First Home

[KiwiJo09]

Hey All,

DH and I are finally getting our first place and quite frankly, I'm nervous about expenses, since I've never done this before. So, how do you save money on your electric bill and on your groceries?

I've heard mixed reviews about turning off or turning up your air conditioning. We were planning on turning it off when we weren't home, but we live in Florida and someone told us the humidity may cause mold and it may also raise our bill since it would mean the AC would have to work extra hard to lower the temperature again. Another good idea was to turn off the water heater when we were finished using it. You really only need it for showers, dishes, and laundry (maybe).

Any other ideas? What about groceries? What are your thoughts on the AC thing?

[disneysteve]

Your friends who advised you not to turn off your AC are absolutely right, especially in FL. It wouldn't raise your bill (the working extra hard thing is a myth) but humidity can damage your home and furnishings and spur mold growth.

Get a programmable thermostat. Program it to maintain a higher temp when you are both out and a more comfortable temp when you are home. You'll have to decide what those settings are and it will depend on your own personal taste and the specific home. A newer home with good insulation and a shaded lot may need different settings than an older home with drafty windows and a lot of direct sun.

In FL, many homes also have ceiling fans which can help a lot in reducing AC usage and subsequently electricity usage. If the home doesn't have them, consider installing them.

[KiwiJo09]

It does have ceiling fans, so we'll use those. We have a few windows in the apartment, but I'm not sure how drafty they are. Do you think 80 degrees while we're out of the house is too high? We have a digital thermostat, so that's not too bad.

[disneysteve]

Do you think 80 degrees while we're out of the house is too high?

I wouldn't go any higher than that. Do you have a dehumidifier because it isn't the temp that's the problem but the humidity that builds up when the AC isn't running.

[KiwiJo09]

I don't have a dehumidifier. I have no idea at what temperature the humidity would build up in the house.

[Wino]

DH and I are finally getting our first place and quite frankly, I'm nervous about expenses

Congratulations on the new house!

When I sold my first home, I had to go through and make all kinds of improvements to get the best price. What I learned from that is: Make the improvements while you're there, to enjoy the benefits of them.

My present house was built in Texas around 1950. Disclaimer: I am not living in it at the moment as I'm overseas, but I have my daughter there enjoying the benefits I'm about to explain. It had zero insulation in the walls when I moved in, and only a thin layer of cellulose in the ceiling; maybe 2 inches of what resembled dirt between the joists. I pulled off the exterior sheathing (it was originally shake shingles), put insulation in the walls and put Hardie plank siding on the outside. While doing this, I also replaced about 70% of the wiring (should have done it all, which I ended up doing anyway) and put in double-E insulated windows.

I then went into the attic and added about 15 inches of insulation using some more that I had purchased and the left-over insulation I did not put in to the walls. Three years ago, I put in a high efficiency AC unit, and had all damaged ductwork replaced and resealed. Also, I added a ridge vent and a radiant barrier when I had the roof replaced after Ike. And I put in a programmable thermostat, as well. I tend to keep the temperature at 77 degrees F (25 C), but with ceiling fans in almost every room, it is quite comfortable. I drop it to 67 (just under 20 C) in the winter. On rare occasions, I have to pull out a Snuggie.

The house is now running less than 10 cents per square foot for AC in the summer, and less than 5 cents for heat in the winter. Last year, we went over 100 degrees Fahrenheit from July 1 to July 30. I believe the electric bill was around $170, which was our highest since doing the improvements.

As I did a lot of the work myself plus an insurance claim from Ike, I have less than $20,000 out of pocket in the improvements. My electric bills when I first moved in were sometimes over $400. I can reasonably say I'm paying less than before by a good 50%, so it will take me no more than 200 months to recoup the improvement costs in electricity bills alone.

My home value increased on the tax rolls, which I fight to try to keep my taxes low, by over $100,000. I also get to live in a comfortable house that looks good and is probably the most energy efficient of the non-new-build houses in the neighborhood.

