What this resource guide offers are ways and resources in which you can reduce your
energy costs through low cost and low tech devices. Where possible, I’ll indicate various
sources to purchase the item and in some cases, I’ll report if I’ve personally used them.
As you’ll see, we were able to save $175 per month off our utility bill with just a few
adjustments and we spent less than $200…making for a rather substantial savings.
What can you do with an extra $175 or more each month in your pocket?
We lived in Arizona for ten years and watched as area utility costs rose each year to
where our monthly A/C and electric bill rose to more than $300 a month with only two
adults in the home. Within a month of installing solar shades across our front deck,
window treatments to block sun, substituting two window A/C units for our old, outdated
central air and the substitution of a solar clothes drier vs. an electric dryer, substitution of
our electric oven for a convection oven and microwave, we dropped our bill to $125 a
month. Saving nearly $175 a month on these costs allowed us to use that cash to pay
down other bills faster.
Consider that a whole house A/C can account for 45% of your energy bill and you see
why it’s important to own one less than 10 years old. Every degree you set your
thermostat up can save about 4% on your utility cost so why cool the whole house at
night? Consider keeping the temp up but use a smaller window or circulating fan to keep
yourself cool at night? You might also do a search for a product called a “Chillow.” You
put this into your freezer and then inside your pillowcase at night to keep cool. I believe
Walmart sells them as well as eBay sellers.
You can order solar shades and/or insulated curtains, or door draft guards to save
money on heating & cooling at HarrietCarter.com, Walmart, HomeDepot, Lowes or
many hardware stores. See our resource section for sources and online how-to videos.
Upon relocating back to Michigan (due to family obligations), we discovered high
utility costs again. There must be a water shortage in the Great Lakes state because our
water bill was $20 higher a month than when we lived in the desert and the state
government here tacks on about $50 per month just to our heating bill. But, plans are
underway to eliminate and/or reduce those bills as well (water miser shower heads and
not using a dishwasher didn’t help our water cause here).
It’s a sin in, my opinion, that governments gouge citizens by adding taxes and other fees
to basic utilities. Have you looked at your phone bill lately? A basic monthly, no-frills
phone bill is advertised at $19.95. When you add in the taxes and fees, that bill becomes
$35 per month. Many of our Poor Man subscribers have dropped their home line in
favor of cell phone only in order to save some cash. Another alternative to look at is
MagicJack.com, Vonage or other internet based phone system. They represent lower
costs but often, there is a trade off on quality of service. Some have very favorable
