Save money by unplugging devices

[johhny]

Don't underestimate the lost electricity.

Imagine that electricity is water and it's constantly pouring out of ALL your OUTLETS when you have something plugged in.

I have personally tested this by turning off the outlet, plugged in an extension cord with red light button and plugged a dollar tree store night light. Guess what? Both lights were ON.

Get those extension cords when you have multiple devices plugged in and turn it off at once when you're done.

Phone charger cubes shouldn't be constantly plugged in.

Xbox, Playstation consoles - unplug its power source. Turning it off isn't enough.

Buy multiple night lights that use 0.18-0.4 watts per hour , plug them in every bathroom and it's enough for some activities.

Put night lights in corridors, by the front door
I have 12x 0.4=4.8 watts per hour. X 24 hours = 115.2, X 30 days
= 3456 watts

Divide by 1000.

3.456 kwt is ~~70 cents per month.

Check how much you're paying for 1 Kw.

Avoid turning on other lights in rooms, especially if they're not the newest, more efficient light bulbs.

1 of those babies is at least 6 wt.
Remember that my dozen of night lights is only 4.8 wts/hour.

 

[chelle14]

@johhny Unplugging items helps nominally. The biggest draws of electricity are items that have three plugs in the outlet.

 

[johhny]

@chelle14 You mean fridge? Washing machine, dryer?

Put your food outside, it's freezing cold now

Wash bigger loads

Air dry certain items, add some moisture to your air in winter.

I'm not saying that you'll cut your bill in half, but it might shave 10-20 bucks

 

[tseleng]

@johhny Most of the energy loss in a fridge is from opening the door and other insulation losses, not cooling down food.

The biggest electricity expense (outside of an electric car) is any kind of electric heating, followed by perhaps an electric stove or refrigerator. Trying to save money on a weekly laundry load by air drying saves you maybe $1/month.

Also - the unit for power is the watt (W), the unit of energy is the kilowatt-hour (kWh), and watts/hour is rarely used.

 

[gustav1988]

@johhny Damn, people here need a sense of humor just as much as they need money.

 

[thanksyoueel]

@johhny Focus on increasing income. That will help more. I'm not saying this is a bad idea. But you can only save so much.

 

[johhny]

@thanksyoueel How much is your electric bill and how big is your house

 

[thanksyoueel]

@johhny What I mean is, better to focus on learning a skill that can earn you a couple hundred extra a month than making a lot of effort to save 10 bucks.

 

[johhny]

@thanksyoueel Obviously, it's always better to earn 1000-2000 dollars extra per month.

However, we're on povertyfinance subreddit, and many people here aren't able to do that ,unfortunately.

I'm sure they'd all jump on the opportunity to do so. Did you read any posts ? Every 3rd one is broke and asking if he should declare bankruptcy or asking where to get more money, in addition to working 2- 3 jobs for 2 adults in a family.

 

[thanksyoueel]

@johhny I understand. There are no easy solutions. Best bet is to get a better paying job. Most office jobs are fucking easy and pay decent. Lie on your résumé to get in. Not like there is anything to lose. That's what I'd do.

 

[johhny]

@thanksyoueel There are posts on living on $20 worth of food per week.

I'm not sure if you can relate.

 

[thanksyoueel]

@johhny But don't gamble 5k that you don't have and then come complaining when you lose.

 

[thanksyoueel]

@johhny Trust me buddy. I've had days were my dinner was peanut butter sandwich and tap water multiple days in a row.

 

[johhny]

@thanksyoueel I didn't realize how popular peanut butter was in the Netherlands.

I don't like it, sadly, it's too Oily for me.

 

[thanksyoueel]

@johhny Lots of protein, healthy fats. Combined with carbs from bread. It's a good, cheap thing to eat. When you're really hungry, you don't eat something because you like it or not. You eat it to fill your stomach.

 

[gustav1988]

@thanksyoueel Why not both?

 

[thanksyoueel]

@johhny About 75m2 apartment. Energy prices are crazy in the Netherlands. I pay like 225 a month. But most months I use far less, so I'll get money back in April 2024.

 

[johhny]

@thanksyoueel Idk if your house should be lighted up like a Christmas tree every day of the year.

I have ~1700 sq ft 3 levels townhouse , and it's about $260 + $ 25 gas per month. Including running AC to keep 20°-21 ° in summer May-Sep and 18°-19°-21° in winter.

 

[thanksyoueel]

@johhny I don't use that much. Like I said, the Netherlands is far more expensive than the US. I used 156 kwh in December 2023 and 173m3 gas. I have a 1yo son, so I have to make sure the temp is nice for him. But nothing crazy. Like 20 degrees Celsius.

 

[johhny]

@thanksyoueel What advice would you give to this person?

I don’t know what to do anymore

I’m 21 and in debt about $5000 right now all because of my gambling addiction

-$5000 in debt for personal high APR loans
-missed my car payment last month and will most likely miss it this month
-credit card payment due today but I can’t pay it either
-car needs service (will most likely take a shit on me soon) will no longer have transportation to work
I have nothing in my checking account, my account will soon be negative. Gambling ruined me my family won’t help me anymore either they said I burned all my bridges with them. At this point I have nothing to lose.. I don’t know how I managed to fuck my life up so early on. My credit is going to go to shit and everything is crashing down at this point.

What are my options I just don’t know anymore jail is calling my name at this point I feel like I’m going to lose myself in the next few days.