So, I suggest you do anything toward these ends to actually lower your AC costs. How new is your house? Triple-expanding foam sprayed BEHIND your wall outlets and switches will cut down a lot of drafts in older homes. Do not spray where the switch or outlet is; spray behind the box itself, on all sides you can get to. You can do this safely on a cool Autumn or Spring day by turning off ALL breakers (or just the main if you have a main breaker) and opening the outlets by removing the covers. I suggest a hand-driven, not electric, screwdriver and do NOT try to make the screws tight when you put the covers back on or you'll crack the covers. Just snug them up good.

Go into your attic and decide how much insulation you have. Insulation tends to keep heat in, not cold out (but it does help), but adding will help with both AC and heating bills (mostly heating). You should have at least 12 inches, not compacted. Up north, even more insulation is recommended.

Buying a new AC unit really will help, especially if your unit is more than 10 years old. I waited until I needed a new compressor (Thanks, Ike), and replaced the whole unit. The insurance company paid part of the replacement cost.

Old refrigerators are also power hogs. If you want to cut water heating bills, replace your water heater with an on-demand water heater. You'll need a BIG gas feed, but it uses less gas than a 24 hour water heater. If the water heater is old, it or its heater element if electric needs to be changed out (lime and scale deposits), but you might want to clean it out with vinegar if it is newer. I've never googled it, but I'm sure that someone online has a step-by-step method for cleaning a water heater with vinegar.

There are a ton of things you can do to save energy (money) on your house. I did my projects "one per weekend" for over a year when I first moved in. The frequency of my repairs has gone down, but not the goal. I often have electric bills of less than $100 in the summer. I never had one for less than $200 before my fixes. My "20 month" estimate is very conservative. I'm in year 6 there now, so about 75 months into my payback period.

On the ceiling fans, you put the switch up in winter, and down in summer. This is also the airflow - blow a breeze down against you in summer, and pull the hot air off the ceiling by blowing cool air up in the winter. The switch position reflects the air direction. If you might forget, just write "Winter" above the switch and "Summer" below the ceiling fan switch with a sharpie. Write it small, and no one will ever notice.

I save money every month on my utilities now. I consider it "reverse interest" on a loan I made to myself. I "loaned" myself $20K, and I make over $100 per month back in interest. Thinking about it now, I probably have slightly less than $30K in all of my improvements, so I'm making conservatively 4% per year on that investment. If I were to crunch the numbers, I bet I would be closer to 8%. It may not beat the S&P, but it sure does beat writing a big check to the power company.

Wino

[KiwiJo09]

Let me rephrase. We are renting an apartment as our first place. Sorry, if that was confusing. We didn't have enough saved to buy a house yet, but we definitely needed our own place. We'll continue to save to buy a place.

[Wino]

Let me rephrase. We are renting an apartment as our first place. Sorry, if that was confusing. We didn't have enough saved to buy a house yet, but we definitely needed our own place. We'll continue to save to buy a place.

Oh... OK.

I got it!

Move into my place in Texas.

[BMEPhDinCO]

Congrats on your apartment! You got great tips for the A/C and heat but for the water, here are my suggestions:

1. Do NOT turn it off when not using it, just don't use it! If you turn it off, that can affect the toilets, pipes, etc and should only be done when you are gone for multiple days (like a vacation) Plus, it's a real hassle to have to re-turn on the water every time you want to use the loo. Instead, just take short showers, run washer/dryer/dishwasher as little as possible, don't leave the water running while you brush teeth, etc. Honestly, until we got a garden, water was really cheap and we have a house (even now, it's less than $50 a month in the summer when we water daily).

2. Other electricity tips: unplug unused appliances (ie, microwave), turn off all lights of rooms you aren't in, get a power strip for the tv, don't leave laptops plugged in overnight, don't turn on more lights than you need.

3. For groceries, buy dry goods and household goods in bulk if possible and using coupons if possible. Eat less meat and more rice and veggies. Understand how to best store specific types of fruit (ie, grapes in the fridge, tomatoes out).

If you post a budget, people can help you with allocating funds towards keeping your place running smoothly.

