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Tackling the Electricity Bill

I got our latest electricity bill this past week. It went up. Again. I don't understand why. It's been a mild winter, so we haven't used the heater as much as last year. Plus, I've made a few small changes that I had hoped would add up to even a slight savings:
  • I've cut down on the time the TV has been on. I haven't been perfect about it, though, because I still turn it on to watch something, decide to work on something else at the same time, then after an hour or so, I realize I'm not watching the TV at all. Wasted electricity.
  • I've unplugged my alarm clock. When we first brought our daughter home, her pediatrician recommended we feed her every two hours for the first week or so. After the first night of pushing an awkward combination of buttons and waiting for the alarm time to advance every couple of hours, I realized it was tons easier to just punch the time into my cellphone alarm. I kept the bedside clock until about two weeks ago.
  • I also unplugged our laptop. I bought a bottom-of-the-line unit that holds a charge for only a fraction of the time it claims to (eg., when it says I have 10 minutes of charge left, I know I have to plug it in ASAP or my work will be lost.) Therefore, leaving it plugged in 24/7 seems easier. But a couple of weeks ago when I decided to reassess my energy usage, I unplugged it. This change I've done well with; I plug it in only when it needs it. It's not convenient, but it's cheaper. Or at least it should be.
Hopefully, our next electric bill will better reflect the changes we've made, or I'll need to find more things to unplug.
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