Ways to cut your energy bill this holiday season + giveaway

Ways to cut your energy bill this holiday season + giveaway

As many of you know I love to decorate for the holidays. I hang lights outdoors on my home, lighted garlands on my stair cases, I put up four Christmas trees which range from 7 feet to 12 feet tall and I have a huge display of department 56 villages that I love to light up. The first Christmas we lived in our new home I received our power bill for the month of December and about killed over. It was $450 for ONE MONTH!! I knew that I had to change the way I decorated for the holidays but deep down I didn’t want to so, I found a few ways to still be able to decorate how I wanted to but also save not only my poor wallet but also on conserving energy!

First tip: Invest in a Programmable Thermostat. This can be a huge saver on your power bill – set your thermostat to lower the temperature during the day when you are gone to work and at night when you are in bed. We have found only running the furnace while we are home in the mornings and evenings has cut our power bill by quite a bit! We have it set for the furnace to kick on 30 minutes before we get out of bed in the morning and kick on 30 minutes before the kids get home from school. The furnace shuts off after we have all left in the morning and around 10 p.m. at night.

Second tip: Switch to LED lights for your home décor and compact fluorescent lights for your main home lighting. By doing this you can cut both energy and costs in half! We saw a huge dip in our power bill almost immediately! Plus if you use LED lights for your holiday decorating you can plug in more strands to one outlet because they take less energy!

Third tip: Invest in timers for your lamps, outdoor lights, wax warmers, tea pots, coffee pots and crock pots. By doing this not only is your house on auto pilot which makes it easier to come home to but it also lets you control exactly when lights are being turned off and on. Don’t leave your wax warmers on all day set them on a timer to come on only when you are home. This also allows you to have your fragrances last longer. By putting your outdoor lights on timers this allows you to control the lights to come on at dusk and off at your own designated time. Plus if you are out of town they will automatically come on making neighbors / burglars think you are home.

Fourth tip: We purchased a Kill o watt meter and plugged it into several appliances, lamps, Christmas trees, etc. etc. to see what was using the most power. Since then we have seen what items are costing us more money and energy. Our computer is on auto shut off every night after we go to bed to save on energy, our water heaters are on timers and we find ourselves shutting lights off a lot more. The Kill O Watt meter helped us recognize where most of our energy was being used. It was definitely a good investment. You an find more ideas on My Energy tips or you can also plan your next project by focusing on a specific area of your house with this Money Saver Tool (rebate info can also be found here)

You have the opportunity to win one of 7 $100 Home Depot gift cards by following along on and participating in their Instagram Photo Challenge Contest happening November 17th through the 23rd!!! Here is the link to their Instagram page: http://instagram.com/pacificgasandelectric Don’t forget to use the hashtag #PGEhome when posting your energy saving photos!

I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.