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Cutting the Cost of Household Bills?
schlumpf_louise asks: "I'm in the UK, and I'm about to move out of university accommodation and live in a house, for the first time. When we move, we will have to pay for water, electricity and gas. We'll still be students renting from a landlord, so we can't make any major physical changes to the property. The house has gas central heating and a gas cooker. Four computers will be running pretty much all the time, in addition to the usual general household appliances. What tips do any of you have for (legally) saving on bills? Are there any technologies that are worth buying for long term savings? What should we not do, or not use?" What other saving tips, and frugal suggestions might you have for a house full of college students?
It is the four computers running all the time that will cost you a significant amount of money. What you should all do is work out when your computers actually need to be running. Although its nice to sit down and instantly start working, or to check your email when you are up at 3am going to the loo, if you are pinching pennies you'll notice that even over the course of a month, shutting down computers when they aren't doing anything will save you a significant number of pounds. Chances are as students you'll be spending a lot of time away from the house anyway at the pub, classes, the pub again, the local curry place, the pub. If you add that to your sleep routine you'll probably find that the number of hours each week that you actually need your computers is only a small fraction of the 168 that they will be on. Set your automated tasks to occur when you are eating dinner or watching the TV rather than having your computer on at 3am just to backup and download updates. Is having a great distributed computing score worth the price of several meals each month? Also consider. If you all already have mobile phones, do you really need a landline?
Also, Macaroni and Cheese. Have you considered selling plasma?
Turn off any and all electrical devices not in use.
Pile on the blankets, dont run the heater.
emt 377 emt 4
Only obvious things come to mind. In case they aren't so obvious to you: Use the computers for heat in the winter, try to pipe the heat away in the summer. Wear a sweater. Shower with your girlfriend. Wear your clothes multiple days to save on laundry loads. But of course all these habits you probably picked up in college anyway.
Lightbulbs that use Fluorescent tube technology, but screw right into the sockets of regular bulbs.
- They use ~25% of the power of regular bulbs (for the equivalent light output)
- They tend to last 5 times longer
- The electronic balasts of modern CFB don't cause flicker (and thus avoid headaches...)
- Modern CFBs use better phosphorescents that match the color temperature of typical incandescents.
The only real downside is that they *are* more expensive than regular bulbs, but the energy (money) you save in the first few months allows it to quickly pay for itself.
If you all already have mobile phones, do you really need a landline?
If you don't have landline voice service, you can't get dial-up. If the local telco is unwilling to unbundle the local loop, and you don't have landline voice service, you can't get DSL. If you don't watch a lot of TV, and the local cable company is unwilling to sell Internet access to those who aren't cable TV customers, then you can't get cable Internet access. So yes, you may need to keep landline voice service or give up Internet access altogether.
and every day when you leave. better yet, get an electonic thermostat if you can, and program it. turn out lights when you are not in the room. don't run water needlessly. if you aren't actually using your computer at night (uploading, compiling, serving, whatever), let the computer go to sleep or turn it off.
i saw the baby, and the baby looked at me
In the winter months, they sell a clear plastic sheet you can tape along the rim of the inside windowsill. It is amazingly effective at preventing heat loss. Use that.
You can save on water and power by not showering regularly.... but I think that's a given.
I once was a housemate with a guy that got kicked out of a fraternity for being too drunk and rowdy. He had stolen a 1968 vintage kegerator from a carnival, and the thing sucked like 1200 watts or more, and ran continuously with no thermostat. One day, he came home with a keg of Stroh's that he had bought for $20 on special. He came face to face with the resolution that it would cost him more in electricity to cool the beer with the antique device than it cost to buy the keg.
Late that night, I found him outside dressed in all black, carrying a trenching shovel and a long extension cord toward our neighbors' house...
'Be always mindful, even when ditch-digging.' --D. T. Suzuki
If you have a nice gas cooktop and some cooking skills you can make a lot at home. Uni cafeteria can be a huge money drain if you're eating 3 meals a day. For 4 people, you could probably save 50 pounds a month if everyone chips in and does some food work. Nothing fancy, but stay away from prepackaged food also, it's just as expensive and not healthy either.
Frankly, that one will save you more than most of the rest. There are a wide variety of not bad foods that can be made in semi-bulk (so you only have to cook new every couple of days), that can be dressed differently at the table for varied meals. It's how I survived grad school.
Follow that one by shoping for clothes at the local version of Goodwill, turn down the heat, plug the drafts, and unplug appliances not in use. Consider adding an insulating blanket to your hot water heater, if it's not an instant-on type.
And, of course, don't do anything that makes holes in walls. Those are pricey to fix and tend to make landlords a bit touchy. The same comment applies to carpets.
the more accurate the calculations became, the more the concepts tended to vanish into thin air. R. S. Mulliken
Landlords generally want the property to look good and clean to attract tenants, they don't spend a lot of time or energy sealing up a house.
A few tubes of caulk to seal up small cracks and some stick-on weather stripping for windows and doors will go a long way toward keeping the temperature more stable. Also there are foam gaskets you can put behind the wall plates of switches and sockets to keep drafts out.
