I think I am frugal, my grandkids think I am cheap. I live alone in south Florida so saving on my power is very important. I NEVER shut my a/c off. It takes less than 20 minutes for my 
hot water heater to furnish enough water for me to do my dishes, shower and whatever other small hot water projects I may have. After I use all the water that I need, I go to the circuit breaker and shut off the switch for the hot water. When I leave my bedroom for the day, I reach up and SHUT the vents. I also shut the a/c vents in the rooms that I do not use in the day. The cool air is forced into the rooms with the open vents (least resistance), which happens to be my kitchen, dining room and living room.
By not running the hot water heater all day, there is less work for the a/c to do. Also I run the ceiling fans ONLY in the rooms where I am present. I save about $7.00 a month on each ceiling fan. These two measures have cut my power bill in half.
I change my bed linens once every two weeks instead of every week. I sleep on one side off my queen side bed for a week, then I move to the other side! This saves me on laundry.
Jeannette from W. Palm Beach, FL
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That is a very smart tip about the hot water heater - thanks for sharing it. I plan to try it - just hope I remember to turn it back on in time to take a bath. Ha! God bless you!
That's very funny about sleeping on one side of the bed one week and the other side the next week. I never knew that a queen-sized bed could save you money!
Another way to save on the hot water bill, would be use a timer. Set it to come on before you usually awake and it shut it off after you go to work.
You sound like a wise woman. I too am on low income. I am in Arizona. I keep alll sections of my home closed off, but I leave the air running, it is suicide not too. I hope you do know that too. If you have ice trays you can keep water in the bathtub with ice cubes in it to keep your bathroom cool, I learned that a lot of years ago when I was starting out at 20 years old. Make sure the water in the bathtub is cold water which by what I have read is no problem for you. Keep plenty of drinking water on hand. Recycle the jugs you buy in the stores by refilling them with tap water instead of returning to the store to refill them. Get a water filter it is worth it and will save you money too. Change or clean it every two months. Well good luck.
Cheaper Laundry: if you live in a dry climate as I do, you don't need a dryer. You also don't need to have a yard with a laundry line, etc. (I live in an apartment.) I take my clothes directly from the dryer, slip them on to clothes hangers, and use either my extra closet space or the shower rod as my Air Dryer. Very sophisticated.
Depends on how hot it is before everything is dry, but even in winter, this works really well. In summer, everything can be dry in three or four hours. In winter, it can take up to three or four days, but most of the year, it's a day for most things. When they're dry, I just shift all the clothes that are already neatly on hangers into my main (little bit crowded for drying purposes) closet.
I'm also done my laundry much more quickly, as I don't have to wait for the dryer before I hang all my clothes on clothes hangers.... the dryer is a step that really can be skipped! In one place I didn't have an extra closet. I bought quite a nice-looking garment rack very cheaply and it worked as well as any laundry line. Because the clothes are hung sideways to the pole, you can get an entire line's worth onto a rack with enough air circulation to dry everything quickly. It's faster, cheaper, easy.
We live in a 16X80 mobile home. I found that that the front 2 bedrooms and bathroom seem to get all the "goodies" from our Central ac/heat unit. In the summer those rooms are the coldest and in the winter they are the hottest. The LR, Kitchen and Master Bedroom suffer!
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