[disneysteve]

Congrats on your apartment! You got great tips for the A/C and heat but for the water, here are my suggestions:

1. Do NOT turn it off when not using it, just don't use it!

2. Other electricity tips: unplug unused appliances (ie, microwave), turn off all lights of rooms you aren't in, get a power strip for the tv, don't leave laptops plugged in overnight, don't turn on more lights than you need.

OP wasn't talking about turning off the water but rather the water heater.

Unplugging unused electric devices is a great tip. Most people don't realize that even when off, most things still draw power. That is especially true of anything with a remote control or anything with a rechargeable battery or a digital display.

Old appliances also suck energy. My cousin lived in an apartment and a few years ago, he replaced the fridge (he owned the building). When he did, his electric bill dropped in half! I keep thinking that we should replace our fridge as it is now over 18 years old. I'm sure it makes our meter spin. I just hate to go out and replace something that works perfectly fine even though I know doing so would save us money in the long run.

Since you'll be renting, you aren't free to replace your appliances, but if you feel your bill is higher than it ought to be, you might want to speak to the landlord. Find out if the local utility or state commission has a rebate program for replacing things. That might help convince the owner to get a new energy efficient model. You might even offer to pay part of the cost since you'll be the one realizing the energy savings, not him.

[sblatner]

In regards to a dehumidifier.

My grandma lived in Florida and used to keep containers of Damp Rid under the bed to absorb the water out of the air. Air doesn't circulate under the bed so it starts to get smelly. I buy it at Rite Aid but I'm sure you can get it at most hardware stores, also.

[disneysteve]

In regards to a dehumidifier.

My grandma lived in Florida and used to keep containers of Damp Rid under the bed to absorb the water out of the air. Air doesn't circulate under the bed so it starts to get smelly. I buy it at Rite Aid but I'm sure you can get it at most hardware stores, also.

You can buy it on Amazon also. Comes in a few different forms and container sizes. We were using it in our basement but once we got our new dehumidifier last month, it became unnecessary as that thing keeps everything totally dry.

[KiwiJo09]

I think after speaking with DH, we're just going to leave the AC on on a higher temperature when we're not home. The water heater we'll turn off when we aren't using hot water. Unplugging things wasn't something I'd thought of. That's a great idea! Thank you! The apartments were recently renovated, so the appliances are all new, so no worries there.

With regard to groceries, my mom has a Costco membership and DH's grandma has a Sam's membership, so we have bulk shopping covered for the most part. But what do you buy in bulk?

I'll look into the dehumidifier so we can just shut off the AC completely when we aren't home.

Thanks for all the suggestions! These are great!

[UnknownXV]

Appliances that aren't on do draw power, but it's a very minimal amount. I suppose over a few decades it would amount to something, but far less than you'd really think. By far the most energy consuming things in any home are the AC, electrical heaters, dryer, oven and hot water tank. Try to use those as little as possible to save energy.

It's also fairly easy to calculate. Just find out the wattage of an appliance, and apply the KW / hour electricity cost you see on your bill.

For example here in Quebec Canada electricity is about 6 cents per Kilo watt hour. This means to run a standard 1,000 watt microwave for one hour costs 6 cents. Or to run twenty 50 watt lightbulbs for 1 hour costs 6 cents.

In the states electricity is a bit more expensive, on average about 10 cents per KW hour.

[CoolHandLuke]

Bulk

If you two are the only ones in the picture (no kids) I would steer clear of Bulk Stores, I have tried that with my wife we had high hopes and reworked our budget and everything only to realize its just not practical, we ended up wasting food, and making two trips most shopping days because you can't get a lot of regular items at a bulk retailer or its bundled with something you don't want or need, 32 oz ketchup, 32 oz mustard, 32 oz sweet relish, SWEET relish, gross. 32 oz of it , how much is that, I don't want it, too bad we went ahead and vacuum sealed it all together kind of thing,

That was our experience anyway,

I'm not saying don't try it put but you will STILL be visiting the Grocery store..... I'd rather make 1 trip.