I’m on the budget program for almost all of my utilities. This month, the budget amount for my electric bill went up again. It’s been rising for years, as most thing have, but it’s gotten to the point that I think it’s ridiculous to spend that much money on electricity.
We have gas heat, but we do have issues with our heating system, so we do use an electric heater or two sometimes. I’m a work-at-home mom, so I’m home all day with my two youngest kids to use electricity. I do work online, so I use electricity for the computer and monitor. So some electric use is understandable, but I can’t believe my electric bill is over 1/3 more than my gas bill.
I’m a reactional kind of person. I don’t usually analyze and think over the whole situation until after I’ve reacted with a crazy overblown response to the problem. So while being in reaction mode about my electric bill, my crazy idea for a way to combat my growing electric bill was to buy a bunch of solar garden stakes, leave them outside all day, and bring them in in the evening so I wouldn’t have to use electricity by turning on the indoor lighting.
Unfortunately, that wouldn’t help with the electricity used by my refrigerator, freezer, computer, blender, or other non-lightbulb electric-using items in my house. Someone else suggested I install solar panels on my roof or have a sky light installed. Quite frankly, if I’m struggling to pay my electric bill, I have no idea how in the world she thinks I’d be able to afford that. Another person suggested using CFL’s, but I’m already using LED’s which are just as efficient but much safer for people and the environment. I also got the suggestion of unplugging everything at night.
Overall, I’ve come to no good conclusion as to how to lower my electric bill, or even how to keep it from increasing again, but at least I got my big crazy reaction out of the way, so now I can calm down and try to think of a real solution. It’s crazy how crazy a bill can make someone… or maybe it’s just me.
If there’s anything you can learn from this, other than that there just may be someone crazier than you out there, is that since bills tend to fluctuate, being on the budget program will keep them steady for at least a long while, and that can bring you peace of mind and predictability for many months. (Seriously, just imagine how crazy I’d get if my bills fluctuated this much every month!)
And just in case you’re wondering, no, I did not buy the solar garden stakes. Unfortunately, that $20 will be going toward paying a small part of my electric bill instead.
Article by Randi Millward
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