Thrifty Thursday: Saving on Utilities

Saving Money on Electric and Gas Bills

I don’t know about the rest of you, but I need this article a lot!  Once again, I am not an expert.  Last year during March, I didn’t have an electric bill, because we were under our budget ($100 per month, our house is all electric).  This year due to the unusually cold weather and rate increases, we are already $200 over our budget.  I am thinking this is going to result in about a $350 bill for March.  Ekkk!  I am scared already.
I am going to write about some of the steps we have taken to curb this for the future, but I really, really want your suggestions too!

1. We bought a programmable thermostat this week. This is a move I have been wanting to make for a while, but thanks to my January budget savings, we were able to pay cash for it.  It is my understanding that this will hopefully cut our heating bill by 25-33%!  We should have done this long ago.
2. We closed all our storm windows and put glass in our screen doors. This may seem like a no-brainer for all you up north, but we are used to mild winters.  We haven’t used the glass in our doors in a few years.  I have noticed a huge difference in the temperature in the house, so we will be doing this each year.
3. As we can afford it, we are switching to energy star appliances. Our washer and dryer are less than 10 years old and relatively efficient.  We purchase a new energy saver/energy star water heater last year.  Our deep freeze is energy efficient.  I really need a new fridge and dishwasher, because mine are on their last legs, but that is not possible right now!
4. Light bulbs have been switched to CFLs. I have picked up free or very cheap CFLs over the last year.  We have slowly converted our whole house to them.
5. I have been washing clothes in cold water and trying not to run the fluff cycle on the dryer as much. The dryer thing has been hard for me.  I have an outdoor laundry room, and in the winter, I have a bad habit of leaving clothes in the dryer overnight.

I know you ladies out there are really savvy with saving money.  Do you have any suggestions out there to help us conquer our electric bill?  Please leave me a comment below!

Do you have a Thrifty idea? Did you save a ton of money this week?  Do you have a Thrifty deal you want to share?

If so, please leave a comment or link up below!

Please leave a link back to Coupon Teacher so that we can all share ideas.

This is linked to Life as Mom and Madame Deals.