Cutting the electricity bill: Part 1 -- lighting the house

(If you don't already know, our family has been hit with a 30% reduction in income this month. Many of my posts will chronicle our family's attempt to trim costs and grow income.)

Recently, I have made it a habit to check our electricity meter each morning. I am tracking our use on a daily basis. I use this to motivate me to cut back just a bit more each day.

In the last 12 months, we have spent about $950 on electricity for our house. We heat with natural gas, have a gas water heater, no A/C, and no dehumidifiers. The electricity used here is lighting, tools and appliances.

Artificial lighting accounts for as much as 20% of the electricity used in US households. If this percentage is accurate for my own household, then we are spending nearly $200 per year on lighting alone.

So, what can we do? Plenty! If your budget is in a pinch, like mine, there are things you can do today, that cost nothing, to reduce your electric lighting consumption. Some of these things can be permanent solutions, while others may be more temporary. But either way, you will shave that electric bill beginning today.

Keep in mind, some of these reduced-use of electrical lighting ideas are coming from someone with a budget crisis, and targeted towards the financially desperate (like me). You may be thinking, "oh that sounds too weird for my tastes", but someone else may find these helpful or may be already doing these.

The obvious and well-talked about is to replace incandescent light bulbs with CFLs or LEDs, or lower wattage incandescent bulbs. As bulbs burn out, I'll buy even more lower watt CFLs.


How about some ways to save on lighting, that cost nothing, and can be done right now?

Turning off lights when you leave a room is something we have heard since we were children. It's something I work on with myself and my family. But when you just can't get others to turn off the lights, you sometimes need to help them out, by reducing the lighting available in the first place.


I took a light audit in our house. I walked from room to room and asked myself, "how much lighting does this space need for its use?" Some rooms, like the TV/media room, need far less lighting than exists. In some fixtures, I swapped out the higher watt bulbs already in place, for lower watt ones.  Easy to do, I simply stole a lower watt bulb from a room seldom used, and put it in the fixture in the room needing less lighting.


In multiple-bulb fixtures, I simply partially unscrewed one or more of the bulbs, if I felt less lighting would work.

Some rooms where partially unscrewing bulbs is saving in our house:

The light fixture over the kitchen table has 5 bulbs. The first day, I untwisted 2 bulbs. The next day, I did 1 more. Yes, to an outsider it looks like we have a bunch of burned-out bulbs. But when company is expected, I can quickly twist those 3 bulbs, avoiding any unpleasant comments about our lighting.

In the family room, there's a wall-mount fixture that holds 2 bulbs. I partially unscrewed one of the bulbs. These are covered by a shade, so it's not even noticeable that one bulb is not burning. In an upstairs bathroom, we really have overkill in the lighting department. I untwisted a couple of bulbs in there as well. There's a window that receives good light right next to the mirror.

In the garage, there are two ceiling lights. Most of the time, I just need one light. I simply pulled the chain on the other light, so only one will come on when the switch is flipped. (Update: I have since unscrewed the second bulb, as well. When I need garage lighting, I open the back door.)

Selectively reducing light in each room allows me to see if we really need all the lighting that is there, as well as saves us some money in the short term. When dark months of fall and winter return, I can easily increase our lighting, on an as-needed basis.


Another totally free thing one can do, is to choose to use artificial lighting less. The rule I've been following now is, "if there's natural light in the house, leave the artificial lights off". Obviously, I'm not advocating that anyone bump around in darkness. In fact, in our own house, we do have a couple of spaces that don't receive much natural light. And we do use artificial lighting in those areas. But we've found life to be just fine in the most-used rooms, leaving lights off.

I am having to break some of my own habits, as well as the family's. Every time I go into the pantry (which does receive light from the rest of the kitchen work area), I have a habit of turning on the ceiling light, even when I'm just grabbing something right off the shelf in front of me. I am retraining myself to not turn on that light.

For our family, it had become a habit to turn lights on whenever we entered a room. Now, we're giving consideration to whether or not we actually need additional light.

And do you know what we discovered? Sometimes less artificial light is actually preferred. Although we eat dinner fairly late, we now leave the lights off, altogether. It's quite pleasant. The dimmer light seems conducive to lingering conversation. Many evenings, we don't turn on any lights in the house, until we're readying ourselves for bed. Obviously, this will change with the shortening of days. But every penny saved now, can be allocated for electrical use later.

One adjustment I have made with regards to dinner, is to take care of pots/pans/equipment clean-up before we sit down to eat. Now it's just a matter of clearing our dishes to the dishwasher after dinner. And that can be done in the dimmer light of dusk. I can take care of anything left behind in the AM, with my regular morning clean-up.


Again, totally free way to save on lighting -- rearranging our schedule to fit the setting and rising of the sun. If we go to bed before it's totally dark outside, we don't need lights on in the evening. And this is a help for rising early with the sun. We had been in the habit of staying up late and sleeping long past sunrise.

