Put It on A Power Strip

I received my power bill this month and I am enjoying the change of seasons.  The power bill reflects the change. This is the time of year when we can open windows and doors and air the house after the stale winter.  A few well placed fans can keep us from closing up and turning on the air conditioners for a few more weeks.  

I so enjoy the lower bill that I am looking for other ways to lower the bill and keep it down.  I am looking to reduce use wherever I can.  

I have decided to check every room for appliances and extra lighting and put it all on power strips.  

Many of my appliances have clocks I never set and other features that continue to run and drain power even when the appliance is turned off.  

The Blu-ray, The DVD player and the (yes, I still have one or three) the VCR are criminals of power sucking when not in use.  I put them on a powerstrip.  This does more than protect the appliances from power surges.  It allows me to flip a single switch and turn off the power vampires, when I am not using them. 
In this photo to the left, I counted five clocks on the components and a clock on the top of the speakers on the right.  Really?  how late are you?  How much do you care if you are on time during a movie?   

I have several lamps in a dark corner that I have put on a power strip and placed the strip in a way that makes it easy to turn off all the lamps without leaning over furniture or going from lamp to lamp.  Just one flip and they are all off.  Even better, if I suddenly need light, it's an easy flip of the switch to turn them on all at once.  

Surge_suppressor.jpg

en.wikipedia.org

I have my PC and printer on one of these strips.  They allow you time to save your work and shutdown your PC if the power goes off while you are working.  

Using Timers and Motion Switches to

Another great use for the power strip is to get all similar tools or appliances in a central location.  This photo shows a charger working to charge power tool batteries on a timer.  The timer insures that no power is wasted and the batteries don't overcharge.  The batteries have time to charge and when that time expires, the power is cut off.

Look around for one of these, for all of your "I" devices, or make your own charging station.

http://www.amazon.com/Power-View-
Charging-Station-iPhone/dp/B00BFYG4PA

You can create a charging station to save some electricity.  With all the charging cords on one power strip, it's no hassle matching cords to devices, and when the devices are all charged, turn off the strip to stop the chargers from sucking power out of the wall.