Drapes open on cold days to get in the sun's heat. Closed on warm days to keep it out.
Showers are a huge point of waste. A few dollars/pounds will get you a shower valve you screw in-line with the shower head. You can then reduce the water flow when you're not actually needing it and then turn it up again to rinse off. Showers generally cost you 3x, incoming water, heating water, waste water charge.
If you have access to your water heater and the pipes coming from it, add insulation to them. A water heater wrap and some foam tube insulation will keep the water hotter for longer in the tank and the pipes to the shower.
If you have a smaller shower room, hang your wrinkled clothes in there, it will help remove wrinkles and prevent you turning on the iron (ha ha, I know).
Keep the fridge full. The more "stuff" in the fridge the more efficient it is. Air heats/cools quickly and escapes readily when the door is opened. Stuff in the fridge will help the temperature come back to cold quickly and reduce run-time. Also, keep the door closed as much as possible. Standing in front of the fridge with the door open searching for something to eat is a tremendous waste.
Line-dry your clothes indoors instead of machine drying. On a breezy summer day indoors with open windows the evaporation will cool the air; in the winter the humidity will help make the air feel warmer at lower temperatures.
When cooking, use lower gas settings on the cooker. High-heat spills a lot of heat past the pan in to the air. Medium-low heat will usually get the job done just as well with only a slight increase in pre-heat and cooking time.
Find, and keep clean the filer for the central heat if it's forced air.
Try to cook for the entire house at one time instead of each member cooking their own meals. Economies of scale and all; better to heat the kitchen up once for 20 minutes that 4-5 times 10 minutes each.
Low-cost 1/2 Styrofoam panels can easily be cut to fit in to windows to block out cold nights, or to fit around the outside of a particularly lame fridge.
Article X: The powers not delegated... by the Constitution...are reserved...to the people
Here's what we did:
* Cancel movie rental subscription (Netflix)
* Get movies and some books from the library
* Cancel old unused website costing a monthly fee
* Scour credit card statements, found another forgotton hosting account, cancelled it
* Called auto insurance company and raised deductible for collision to $1000
* Bought a stovetop espresso maker so we don't need to buy good coffee by the cup now
* Continued living with our old outdated computer monitor
* No cable, no gaming accounts
* No alchohol, no drugs, no lottery tickets
* Pay things on time and avoid late fees
* Remember if taxes take 50%, you have to earn $2 for each $1 you spend.
* Stop buying stuff.
* Get cheaper broadband plan
* Cancel unused text messaging on wife's cell phone ($5/mo)
* Cancel unused roaming plan ($5/mo)
* Cancel unused Canada roaming addon ($3/mo)
* Cancel unused "nights start at 7PM" addon on cell plan ($5/mo)
* Ask nicely and get $10/mo unlimited cell data plan, including modem use (Sprint, Treo 650) instead of faster Cingular $40/mo+ plan
* Refrain from getting car. Get exercise instead.
Lots of little amounts, and some big ones. They add up.
Dude, I bought one of those "Kill-a-Watt" power measuring devices. I measured all my CRTs and several LCDs.
The LCDs do not pay for themselves in a year. Not even if you live somewhere where you have to run the air conditioner year round, and you pay for every watt twice, once to use and once to cool it.
The max savings you can approach, presuming all the above, is about $25/year. The price difference between a CRT and an LCD is way more than that.
Remember, just because it's high-tech, doesn't mean it's a good idea !
This fatwallet thread "Living frugally without hardship" is a great start.
It is pretty long, but full of valuable information.
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Plastic over the windows. You can buy the really good kind or just use big cheap sheets. Either way works. Check the windows first to see if they are double-pane, though.
Check around the edges of windows, especially in older buildings. Frequently, cracks will form around the edges where you can clearly feel cold leaking in. Get some silicone sealant from the local hardware, and close those holes.
Put cloth underneath and around any doors that have any space. Taking the doors off and stapling them is ideal, but in a pinch you can use glue or staple the strips to the front and back.
Compact Flourescent bulbs are a lot more energy efficient than regular ones, and last longer. And if you look around, there have been a few batches at dollar stores recently... can't beat more efficient, longer lasting, and cheaper.
Turn off your monitors when not in use. This will save as much as shutting off your computer, and is less of a pain in the arse.
Don't get a house phone. Get high speed 'net access, skype, and use cellphones. But keep the landlines away. While you're at it, halve your costs: go in for high-speed access with the people above or below you, and run your own cable. Just make a no-uploading rule or you'll find your pipe clogged in no time.
No cable: get utorrent and download shows.
Avoid even thinking about World of Warcraft.
Have a parking space you're not using? Sublet it.
No offence, but don't worry so much about the "legally" part. Everyone assumes you sublet despite what your lease says. Everyone assumes you will do things to change the apartment like paint it. People share network access all the time. It's just built in. If you screw things up, it gives them legal right to sue you, but otherwise it is just business as usual.
Don't buy any furnature. Wait until the students are moving out, if you can, to pick some up for free. Of course, you'll probably be moving out then too, so I guess that plan works best for the rest of us.
The ______ Agenda
I'm a loner Dottie, a Rebel.
