! Check it out if you’re interested in a career in freelancing. I have some good content planned for that site later in the week, too!
photo credit: Flickr via Brendan Wood
Holly@ClubThrifty says
atI love this time of year because we don’t have the furnace or AC on. Low utility bills for at least a few months. We mostly use fans in the summer, so it’s not that bad. Our water bill was high last summer though because we had to water our garden so much.
Sarah Brooks says
atWe plan on using fans, too! But I’ll probably turn it on at night once it gets really warm. I can’t sleep when it’s super hot and humid in the room!
Kristin says
atI’m lucky that my electric company only charges me every other month because bills are so low – like $20 a month! However, my water bill ticks me off. I pay almost $70 a month in sewage fees, plus actual use. There is so much new construction happening that a lot of new sewage has to be built, which means I have to help pay for it I guess. It makes me so mad though, ha!
Sarah Brooks says
atOh wow you are getting a great deal on electric!! But I guess the water bill evens it out, haha. Always something!!!
Jayleen @ How Do The Jones Do It says
atWe totally bribed our son too. It worked;0) Thomas trains were his motivation. My daughter didn’t require bribing.
Glad to hear your monthly bills are going down! Woot! Woot! That’s always a great feeling!
Sarah Brooks says
atI don’t think our second daughter will require bribing, either! In fact, she’s already peed on the potty and she’s only 19 months! I think she’ll catch on easily because she’ll have a big sister to follow 🙂
diane @smartmoneysimplelife says
atPotty training can be a nightmare. I remember my mum suggesting I train my daughter some time after she turned two. I did a LOT of washing. In the end, I figured it was stressing us both out too much to be worth it, so I stopped. A few months later she *chose* not to wear a nappy and never had an accident after that. Sometimes, I think you need to let them find their own way.
Utility bills… talk about a necessary evil. Thankfully we’re moving into the cooler time so no A/C on – we usually have it on at night all summer. I figure quality sleep is worth it. Now I need to organise some wood for the fire.
Water bills are scary here. I pay around $80 per month for a household of two. And, I’m really careful with water use. Of course, everyone does that so now they increase the supply charges twice a year. Talk about a scam!!! Not really a fan of privatised public services…
Tarynkay says
atMy son was the same way! We tried a few times starting around age two and then gave up in frustration. The week before his third birthday, he announced that he needed underpants. Then he used the toilet and told me that he needed candy. That was it- no accidents, no more diapers, not even at night. I am a big fan of waiting till its easy.
I always said we wouldn’t bribe our kids, but I confess, six months later, he still gets a jelly bean every time he uses the toilet. I finally just bought the huge bucket of jelly beans at Costco cause I don’t see him giving them up anytime soon. C’est la vie!
Sarah Brooks says
atOh wow that’s very encouraging!! I will say, my daughter has only gone that one time, haha. No surprise there, but we’re DONE bribing! I figure she’ll go when she’s ready. She still asks for diapers and is almost 3, but that’s OK. It’ll happen on it’s own time!
Sarah Brooks says
atOh wow your water is really high!! We pay $45 for a family of four and I take long showers haha. I do agree on the potty training. She has only gone that one time and I really don’t want to spend all of our days sitting in the bathroom. I figure it will happen on it’s own. She’ll be 3 in a few weeks so she’s a little late on the bandwagon, but I’d still rather take it slow than force it!!
Christina @ Embracing Simple says
atEek potty training, I’m dreading that! Cami is a smart little cookie! Kids do have a knack for remembering everything that revolves around a treat of some sort hah.
Sarah Brooks says
atOh they sure do!! Cami asks to go to Target often, so I’ll tell her “later today” and then not go (oops!). So now when I tell her we’re going somewhere she insists on going to “Target FIRST!” lol. Poor kid! But sorry, we’ll go to Target when I need to go, not her!!
Chela @SmashOdyssey says
atCongrats on the potty training, and on the super steal with the 1000 thread count sheets! What a bargain! I love the rain, too, and opening windows. We´re a little spoiled in that our utilities are included in our rent, so we keep the AC pumpin! It´s a bright 60º in our tiny apartment all the time and we love it 🙂 It´s great for sleeping, and snuggling. I don´t know what we´ll do if/when we move!
Sarah Brooks says
atOh wow I would love if our utilities were included in rent!! That would be one less thing to worry about in the budget, haha!