By RancherMan
We’ve already talked about saving electricity in the home. Here we discuss some of the lesser energy supplies: Propane and Natural Gas.
Both are used in the same way, mainly heating in some form or another.
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We have a 250-gallon propane tank and we refill it less than once a year. A little trick here is turn your water heater down even for short weekend trips out of town, not just those week long vacations you take once a year.
Washing Clothes With Cold Water
Another tip is wash clothes with cold water. Today’s detergents work just as well in cold as hot water, I can attest to that as fact.
We live and work on a cattle ranch getting heavy fabrics dirty and covered in things most people can’t imagine.
Our clothes are just as clean when washed with cold water as they were when we used hot water in the wash.
Programmable Thermostat
If you heat with propane, another way to conserve is with a programmable thermostat.
It’s well known that *programmable thermostats have great potential of saving money by automatically adjusting temps when you’re at work or asleep and you can set it and forget it!
They’re very affordable as well, easily paying for their purchase price in no time.
Of course everybody has heard of the trick of adjusting the thermostat for the A/C, but remember it is just as effective for the heating system.
Not only can you set the temperature lower in winter months when you’re at work, but bump it down 1 or 2 degrees at night while you’re asleep. You’ll never know it when you’re under the blanket.
And remember to clean those HVAC filters. They get dirty in the winter too.
Passive Solar Energy For FREE
Yet another little trick is to open the blinds on the sunny side of he house for some natural solar heating. This makes an amazing difference.
So as of this writing, here’s a run down of the utilities used at our house.
(Granted there are just 2 of us but we work here 24/7 so we’re home a lot more than the average household.)
Electricity = $75 a month average.
Propane = about one 250-gallon refill every 13-15 months.
Water = less than 2,000 gallons a month.
Now let’s hear about your savings…..
~TxH~
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We are bless with free gas, but we still kee the thermo low and do other eco freindly things to conserve. Thanks for sharing your post with us! I hope you join us again today (yeah I know it’s a day late… linky issues) at Eco-Kids Tuesday!
When we lived in West Tennessee we had propane, no central air or heat. We lived on 16 acres which was mostly woods, we picked trees that were either dead or threatening healthier trees, and used them for heat. We had a large wood burning stove, well not really a stove, which heated all three floors of our log house. With 5 people in the house we did have to fill the propane tank once a year, miss those days
We have recently started replacing our light bulbs with LED. Above our sinks in the bathrooms there are 6 bulbs. By changing to the LED we now only 2 bulbs one on each side. I also love the fact we can set the temp for not just the air, but also the heat.
Thanks for sharing on Tuesdays With a Twist.
Great tips on cutting the energy bills. Thanks for lining up with Fabulosly Frugal Thursday.
I appreciate this post, thank you! It reminded me of this during my ranch days/doing laundry… giving time for the detergent to work at least 20 minutes; filling the empty washer with water/soap let it mix then adding laundry-letting the soap work 20 minutes/soaking. Very last thing was a final white vinegar rinse…
For the propane tank- a corresponding/fitting wrench, dog chained next to turn off valve- can use red nail polish as arrows pointing to which way to turn to turn gas supply off.
That’s a really great tip about the water heater. That would never had even crossed my mind. Of course, I rent an apartment, so that’s not an issue for me, but it definitely makes sense. I know a bunch of people who travel a lot that I’ll be sharing this tip with!! Thanks. 🙂
That’s a good tip about washing with cold water, I tend to forget the detergent has more to do w/it than the temps.
#TALU
I think we were all raised with the different temp mindset as well. But with the more powerful detergents these days it’s really not necessary very often. As we mentioned – working on a ranch our laundry REALLY gives it the test! ~TxH~