Our electric bill has always been the bane of my existence. I run my business out of the house so our bill is higher than most. I have done everything I can think of to lower it. We have Smart Surges
Last month I did two things that had a dramatic effect on our bill. First, I checked with our state’s department of public utilities to see how much 3rd party suppliers were charging for electricity. All the rates are listed on the site. Not only was the company I picked 2.5 cents less per kilowatt hour but the company provides 20% renewable energy, where CL&P only provides 12%. Plus, I didn’t have to sign a contract. This saved me over $13.oo last month.
I also did something else last month that saved me more than that. I unplugged the deep freezer. I’ve been trying to use up food we have in the house and I finally got to the point where I could empty the freezer. This saved me $27.00 last month. I have a newer freezer, it’s only 3 or 4 years old, but it still uses a lot of juice.
So I started to think about how much I’m actually saving on my groceries by having the freezer. I generally buy meat on sale and freeze it but I don’t buy huge quantities. I try to keep a month’s worth of cooked ground beef on hand, plus a few roasts, some chicken breasts and pork chops. All of those things will fit in the upstairs side-by-side freezer. I would need to save $324 a year on frozen food just to break even. We don’t eat frozen dinners, so the only thing we keep in the freezer are frozen veggies and meat. I’m not saving enough to keep the freezer plugged in. Maybe if we had a larger family, but it’s just Jeff and I.
The deep freezer is going to stay unplugged for now. It might end up on craig’s list. For now, I’ll monitor the weekly sales at Stew Leonards and buy whatever meat is on sale that week. I’ll plan my meals accordingly. I’ve been doing this for the past month and I’ve been very pleased with the results. We are wasting less food since we don’t lose anything in the back of the freezer and I’m saving $27 a month. That’s a really nice dinner out (with a coupon of course!).
Is your deep freezer costing you more than you’re saving?
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
Hmmm, I hadn’t thought about how much electricity the deep freezer uses. I think that in our case we do save money. Whenever my husband works in South Louisiana, he’ll buy 150 lbs. of jumbo shrimp, I peel those and vacuum seal. We slaughter a couple of hogs, cut them up and vacuum seal and of course we always have deer meat. Usually by the end of winter I have enough food in the freezer to keep us going (meat-wise) until the coming of the next winter. Of course, we have a family of 5.
I think for you the deep freezer probably makes sense. I know that our freezer is not saving me $324 a year. Every few weeks, my local store has “naked” chicken breasts (no hormones or antibiotics) for 1.99 a lb. I don’t need to stock up on it because it’s a regular sale. I buy all my ground beef at the warehouse club because that’s generally the least expensive place to buy it. Again, it’s always that price so no need to stock up.
Since it was new in the 80s, it probably costs more than either my husband or I realize to run. We’ll have to think about it. Thanks for the push.
Carla,
I’d be interested to see how it turns out if you run a little experiment on it.
I’m curious how you know that you saved $27 by unplugging the freezer. How do you calculate that when there are so many other factors in your bill, like fluctuating outdoor temps and such? My chest freezer costs $30 a YEAR to operate, and it’s a 15-cubic foot version. It is not the upright kind, though…those are more expensive to run.
We have a device we added about 18 months ago called “The energy detective”. It monitors your electricity usage in real time. We compared the usage with the freezer plugged in versus unplugged. I also checked the average temperature on my gas bill (this October was a bit colder than last October) to see if the furnace had an effect. The furnace probably drew a bit more power so my savings could actually be a bit higher.
We do have a stand up freezer which as you said, uses more electricity than a chest model.
Ohhhh, that makes sense. Chest freezers are ridiculously efficient, partly because when you open them up, the cold air doesn’t fall out. Love my chest freezer! $30 a year in electricity usage rocks.