Many late night activities not only require artificial lighting, but also use electricity in themselves, such as watching TV or playing video games. Contrast this to activities shared with family in daylight hours, such as a game of croquet or a walk in the neighborhood. Living by the setting and rising of the sun can save electricity two ways.

Before the advent of electrical lighting, folks lived by the setting and rising of the sun. Our family is finding that a change to this more natural way of living with light, can work well in the modern world, too. As luck would have it, my daughters now have to leave for work before 6 AM. So getting up with the chickens is required of all of us.


Use table and desk lamps instead of ceiling fixtures. If you have table or desk lamps available, choose those over ceiling lights for activities that require artificial lighting. You can typically use 1 bulb in a table or desk lamp, instead of the multiple bulbs in most ceiling light arrangements, and still benefit from the amount of light you need for your task.

There's no need to light the entire room, just for 1 person to read a book. In our house, the family room has 4 can lights (ceiling) all on the same switch. There's also a lamp right next to a chair and sofa. It's more economical to turn on the 1-bulb lamp than the 4-bulb can lights.


These are 4 totally free, electricity-saving ideas that we implemented immediately. All are common-sense things that folks having been doing for decades. I do think that our culture has gotten careless with energy use. We don't see a candle burning down, or the oil in a lamp diminishing, so we don't think about how much energy we are actually using, that is, until we get the bill. Checking my meter daily is a way for me to restore that consumption awareness.

By the way, my goal for the electricity budget is a cut of about 20%. I estimate that we will shave about $2 to $3 per month, off the lighting portion of our electric bill. I'll outline the other ways we are cutting back on electricity use in the next post.

When you REALLY NEED to cut expenses, where do you start?

It doesn't look so bleak!!!

But to answer the question, "where do you start to make cuts"  .  .  .

My thinking -- look everywhere. There are a couple of exceptions, but for the most part, no budget category is sacred.

I have to qualify that statement, there are a couple of categories that I do feel are sacred, for both faith and humanitarian reasons. Our tithing is non-negotiable, in our minds. It's just something we do, right off the top. Giving to charitable causes also remains in our budget. For example, we sponsor a little boy in Columbia. I could never put my happiness ahead of his need. He has so little, compared to us here in such a wealthy country. We also support our local food bank. Again, because some folks have so little, when we have so much. No one in my house is in danger of missing a meal. That can't be said for many households in our area. And taxes. Ya gotta give to Caesar what is Caesar's. Tax evasion, even when you don't agree with what your government does with your taxes, is wrong and unscriptural. But a citizen always has the right to protest with their vote, by writing to their leaders, and by organizing peaceful coalitions for change.

So, back to the budget? Where to make cuts?

I prefer to cut across the board, rather than eliminating one category altogether. First of all, I think we free up more money this way. But second, we tend to feel less deprived if all categories remain active, to some extent, rather than an arbitrary decision of say, "vacation is cancelled! Prepare for a life of misery!"

Utilities and services

• Electricity -- my goal is to reduce our electric consumption by 20%. We've already been implementing some changes around here.
• Natural gas (heat and water) -- reduce by 20%
• Water and sewer -- reduce by 5% (we're already fairly conservative with water use, but one can always try harder)
• Garbage/recycling collection -- one of those categories that I'm not sure we could improve on. We pay $13 to put out 1 can a month. The cost to drive/dump this trash to the landfill would cost about the same. As we consume less, however, we may find that we have less to dump at all. So maybe in the long-run that will be a charge we can reduce.     I collect our aluminum cans separately from the rest of the recyclables. I take them to a nearby center for money. I will look into taking our glass recyclables in with our aluminum, to see if they pay for them, as well -- that could gain us a tiny bit of money.
• Internet and phone -- no cable and have no interest in cable. But the internet is great, and we're in luck. My son pays for the internet. It's a bundled plan, both internet and phone. Our part of the bill, the phone, is $30/month. I will scour that bill, though, and check for charges that could be dropped.

Totally necessary, and not terribly flexible, but we will try, as we can, to reduce

• Medical/dental copays -- this will automatically go down when the braces come off my daughters' teeth. $20 every 8 weeks -- gone! We still have a payment for the retainers. But if they take care of them, and don't lose or break one, then the retainer fee will be a one-time thing.   My husband will have good medical coverage at his job, but we still need to find new insurance for my daughters and myself. My husband doesn't want to add us, as his dependents, to his work insurance. Depending on what we find, our copays/co-insurance could go up considerably and we'll need to put aside more for this category.
• Auto/Home insurance, licensing and registrations -- we will delay our daughters taking their learner's permit test for a few more months, until the Christmas holidays, when they would have time to actually practice driving. And we'll delay the actual license until either they can pay for their part in the insurance or we have the resources to pay for it.  We are thinking of selling our second car. Our insurance is up in October and registration in November. We'll time dumping that car, to avoid those fees. And I'll be shopping around for better insurance rates for both auto and home.
• Savings for retirement and future plans (in addition to 401K contributions) -- if we have to we'll cut this back by 25%

