Saving on Household Utilities

If I had to pick a favorite bill, my choice by far would be my ConEdison electricity bill.

I love flipping to the chart that shows how my electricity usage had compared to each of the last 12 months, including the same month of the previous year. When that bar gets shorter and shorter (as it often did during the mild summer months, when I rarely ran the air conditioner), it's nice to know I'm helping my wallet and the world.

But my water usage? I have no idea. That's why I found this article on reducing your "water footprint" especially interesting.

According to Good Magazine, UNICEF says every person needs about five gallons of water per day to survive.

Americans use 151 gallons. Per day.

That includes an average of 3.5 to 6 gallons per toilet flush and 2.5 to 4 gallons per minute of your shower. See the article for a more complete list ... and tips on how to cut back.

First up for me? Something my parents asked me to do 15 years ago (with little results): Cutting my time in the shower. Besides, I can get on board with any environmental cause that also results in a few extra minutes of shut-eye in the morning.

Have a DVR? Cancel Netflix.

I don't have Netflix.

But I do have at least a half dozen movies ready to watch at all times ... all at the press of a button.

Once every week or two I browse the movie channels that come with my cable plan-- AMC, TCM and IFC are usually the best, but even Comedy Central and the Disney Channel play some good flicks once in awhile. Then I DVR anything and everything that looks interesting.

Then when I'm in the mood for a movie, or my husband and I want to kick back on the weekends, we always have a large selection no matter what our mood.

The selection of movies is surprisingly large on these channels. Admittedly, you're not going to find many recently released selections like you would on HBO and Showtime, but you'll greatly increase your knowledge of classic movies. Jack Lemmon has become one of my favorite actors of all time because of my propensity to record his movies, and I'm slowly making my way through all of Woody Allen's works.

So cancel your Netflix subscription. Spend your extra cash on popcorn instead.

Save Money, Save Energy When You Cook

Usually the ads on the subway are just white noise for the eyes. I might try and decipher a Spanish ad now and then, but my eyes glaze over when it comes to yet another sign for a doctor or lawyer.

But an ad directly above where I was standing on a New York City N-train caught the eyes of my husband, Paul. Con Edison, our local electric company, has a series of ads highlighting specific ways to save energy, money, or often both. Take the tip Paul noticed:

If you use glass or ceramic in the oven, you can lower the temperature by 25 degrees and still get the same results.

Who knew? Not me. But if it's good for the environment and my pocketbook, it's good by me.