How to save on your electricity bills.

By now everybody must've noticed how the sweltering heat makes you just want to stay inside an air-conditioned room. This is one reason why I only love to do household chores early in the day -- even if it means that I have to wake up at 5 in the morning just to wash clothes, water the plants, and even cook the food for the day.

It has become our daily routine to have lunch at 12 noon and immediately seek haven in my mom's room where we run the air-conditioner until the evening comes. Believe me, if it were up to us, we would've placed the entire house under a centralized air-conditioning system.

I now what you are thinking -- that we have a huge electricity bill to pay! This is actually the farthest from the truth. Over the years we have developed a system to conserve energy. Want to know our secret?

1. Replace all incandescent bulbs with fluorescent bulbs. Not only do they emit cooler light but they also use up a lower amount of electricity.
2. Do your ironing only once or twice-a-week (once-a-week is the best). I found out that ironing on Sundays is the best because all the uniforms and other clothes that need ironing have already been washed and dried.
3. Set a time limit for your ironing. This prevents you from dilly-dallying while ironing plus you get to finish your ironing chores pretty fast. Try finishing your ironing in 2 hours or less.
4. Set the thermostat of your air-conditioner at a low temperature (in some air-conditioners this is called low cool). To keep the room cold turn on an electric fan at the lowest setting) - this way you'll feel cool but with less the electric consumption.
5. At bedtime, set the timer of your air-conditioner for at least 5 hours. We just need to feel cool so we can drift off to dreamland as soon as possible. A 5-hour run of the air-conditioner would suffice to cool the room and the electric fan will retain the cold at least until the morning sunshine comes. Don't have an air-condition unit with a timer? Set up an alarm so you can manually turn it off.
6. Turn off and unplug an appliance when it is not being used. The stand-by mode is actually an electricity vampire -- you are fooled into thinking that it is not consuming any electricity but it actually is.
7. Do you have a 110V outlet? If yes, then double check all your appliances to see if they can be plugged into the 110V outlet. If not, you can try considering getting a step-down transformer. This may be a bit pricey at first but think of just how much you'll be saving in your electricity bill.
8. Defrost your fridge at least once every 2 weeks. The less ice present in the freezer the more efficient the fridge is plus you get to check for the fridge's contents.

And these are the ways we keep our electricity bills down. With the current rise in prices, including the electricity bills, isn't it about time that we enjoy the fruits of our labor without having to sweat too much?