If you MUST have 4 computers running - they will eat something like 500-800+ watts - so you need to use or get rid of that amount of energy. (note that CRTs use similar amounts - use LCDs!)
Most refrigerators use something less than 500-800 watts to cool their interiors - but many (most) use motors to compress coolant and dump the heat out to cooling coils on the back (heating the surrounding room). Why not instead use a 'fridge that uses an absorption cycle (like the ones you find in a camper that use either electricity or gas to provide heat but don't use a motor) and run it off the heat of the computers?
Note that you'll have to provide some dump for the heat - so you'll probably want to put the computers (and some part of the fridge) near an outside wall so you can dump heat outside (choose the side away from the sun) - use long monitor cables etc. to bring the video/keyboard/mouse connections to where you want them.
In Summer - open the windows near the computers to let the heat out
In Winter - put a fan there and blow the excess heat into the rest of the house.
Of course you might want to run some copper tubing from the water supply near these heat sources to pre-heat the water prior to running it into the normal water heater too. You can also plumb them into solar panels on the roof in Summer (and even in Winter in some areas) to preheat water. A little bit of electronics might be necessary to ensure you don't overheat the water - I've almost burned my hand off the panels I have on the roof for my pool :)
Lots of ways of (re)using the energy you take into the house before letting it out - and taking advantage of the energy that is freely available from the sun when it shines.
Been there, done that, paid for the T-shirt
and didn't get it
Cost of a 60-watt incandescent (1000 hour lifespan): 60 cents.
Power used over 1000 hours: 60 kWh.
Cost of power over 1000 hours: $4.80
Total cost for 1000 hours: $5.40
Cost of 17-watt CF (60-watt equivalent, in 6-pack from Home Depot): $1.75, with tax.
Fraction of lifespan used in 1000 hours: 10%
Total cost of CF for 1000 hours: 17.5 cents
Power used over 1000 hours: 17 kWh
Cost of power over 1000 hours: $1.52
Total outlay for first 1000 hours: $3.27
Value of remaining bulb lifespan: $1.57
Total cost for 1000 hours: $1.70
Appraisal of you: you're much more dogmatic than geekishly analytical. Turn in your geek badge to security on the way out of Slashdot.
Time is Nature's way of keeping everything from happening at once... the bitch.
There are a lot of folk on here who don't know a thing about the UK or what a typical student rented house would be like. Advice about A/C is irrelavent.
Anyway. Assuming no structural changes allowed (so you can't touch wall cavities etc) and assuming you don't have UPVC double glazing etc.
1. Draught insulation on all doors and windows. Find every draught and stop it. You can get thses strips in Homebase, Do It All etc. They come in different thicknesses so choose wisely. Be prepared to get dirty cleaning all the spaces in the joints where the spiders live otherwise the strips won't stick.
2. When it's cold, wear more clothes and only heat the rooms you use and keep the doors shut so you don't heat the rooms you're not using.
3. If you want to heat a room quickly (say you're the first one back after being at lectures all day) get a small desk fan and set it blowing across the radiator in the living room. It will cirulate the warm air surprisingly quickly.
4. Cook and eat meals together as a group. This is cheaper, you'll eat better and it's relaxing to have everyone sit down together after they have all been out (hopefully) studying all day . Do the obvious like learn how to skin and quarter a fresh chicken rather than buy expensive chicken pieces (hint: kitchen scissors). You don't need to be a great cook, learn to do one simple meal such as a Chilli Con Carne, expand your repotoir later. We had a complicated looking list (it would be a spreadsheet today) of money spent by each person either for the group or for other individuals so we could work out who owed each other what at the end of the term. It saved any arguments and meant the whole 'cooking for the group' thing did work.
5. Much has been said about computers already. If you can get to a power socket in the library, consider working there. This would obviously require a laptop but you keep warm, have free electricity and hopefully *don't* have a distracting net connection.
6. If you have big windows, consider that platic double glazing stuff you can get. For what ammounts to some double sided tape and a sheet of clear plastic stuck over the window, then shrunk tight with a hair dryer you do get pretty good insulation.
One more thing. University is getting stupidly expensive now in the UK, you are going to get into a lot of debt anyway. But you are not there to get a degree as cheaply as possible. You are there to enjoy yourself, to learn about life and yes; to get a degree. So have some fun along the way and don't sit freezing in a room when being warm isn't going to make much difference to the £20k debt you might well be facing at the end. Which is why I don't suggest not drinking beer. You'll be spending more on beer than on food and possibly utility bills as well.
Get rid of incandescents! They generate waste heat like hell and are expensive to run. Go flourescent as much as you can. We switched out our outdoor lights too (including former mercury bulb yard lights) with this and have seen a noticable drop in electric rates.
Mercury vapor and (high-pressure sodium and metal halide lights, too) are more efficient than flourescent! The only reason they're not used for indoor residential lighting is because the spectrum is nowhere near that of sunlight. Flourescent lighting is the most efficient type of lighting that also produces a reasonable spectrum. But for sheer photons-per-watt efficiency, HPS, MH and mercury vapor all beat flourescent.