Does Unplugging the Toaster Really Lower Your Electric Bill? If you are like us, when you were a child and you left the lights on in your bedroom when you left the room, did you father say, "Turn the lights out, I don't own stock in the electric company"?
A few years ago, our daughter was leaving the lights on in every room in our house. We found ourselves sounding just like our fathers (as much as we said we would never do that). The more we carried on about the electric bill, the more lights she left on. Finally, she went off to college and that's when our little experiment started.
Richelle created a spreadsheet. The spreadsheet shows each electric bill we've received since January 2007. 2007 is a full year of electrical usage with our daughter living at home. 2008 is the transition year and 2009 is a full year of usage without our daughter living at home. The spreasheet shows our monthly usage of kilowatt/hour (kwh) and the amount of each electric bill. Then we went around the house and unplugged everything that is not used every day:
- cell phone chargers
- ipod chargers
- charger for our Realtor keys
- table lamps
- toaster
- the printer
- electric toothbrushes
- laptop cords
Every month, Richelle updated her spreadsheet. The results were incredible - unplugging all this stuff and no child living at home really lowered our electric bill! Have a look for yourself.
| Month | 2007 | kwh | 2008 | kwh | 2009 | kwh |
| January | $ 219.00 | 40 | $ 215.28 | 44 | $ 138.20 | 22 |
| February | $ 230.62 | 41 | $ 231.81 | 40 | $ 119.19 | 20 |
| March | $ 207.56 | 39 | $ 177.96 | 34 | $ 105.19 | 18 |
| April | $ 227.36 | 36 | $ 206.15 | 38 | $ 122.06 | 18 |
| May | $ 225.35 | 40 | $ 186.13 | 37 | $ 111.47 | 17 |
| June | $ 274.93 | 47 | $ 206.15 | 38 | $ 119.01 | 20 |
| July | $ 383.35 | 66 | $ 330.82 | 57 | $ 234.14 | 37 |
| August | $ 382.40 | 73 | $ 355.18 | 65 | $ 228.24 | 41 |
| September | $ 300.42 | 57 | $ 259.82 | 50 | $ 110.68 | 18 |
| October | $ 252.72 | 49 | $ 164.85 | 28 | $ 97.11 | 14 |
| November | $ 264.94 | 44 | $ 153.74 | 24 | $ 131.42 | 23 |
| December | $ 225.73 | 44 | $ 178.62 | 28 | ||
| Totals: | $ 3,194.38 | 576 | $ 2,666.51 | 483 | $ 1,516.71 | 248 |
| Savings 2008 vs 2007: | $ 527.87 |
You can clearly see from Richelle's spreadsheet that we have cut our electric bill almost in half. Just the savings alone from 2007 and 2008 was $527.87!
Does Unplugging the Toaster Really Lower Your Electric Bill? The answer is a resounding YES! The changes we made in what is plugged in and what isn't plugged in hasn't affected our lives too much. And, we no longer sound like our fathers. Over the 2 year period shown in the spreadsheet, we've just about cut our electric bill in half. Any suggestions on what we should do with our extra money?
Bob & Richelle Ward, Realtors, ABR
Prudential Connecticut Realty
www.connecticuthomesforsale.com
Cell - (203) 470-9818
Bob and Richelle, This is amazing. I missed the lamps. Your list has me ready to run thur my home and unplug all the lamps. They look nice but are costing me money. Thanks for sharing.
Great idea. I'll have to try it!
Wow this is great. by unplugging all of these things might make life a lot simpler.
Richelle ~ Fabulous post! That is truly amazing to save such money on unplugging appliances.
A couple after my own heart. I unplug the toaster, computer, stove(plug it in when needing the clock/timer, microwave etc. Some may think i'm crazy but if they are not contributing to the fund we do it my way.