We bought a foreclosure last year, which means there was A LOT we didn't know about our house. I won't get into all of that now, but I'll summarize by saying this:
We bought a bigger space than we needed with more bells & whistles (mostly broken) than we knew how to use...but we bought it at a fantastic price with a payment that we could afford, even if one of us lost a job.
After getting hit with our first utility bill at over $400 (with the temperature averaging around 110 degrees the first month we lived there), we knew we needed to make some adjustments. By working with our utility company to get on a peak/off-peak schedule, we were able to use most of our energy during off-peak times to get a lower rate. Peak time is between 3pm - 6pm on weekdays, so sometimes that means waiting to turn down the thermostat and start doing the laundry when we get home from work. We also keep the thermostat as hot as we can handle, which amounts to 86 when we are away and 82 when we are home. We've gotten used to this, but I wouldn't recommend this in humid climates. When I lived in Florida, I wouldn't have gone above 84/80. Now our utility bill has been under $200 in the summer and below $100 in the winter, which isn't too bad considering we have high ceilings, 2996 sq. ft., and a pool in our backyard. I do think that the high ceilings help us tolerate the higher thermostat settings though!
Within the last few months we've made some minor changes: keeping our cell phone chargers in a drawer and only plugging them in to charge our phones for a few hours (rather than sitting out overnight) and unplugging out laptops and putting them to sleep when we aren't using them.
One of the previously mentioned "bells & whistles" we had when we moved in was a security system that was not actually hooked up to any company. We feel safe in our neighborhood and we don't own anything new/fancy that would be worth a good burglar's time so we didn't want to pay for a security service. Unfortunately, without a code or any instructions, we couldn't figure out how to disable the darn thing! It was on my "to-do" list since it was obviously sucking down some electricity and would randomly screech every month or so to let us know the backup battery was low. We could hit "re-set" and get this to stop...until about 2AM this morning... Nonstop screeching during my valuable sleep time was enough to take some action.
After a google search for directions for our system, searching the whole house trying to locate the main box, and then removing the electrical wiring, we now have a screech-free system that does not use any power. So, if you have moved into a house that has a security system still running (that you aren't using), I'd suggest going ahead and disconnecting it now. It may save you some extra cash and a serious 2AM headache!
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