How to Lower Your Power Bill

It's June 2020 and we just moved in to an all-electric manufactured home. I was told there was no gas bill and no water bill, only electric. We received our first power bill in July 2020 and it was $391! For two adults and one child, that did not seem right. PLUS, I was enrolled in a CARE program that took 30% off our bill every month meaning our original bill would have been $508.30! I work from home but I don't run the lights and TV and A/C all day. As soon as I was told that it will be this same amount in the following months (it's almost 100 degrees here too and I know the A/C is a big part of it) if we don't make some changes. I know the standard changes like not running your dishwasher or laundry as often, unplug things when you aren't using them, but I wanted to dive a little bit deeper into what I specifically did and hopefully this can help you as well:

- We have a lot of natural light in our home so I decided to just leave the lights off during the day as much as possible and open the blinds when I can -

- Run laundry once or twice a week instead of every other day
- I also noticed that I was running laundry 2X the cycle so I switched that to 1X
- Run the dishes once or twice a week instead of every day
- In both of our bathrooms, there are EIGHT lighbulbs per bathroom. I unscrewed six of the eight, leaving only two per bathroom

- I usually turn a lamp on in my office because the main light is very low. We also have mattresses against the window which blocks some natural light. I decided to not use the lamp and move the mattresses so I can still see without turning a lamp on
- I was reading that a lamp can use more power than a light itself but it also depends on the bulb type. I'm considering investing in eco-friendly bulbs - I have used them before and they cost more, but if they lower the power bill, it's totally worth it
- Right now our A/C is broken - it wouldn't shut off for a few hours. I called the owners and we have to use the breaker to turn the A/C off and on manually for two days until someone can come and fix it. I'm sure this was a huge part of the power bill as well
- I went around the house and unplugged everything that was plugged into the wall as it still takes up power even though it may not be turned on
- Having an all-electric dryer, I learned that you don't want to run the dryer alongside the A/C or heater. The dryer and A/C unit are the two things that take up the most power so I stopped running both at the same time
- I purchased a mini smart plug to assist with saving us some money and helping us with managing our power use

- When I have been washing clothes, I have been washing them with cold water and not hot water. I learned that hot water takes up more energy


Here is an update on our August bill - $303.96 (down $87.04 from last month,  not too bad!) If you have ways to lower your bill that you can help with (especially since we are mid heat wave and it was at 113 today!) please let me know any of your recommendations/suggestions in the comments below!