What are your best power-saving tips? $$$

[alishakihn]

With elec prices thru the roof, my boyfriend recently asked if he could turn off the fridge during peak time to save money. That's a really dumb idea, but I would like to hear some good ones. The stingier the better!

I always use the timers on my washer and drier to only run them at cheap times, and I never overfill the kettle (uses a surprising amount of power to boil a full kettle)

[Caban]

Reply to Easysaver

Have you proof of this and in which way did you get proof? When you are a person with paraplegia it is just as much about convenience and control of power.

I have looked on their website (https://www.wizconnected.com/en-au/p/accessory-smart-plug/8719514553002#specifications) but they do not give power consumption, only the supply voltage. However it will consume a quiesient current to allow the switch to communicate with your WiFi Router. This is an RF Transceiver (Transmit and Receive). This will be at a much greater power than just a device which is on standby which often only has to supply an IR sensor (and a small LED) this uses very little power as the battery powered Remote Control can be quite high power as it only sends a signal in a short pulse. Simple logic and a grasp of electronic principles shows that the Wiz Switch will consume much more power than a normal device in Standby. Your switches are making the situation worse and you have had to buy them.

Garage doors for instance , they are normally on 24/7 but only work, at most 5 minutes a day. I am very happy turning off power when not needed and will be keep doing it.

We agree that the usage of a Garage Door is only a small fraction of the day. I would say that 5 minutes is an over estimate. They spend a vast majority of their time in standby. As stated above, you are powering a RF Transceiver to overcome the power use of a small RF Receiver. If you wanted to do that then you need to turn the unit directly off at the wall, which sort of defeats the purpose of having the device in the first place as then you could have simply opened the door manually. This device is all about convenience, especially in your case when paraplegia is involved. To physically open the garage door or turn it on and off would be very difficult. I just don't see the point of using a higher power consumption device to negate a similar device which uses less power.

Just because this company does not give power consumption specifications does not mean it does not exist. The fact that they rely on a Transceiver which is regularly handshaking with you router means it will need to use more power than a dedicated receiver in a normal device. As you are living with paraplegia find applications where remote switching will make your life easier. I use one of these on a small window A/C unit so that I can switch it on remotely 30 mins before I arrive home. That way the room is cool when I arrive.

[uncletimrob]

Yes, just remember to leave the door slightly open or it will go mouldy inside - I speak from experience.
We have a second fridge downstairs and hold the door open with a folder tea-towel near the hinges.

[uncletimrob]

If you have your own house it's worth considering putting a timer on your hot water cylinder.
We have one on ours and it runs only between 9.00am and 4.00pm, so a cheaper part of the day, and when we don't use much hot water.
We use an EATON TSQD1N0, and it cost around $200 installed.
They are very easy to adjust the time on, so if you find you are running out, you can adjust to suit your needs.

[Easysaver]

I live in Qld so I have a solar hot water system and it is on tariff 31.

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[Easysaver]

With all fridges I use petroleum gelly on the door seals it protects the seals, but also seals the door very well

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[Caban]

“With all fridges I use petroleum gelly on the door seals it protects the seals, but also seals the door very well“

l like Aeroplane Jelly

Aeroplane Jelly for me. 

[Mick_Cazza]

Electric hot water pump ( In NSW there is government incentive) , cost me $33 out of pocket. Run it off your normal circuit & use the timer and set it to come on at 11:00am and off at 3:00pm.. also these pumps use around 70% less energy than old HWS. I have solar so when the water heats up it’s for free. Previously I had a old Electric HWS running off the dedicated circuit and come on at around 11:00pm and used about 9-12 kWh per day and that was more energy we were using on the normal circuit!!! Currently my bills are in credit over the last few months since I moved over to Powershop with the unlimited 12 cents KWh feed in.

[John-T]

If there were a Government Incentive "NSW" for people that have instant gas Hot Water like myself then I would be in like a flash.

I am not going to drop 8K+ minimum to go from instant Gas hot water to a Heat pump & swap out my Gas cook top for an electric one. They are still building brand new houses right now in our estate and surrounding areas ALL with Gas Cook top stoves & instant gas hot water. If the state Government were fair dinkum about this "dirty energy called Gas" They would STOP all new house builds that included gas & put in incentives for all of us current instant gas users to switch to 100% electricity.

Also as a side note to another post that was made in this thread. I highly recommend that one does NOT kill off the power to their NBN overnight. You are begging for trouble by doing this and many people have no option but to leave their NBN switched on like myself.

Maybe it is time I turned off my 4 watt light globes and light up a few candles.

We have people in our street that have killed power to their 2000 litre water tanks used for toilets and rely on mains pressure instead so they do not use the very inefficient pumps in these tanks that were mandated by council.

We have people here who are illegally installing slow combustion wood burning heaters and hiding the stacks in such a way that they can not be seen so easily and only using them at night, so wood is being burnt to save money the hypocrisy. 

We have reached such a BS state in Australia with family's struggling to put food on the table while other country's which shall remain unnamed continue to ramp up coal fired power generation to the equivalent of 2 errarings a week stating the ramp up will peak at 2030.

Incredible

I am not happy....

[Mick_Cazza]

Somewhere there was a picture of a diesel generator powering supply for EV’s, an absolute joke saving the environment. 

I’m waiting for a government incentive that if people have solar without a battery, can assess a grant to update & get a battery. The problem is most of the inverters installed are not battery ready, so would need a new inverter too with the battery, who knows it might happen.

With putting food on the table, if you like cooking, a good way to save is to subscribe to Dinnerly, Marley Spoon & Hello Fresh swapping from one to one and use there discount vouchers. Basically you are paying from $60 - $140 per week for 4 people 4 nights per week depending on the discount. 

I was watching the news and people in Sydney areas 1 in 2 household are going to experience mortgage stress of the interest rates go up Mel. cup day. Obviously the golden rule is never have a Mortgage if it’s more than 25% of your income, therefore it indicates that the 50% of loans are greater than that!! 

[Caban]

@Mick_Cazza 

Their is not much saving in using Dinnerly, Marley Spoon & Hello Fresh etc. unless you are comparing it to Take Away food.

I like to cook and would spend your budget per month. Just buying what is in season and fresh, as that is what  is normally on special too. Then do not follow recipes but rather learn to create dishes from what is available. If there is an abundance then preserve it. Simple methods like pickling, drying of precooking. I was able to buy a huge box of "cooking tomatoes" which weighed about 15kg for $5. I picked out the good fruit to use fresh and then made a load of passata  to use later. I also use very cheap cuts of meat when they are on special.

I have a common sense (and very funny) cookery course in PDF if you want a copy. It has no recipes.