For some reason, Blogger has stopped letting me title posts. Confusing... but really inconsequential.

So here's my title: Energy Use and Wise Financial Decisions

Whew, that sounds really fancy. As a wife who strives to be highly responsible in the use of household funds, I try to remember every day to be energy conscious. It is a good way to help take care of our planet, which was a gift from God and should be treated as such. Some energy use is a necessity, such as the refrigerator (unless its the winter... in which both my momma and I have been known to use the cold garage as a back up fridge ;)). But other energy use can be at least toned down to make that ol' energy bill a little more easy on the eyes. My hubby and my father have taught me much on this subject, so all credit must go to them. Here are some things we do to cut down our bills...
-Always be conscious of lights you turn on. Never leave a light on if it isn't absolutely needed.
-Never leave the fridge door open! As you can see from the chart, the fridge is a major energy user.
-Make use of fans. If you are going to be out of the house all day, leave the A/C off! It might be a little uncomfortable when you first return, but its usually just a few minutes to decent temperatures...
-Use the clothes dryer as minimally as possible. This involves planning ahead on my part! Since we live in an apartment, we have little hanging space. My husband strung up a line on our balcony (we live on the third floor, with big trees in front of our balcony, so this doesn't bother the neighbors), but this, combined with our hanging rack inside, can usually only handle one load of laundry per day. I try not to get behind so that I can make wise use of our dryer, only using it to "fluff" with no heat. My great-grandmother never had a dryer... and her laundry was always sunshine scented and fresh.
-I try to stay away from the Hot setting on the washer, unless its absolutely necessary.

This page gives an idea of how much energy your appliances use. Its not from my city, but still helpful.
http://www.city.ames.ia.us/ElectricWeb/energyguy/appliances.htm