I wanted to give you all a little update as to my saving electricity experiment. I'm happy to report that my efforts are paying off. My electric bill has gone from around $125 a month to around $75 a month - a huge cut considering that every so often the rates get raised!
I've got just about everything on power strips now. I turn off the strips that are for the TV/DVD player and the coffee pot/microwave. I also turn off the one that supplies the power for the various phone chargers we have. Anything that has a stand-by mode and doesn't need continuous power for the memory gets switched off any time I leave and during sleeping hours. I never use the clock on the microwave or the coffee pot, so I don't care if they flash 12:00 when they're on.
The DVD player remembers everything it needs to even when it's not hooked up to power, so why have it pulling power on stand-by? Ditto for the TV.
Saving $50 a month is well worth the small price I paid for those extra power strips throughout the house! Add to that the fact that I only use CFL bulbs in the house, and the fact that Son and I have become even more energy aware, and I'm thinking the light bill will go down even further!
