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Yesterday evening we headed over to Older Daughter’s house to give her the first month’s rent on the house. She mentioned that the electric bill there seems rather high. I think I can keep it low with a couple of little tricks.

One is to put the compact fluorescent bulbs all through the house. Those cut at least $75 off my light bill at the old place. I’ll also make sure I have curtains I can close over the windows when the sun is shining in. This will reduce the heat in the house. As much as I love the look of the huge windows and the view out of them, I want to save that electric bill as much as possible.

I’ll set the thermostat on the heat pump so it’s comfortable, but neither too cool in the summer nor too hot in the winter. I’ll also make good use of the ceiling fans in the house to create breezes and reduce the need for air conditioning.

I want to keep the utility bills as low as possible all around. I will be getting a compact washer and dryer pair. Low water usage and low power usage combined will help keep the utilities at a bare minimum. This will make it a lot more pleasant when they arrive in the mailbox!

The floors in the kitchen and living room are linoleum tile, which is cool underfoot in the summer but too chilly in the winter. I’ll get area rugs to place around in the traffic areas. This way, I can put them away during the summer and put them back down during the winter, when I’ll really need them.

I’ve got great solar driveway lights that I can really put to good use outside now. Also, the solar flood lights will be great aimed at the front deck and steps so we can see when we go in or out at night.

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