Minni, I agree with Susan....if you want to pay the bill. I believe in taking care of the planet that God gave us to live on, but all of this green stuff is hooey. If you got the money to pay for the bill and you don't mind, leave them plugged in. We turn off stuff, but we don't unplug. We live in tight quarters and our plug ins are pretty much hard to access. I can see one of us pulling a muscle trying to unplug and replug all the time.

I have switched to mostly flouresent lights, but found one of the biggest suckers was leaving the computer on at night. We started shutting it down at night and it saved us about $30.00 a month!

We replaced all our windows, went to fluorescent lights, starting unplugging our phone charges, starting turning off the computer at night, the air conditioner hasn't run in 2 months, have a gas furnace and gas hot water heater (we don't unplug the TV because it's 20 years old and it is such a pain to reset the VCR and DVD - they're all in one surge and I would have to trip the whole thing)


...and our power bill went up $40/month due to new wholesale power use charge and a delivery charge.

Minni,
I'll be in the power sucking category with you. We have 6 tvs in our house, all but 1 are hooked up to satelite and I'm not rebooting them everytime we want to watch something. Each TV is hooked up to a DVD player as well as the satelite box and a few of them also have multiple video game systems hooked up to them too. We also have 6 computers, 4 of them laptops and 1 tower that are all on , so I guess those aliens will find us pretty easy as well LOL.

Our bill is what I would consider normal except for in the summer when the A/C is on and then it gets to be a bear. That has more to do with the crummy windows and undersized A/C unit in this house we rent, we figured that out the first year we lived here because when the season changes our electric bill and gas bill swap, but the 2 together are always about the same each month.

Kel

MomofHandL, that is totally unfair!

Now y'all have me paranoid so I've done a little house check. Here's some other creepy things that are "on" when they're not:

1. the alarm system
2. the stove
3. the washer/dryer....yep, little red lights
4. the refrigerator....little blue light on ice maker
5. all outdoor lighting controls.....clock
6. water sprinkler control
7. something on the pool pump thingamajiggy
8. air conditioner control devices on the walls....I shut it down and it still showed the time and temp.
9. pilot light stays on fireplace and outdoor grill.
10. little refrigerators outside and in the kitchen. I turned them off and there's still a red light!

Ack! I think I'll have to go hit the master fuse box switch and see what happens. I think these appliances have a mind of their own.

yeah, I wonder how much it costs to turn it all back on! It takes more power to turn lights on than it does to keep them on, depending of course how long they're on. It also taxes the bulb. So take in the cost of buying new bulbs and turning them on then to actually leave them on and have the bulb last longer. Also add in the tax, the trip, etc.

Did you know those little flourescents (if you break one) requires a hasmat guy to come out because of the mercury? Dumb....like I'd call a hasmat guy. Second those little ones are seriously pricey and they didn't outlast my other ones..okay maybe by 2 months. Waste of money. And like Susieinms says...then there's the garbage.

I wonder how much it costs to power up the plasma and how taxing it is on the components (like a light bulb) to do this?

Lots of things to consider.

This post was edited on Nov 02, 2009 09:58 AM

Thanks Minnie, it is unfair. We only put fluorescent bulbs in the lights that are on a lot, such as the lamp in the living room that we turn on at night. Otherwise, I don't think it saves much money.

There is one thing I've wondered about. I hang out my towels on the clothesline, and use them as is. Some people hang their towels on the clothes line, and then put them in the dry for 5 minutes or so to soften them up. To me, it seems most of the energy is expended in the first five minutes of the dryer heating up. So, are you actually saving much money by hanging them first in the line, and then throwing them in the dryer?

This has been a great thread. I agree that if you are continually turning something on and off, that is more taxing than just leaving it on. For example, I don't turn the kitchen lights off during the evening hours because we are continually going in and out of that room. More energy would be extended turning the lights on and off.
I think it was Susie that mentioned about being good stewards with the earth God has given us, but I agree some of the global warming and energy conservation methods have gone a bit crazy. I watch Green Living channel sometimes, and there really are some crazy people out there!!!

Stacey