Submitted by Caylee R. of SCSU:

?Ohhh here?s the mail, it never fails, it makes me want to wag my tail, when it comes I want to wail, MAILLLL!? That simple jingle was from the one and only Steve from the Nickelodeon kids show Blue?s Clues. Mail used to be a fun time of the day but not anymore because of the dreaded electricity bill that comes every month. Once you open that bill and see the total amount you owe, nobody is wagging their tail. Fortunately, there are many simple ways to reduce your electricity bill by making a few changes around the house.

In my household there are 6 of us so our electricity bill is usually high. A lot of it is wasted energy so I took it upon myself to go to each of my family members and ask them what they thought would be the best option to decrease our electricity bill. First, I went to my dad and he said, ?Shut your crap off.?  This is blunt but true. An easy fix to save energy is to shut off the things you are not using such as light switches, lamps, televisions, and even your computers. When you walk out of a room make it a habit to shut the lights off and any device you were using. Even unplugging your phone charger from the wall when you?re not using it can have a great impact.

The next person I asked was my mother. She said, ?Stay up late.? She continued to explain that if you use your machines later in the day it doesn?t use as much energy. For example, you can do your laundry or run your dish washer anytime after 8 because that?s a general time of when companies charge less for you to use electricity and it doesn?t take as much energy to run them.

I then asked my sister and she said, ?Buy candles.? She said that if you have candles you don?t have to turn the lights on. Clearly, her idea isn?t very practical because you would need a lot of candles to light a room. But, you could always start a fire or invest in a woodstove in the winter instead of putting your heat up so high.

I asked my other sister her idea and she said, ?Invest in solar panels or skylights and let the sun do the work.? Although solar panels could be expensive, they quickly pay for themselves by saving you a lot of money by not using your electricity as much. Skylights are also a great addition to your home to let in natural and beautiful sunlight to illuminate the entire room.

Lastly, I asked my third sister her opinion and she said, ? Cover your cracks.? As you can see, my family has a way with words. What she meant is that hot and cold air can creep out of the cracks and holes around your window and doorframes. This is like money seeping right out of your home. To fix this, you can use expanding foam or caulk to fill in these tiny spaces. Doing so will keep the cold or hot air in your home and not leak it outside.

Making sure to do all these little things can add up to big savings before you know it. You?ll not only decrease your electricity bill but you will help the environment by not using so much energy. At the end of the day, you?ll be glad you made these changes and won?t dread getting that bill in the mail anymore.