Flexible, but necessary

• Groceries -- reduce by $40 per month (this will be tough, but it's just the kind of challenge that I like and that I have almost complete control over as I am the only one who ever grocery shops)
• Non-food household supplies (this includes cleaning supplies, hygiene items, bath tissue, postage and paper supplies, etc) -- not sure we can reduce here much, but after the braces come off my daughters next month, we won't be going through as many toothbrushes. Braces eat up toothbrushes rapidly. And I'll try to become a better shopper for the rest of the items. My goal is to shave about $5/month from this budget.
• Clothing/hair and grooming -- reduce by $10 per month. For the most part, we've maintained a low budget for these areas, but my husband and I have had the occasional professional hair care visit. We'll reduce those to the bare minimum, or if needed, those can become holiday gifts to each other, or from kids to us. My son pays for his own barber visits, and my daughters' long hair is maintained by me. I am in need of really good, supportive and attractive shoes for possible work for myself. I have nothing in my closet that I could be on my feet all day in, and still look nice. Sneakers just wouldn't cut it for most of the jobs I'm considering.
• Home and car repairs -- some repairs just should not be put off or ignored. But I do think we can do much of the stuff we have hired out in the past. My husband rented a chain saw and took out 3 overgrown trees/shrubs back in the spring, for a huge savings over what the tree guy wanted. The improvements we do hire out/save for will likely be things that we consider capital improvements or investments which will pay for themselves (such as a fireplace insert or wood-burning stove for the living room).   One expense we will continue to hire out is pest control. We live in an area littered with carpenter ants. Our house had a problem with them a while back. We go with a minimal treatment program (once a quarter), and feel this is worth the money.   Car repairs we need to continue saving for, as they come up unexpectedly and almost always need attention right away. The budget will remain the same in this category.
• Gas for the cars -- this will automatically go down as I am no longer driving daughters 20 miles to and from school each day, and the once/month orthodontist visits, 20 miles to the north of us, are almost a thing of the past (2 more to go, then just check-ups from time to time). My two daughters now hitch a ride with their father to the bus stop, for work and school. The reduction in this category is planned for $50/month.
• Contributions to daughters' education -- reduce by $1000 per year/girl (they each will contribute additional amounts, now that they both are employed with well-paying first jobs -- $12/hour, that's almost $3/hr over minimum wage here). I'll be updating FAFSA, as well, and hopefully we'll qualify for additional amounts in grants.

Unnecessary and totally flexible, but make life enjoyable

• Gifts -- reduce by 50% (this doesn't mean we won't give gifts. It just means we'll have to be more creative, thoughtful and resourceful.) Already to a good start in this area.
• Eating out, entertainment, excursions -- reduce by 50% (I'm very disappointed in restaurant meals in the budget category. Mostly, it's just filler junk, with little nutritional value, and often makes me sick. But excursions can be a lot of fun and cheap, such as visiting the pumpkin farms, or going to the Bavarian village to the east, or an early morning at the beach.)
• Landscape/Design/Home -- reduce by 20%. I had wanted a new chair for the family room, but I think I will re-upholster one we have instead. I had saved several hundred dollars towards buying a new chair. After the cost of supplies to re-upholster the chair, I could re-allocate that saved money towards something else in the house. And I'll have to discipline myself not to buy any more ornamental plants!
• Savings for vacations -- we have a family vacation planned for the end of summer, beginning of fall. We've been planning this for years, literally. This is a just-before-university-begins family vacation. Some elements are already paid-for and non-refundable/non-transferable. So, do we cut our losses and cancel the trip? Or do we go on the trip anyways, but make it as budget (but fun) as possible? This is a Disney vacation. Everyone knows that those can be spendy. But they don't need to be terribly so. We've decided to go anyways. I've cut that budget by 10%. Not much, but it's something. This vacation, even as a Disney one, has been planned as a budget-version Disneyland trip. The area we'll be able to save the most, over what we had planned, is on meals. We had already planned for cheap accommodations and travel to/from. Vacations are important to us, so even under tight finances, we'll continue to save for time away, just maybe not so much. Even shaving one day off of a trip can mean a huge savings, but we still get a fun time away. And if ever there was ever a time to use rewards points, now is it! Overall savings for vacations category -- reduce by 20%.

As you can see, most categories are more flexible than you'd think. I haven't even really slashed many categories. I'll cut more as we need. Fortunately, we have had a 30-day advance notice of a reduction (at first we thought it was 2 weeks, but later discovered it was 30 days) giving us time to think and prioritize.

These cuts look do-able. And they get us about half-way to making up the income loss. Now to find ways to meet these goals. Can you tell that I'm a goal-setter?

Our situation will require a two-pronged approach, both cuts to spending and increasing income. We're both seeking ways to boost our income. We are looking to find a balance between spending less and earning more. There are times when just earning more comes at the expense of quality family life. Or cutting back to a bare bones budget makes us too miserable. I'll continue to post the ways we implement ways that both cut spending and increase income.

I just keep repeating, "we can do this! We CAN do this!"