Reduce Utility Bills

A hot breakfast will use up some energy to heat, but a hot bowl of cereal and hot coffee or tea will warm you up faster as you get up in the morning.

Most thermastats are set low during the night and turned up in the morning by a timer or a person. Heating up water for a hot bowl of cereal or oatmeal will not only help warm the kitchen, but warm the person eating it. Getting warm from the inside out will help reduce utility bills because you will be able to tolerate cooler temperatures.

Using the stove to heat up breakfast warms the kitchen and the nearby rooms. When using the oven, leave the door open while it cools down so the heat can escape in the room. If you have pets or small children, stay in the kitchen until you close the oven.

Hot breakfast ideas:

• Oatmeal with warm fruit
• Hot cereal
• Waffles
• Pancakes
• Breakfast pizza
• French toast
• Baked breakfast casserole

Before getting in the shower take a muffin tin with foil muffin cups. Fill the compartments with breakfast and put in the oven. Put a slice of toast (cut into a circle), hash browns, pie crust circle, or English muffin in the bottom and fill with scrambled eggs. Sprinkle cheese, bacon, sausage, or other items on top and bake. Low fat bacon, sausage, or ham in compartments to cook. When using fatty bacon, keep an eye on the grease. Put it in the oven and it should be done before the end of your shower. With the handy muffin cups, it is portable also.

Hot drink ideas to warm up:

• Hot chocolate
• Coffee
• Tea
• Warm cider

Eating warm food and drinking hot drinks will keep you warm while reducing utility treatments. Holding the warm cup will also increase warmth.

Especially people with long hair, the shower must run longer to wash, condition, and rinse hair. This time and energy use can be reduced by alternative ways to condition hair.

1. Use leave in conditioners-they don’t need to be rinsed out.
2. Use oil treatments outside of the shower-wet hair, apply hot oil, and do household chores while the treatment does its job. Wash hair in shower as usual, but a conditioner may not be needed.
3. Make your own conditioner treatment to use outside the shower-mix some conditioner with hot water and apply to dry hair. Follow the procedure as with the hot oil treatment.

Use only enough shampoo and conditioner that is needed for hair length and thickness. Excessive shampoo and conditioner in the hair don’t only cause you to purchase those items sooner, but will take longer to rinse out. That means more water and more water to heat.

You can have beautiful hair and still keep utility bills reduced.

By planning when you use the oven, you can save money by reducing your utility bills.

In the summer, the house cools itself during the night. During the summer use your oven and even the stove top when possible after the sun goes down. It will take less energy and keep your cooling bills lower if you do this. Cook as much as possible at one time to avoid heating up the kitchen a second and third time. Use an oven sparingly in the summer. Try to BBQ and use a toaster oven when possible.

In the winter, the house is cooler during the night and in the morning. During the winter use your oven in the mornings to warm the house for rest of the day. Before the sun goes down in the evening is another good time to use your oven. It will maintain the warmth that was gathered throughout the day. If you keep the house cool when you leave for work, this will help the house warm up faster. When you turn off the oven in the winter, open the door and allow the warmth to fill the kitchen instead of being wasted inside an empty oven.

The oven is your friend in the winter and your enemy in the summer when it comes to reducing utility bills.