Well, I don't know anybody that doesn't enjoy saving money, whether it is by getting something on sale or figuring out a way to pay less for something you buy regularly. This article will show you how to do just that; save money every month on your electric bill by using a few easy conservation techniques that anyone can do without making any big sacrifices or being inconvenienced in any major way.
One of the first things I would recommend is that you contact your local electric company and ask them if they have any programs to help you save money on your electric bill. Many electric companies will come to your home and perform a "home energy audit" completely free of charge and they will show you ways to save. They will even test your home for air leaks, measure your insulation, inspect your heating and cooling system and ductwork, etc. They may even have a program to help you get additional insulation installed in your home at a discount or even free. Several years ago I got additional blown in insulation in my attic completely free of charge from my electric company after my home energy audit.
On the subject of heating and cooling, one way to save is to dial down your thermostat a couple of degrees in winter and up a couple in summer. Just a couple of degrees can save a lot of money over the course of a month and won't affect your comfort level that much. If you don't already have one, get a programmable thermostat. I have mine set to dial down my AC during the day while I'm at work and the house is empty. I also have it set to dial down a few degrees while I'm sleeping. You won't notice a few degrees when you're asleep. You should also check and clean or change your air-handler's filter regularly. A dirty filter will make it less efficient and make it work harder.
Use those ceiling fans and if you don't have them, install them. They make it more comfortable when you dial down the AC by moving the air around and evening the temperature. It's cheaper to run a ceiling fan than having the AC come on more often. Just don't forget to turn them off when you're not using the room. They don't cool the air; they just move it so they are only effective when you're in the room.
While you're dialing down, another thing you can probably dial down is your water heater. Whether it's gas or electric powered, you can save by dialing down a little. The hotter you have it set, the more it will have to come on just to maintain the temperature, even when you're not using hot water. Here's a good test. If you can't stand to keep your hands under the faucet when you are running only the hot water, it's set too hot. Experiment a little by dialing it down some for a week or so and if you have plenty of hot water for everyone's normal usage, try down a little more. If you run out of hot water or it's just not hot enough, then bring it back up a little until you find the lowest setting you can get by with. If you don't already have one, install an insulation blanket on the water heater. They're cheap and easy to put on.
You can also probably dial down, well actually UP, the refrigerator a bit too. Even I like those icy cold beers in summer but you may be able to tweak it up a little. More than likely you could dial up the freezer section. A lot of people have their freezer set too cold. You only need to keep the food and ice frozen but having it set way below freezing is not needed. A good indicator is ice cream. If your ice cream is rock hard, your freezer can be dialed up until you get a firm but not hard ice cream. Make small adjustments and wait a couple days to see the difference until you get to the right spot. It's also better to have your freezer more full than empty. A freezer full of frozen food will actually "hold the cold" better and it will have to run less, so stay stocked up. Also, when you take food out of the freezer to use, thaw it in the refrigerator instead of on the countertop. Food thawed slowly in the refrigerator will maintain it's quality better and the frozen food will also help cool the fridge letting it cycle less often.
While we're in the kitchen, do you use your oven a lot for small items that would fit in a toaster oven? A toaster oven has a lot smaller heating element so it uses less electricity and heats up much faster than a full size oven so you'll use less electricity and use it for a shorter period of time. If it will fit, use the toaster oven and save. Consider not even using the oven at all on hot days when the AC is working hard. Keep the heat out of the house. Cook out on the grill or make something that doesn't require cooking like cold submarine sandwiches, fresh fruit smoothies, etc.
Let's talk about laundry. It's more efficient to do full loads of laundry than partial loads so waiting until you have a full load or several loads to do will save you money not only on the electric bill but will save on the soap, bleach etc. too. I know a lot of people like to wash their clothes in hot water but you don't really need to. Unless the clothes are heavily soiled, they will wash just as well in cold water and ALWAYS use cold water for the rinse cycle. An electric dryer uses a lot of electricity too so consider drying your clothes outside on a clothes line if you can and you can save large.
Now that you're saving money cleaning the clothes, you can also save money when you clean you too. Dial down the water temp a little while you're showering. Not that you have to take a cold shower but a little change can save on your hot water usage. Try shortening your shower a bit too. I know it feels good to just stand there and let the water run over your head but every bit of time you're in there, you're using hot water and the water heater is running to recover.
Change your light bulbs to compact fluorescents wherever you can. They not only use less electricity but they last a lot longer so you'll have to replace them a lot less often.
Turn off lights whenever you can. If you're not in the room, there's no need to have the light on.
Use natural cooling when you can. I know people that run the AC all the time, even when they could cool the house just fine just by opening the windows.
Control sunlight entering your home. I like mini blinds because you can easily adjust them to block sunlight but still let in illuminating light in the summer and angle them to let in warming sunlight in the winter.
One last thing you can do is search out the "ghost" or "phantom" loads. Some appliances use electricity even when they are turned off such as TV's, stereos, etc. You can save money by putting these appliances on a power strip that you can turn off when they are not in use, especially for extended periods such as when you are on vacation.
Try these easy tips and I bet you'll see a noticeable savings on your electric bill.