My “Reduce a Bill” Challenge
October 1, 2007 – 11:17 am
Lynnae over at Being Frugal just successfully completed her one month challenge to save money by not eating out for a month. She inspired me to come up with a challenge of my own that will hopefully reduce the amount of money we spend in a month.
My challenge for October?
For the next 4 weeks I aim to line dry (in the laundry room or attic) at least 4 loads of laundry a week. I will continue to use my dryer for at least the towels, sheets, socks and undies because I like those nice and soft.
How much will I be able to save?
While I don’t know an exact amount for sure because the amounts vary, based on figures I found online I’m guessing it’s going to be anywhere from .25-.50 a load. I own a Kenmore HE4 Washer and Electric Dryer. My dryer doesn’t take long to dry because the washer spins the water out of the clothes very effectively. After checking the most recent bill from our electric company it looks like we pay .0998 per KWH. According to the Green Guide’s Appliance Savings Calculator the average electric dryer uses 2.3 kwh per use.
It may not be much in savings, but multiply that by 4 loads a week, for 52 weeks and it could be anywhere from $52-$96 a year.
Past electric bills:
October 2006 $155.25 for 1.531 KWH
October 2005 $116.04 for 1,185 KWH
Which is an average of $135.65 and 1,358.
My goal is 2 fold: to reduce the amount of KWH I use and the total amount of my bill compared to previous years. While I won’t be able to measure the exact amount of money spent using the dryer; I aim to get my electric bill below $135.65 for October. Any extra money will be put towards the debt snowball.
Anyone want to join me in the “Reduce a Bill” Challenge? You don’t have to do the same exact same thing I’m doing (line drying laundry); but pick a bill that you think you can reduce and post a comment below (along with a link to your blog post if you blogged about it). You can reduce any of your bills, either by cutting back on something you use, or making a phone call and getting your bill reduced. It doesn’t have to be hard 
25 Responses to “My “Reduce a Bill” Challenge”
I’m glad I could inspire you.
Line drying your clothes should help you out a lot. I did that this summer, and it’s hard to tell how much I saved, because electricity rates went up about the same time. But I didn’t see much difference in my bill, so I must have done pretty well. Unfortunately I don’t have a place to line dry my clothes in the house, and rainy season is starting, so outside drying isn’t an option.
Now I have to think of what I’m going to do for this challenge. I’ll have a post up in the next day or two.
By Lynnae @ Being Frugal on Oct 1, 2007
Rainy season? Lucky you! We are in a drought right now.
I have an attic that is pretty underutilized (just some boxes of Christmas decorations and old uniforms). I thought I could hang clothes up in there. I think I’ll start in the laundry room and see if I can line dry a whole load in there tomorrow.
I’ll be watching to see what you come up with
By Momof3 on Oct 1, 2007
Well, I decided to reduce my grocery bill. I put a post up and directed people over here if they want to participate.
By Lynnae @ Being Frugal on Oct 4, 2007
Lynnae,
Good one! Let me know if you need any help, I’m a grocery coupon geek. If you need help with the Grocery Game you can always ask me, or visit their message boards. They are super helpful over there.
By Momof3 on Oct 4, 2007
Hi! I was visiting over at being frugal, Lynnaes blog and she mentioned in her post about a “reduce a bill” challenge…I would like to join with you gals
I would like to do a “no spend day” challenge, I figure that will save me on the average of $5 per no spend day. I am going to take this extra money and put towards our emergency fund…I am aiming for 10 no spend days this month so that would be $50, YAY!
Today is a No spend day for our family so I will mark it on our calender.
This is truly exciting!
By Heather on Oct 4, 2007
I would love to line dry outside but in L.A. the air is to “gritty.” Black grit winds up on everything. I line dry all the good clothes - shirts, pants, etc. inside the laundry room and wash everything in cold (that has made a big difference in the gas bill, too!) I would love to reduce the gas bill and bike to work and to the kids’ school - but my daughter is so phobic of crossing traffic at busy streets - if I could think of way to break her of it, we’d be biking 2-3 times a week!
By chris on Oct 4, 2007
Heather,
Hi! Welcome to my blog and the “Reduce a Bill” challenge. A “no spend day” is a great idea; let us know how you are doing with it throughout the month. I wonder if I could get my hubby to try a challenge like that? hmmm….
By Momof3 on Oct 4, 2007
Chris,
Welcome to my blog!
I’ve got things hanging in my laundry room right now; I guess I’m not technically line drying on an old fashioned clothes line. If I had a clothesline and hung them outside I’m sure I’d forget them and end up having to wash them again.
How much is gas going for now in Cali? We were in LA in the spring (La Crescenta area) and the gas prices were so high. We borrowed a family member’s Excursion for the week. To fill it up we put in over $100 of gas.
By Momof3 on Oct 4, 2007
Oooh! This is a great challenge! I’m in and I’ll join Heather with the No Spending Days. I’m not sure I’ve got enough organization this month for an entire month of No Spending, but I will definitely work to match Heather’s 10 day No Spend goal. What a fantastic idea!
By Mary on Oct 5, 2007
Does reducing cable and grocery count–if I already did it last month? I’m sure I’ll be working on more bills soon but so far we’ve done a ton of work on the grocery bill, reducing it at least by a full 30%, and reduced our cable bill by 100%! That’s right, we got rid of cable altogether. And I couldn’t be happier about it!
I’ve got a bunch of tips on what helped us with our groceries on the pf posts on my blog. If I come up with a bill we can work on this month I’ll be back to put my commitment to it here. I am working on being better about keeping extra lights and stuff off, but I’d rather choose something that will make a more noticeable difference to list on here.
LOVE the idea of this challenge though. I’ll have to be back to see how the efforts work out.
By m on Oct 5, 2007
Mary,
Welcome to the challenge!
M,
Cable and grocery count for sure. I know reducing your grocery bill is huge. How much were you able to reduce it by?
By Momof3 on Oct 5, 2007
I was just visiting from Lynnae’s also and love this idea!
I’ve been air drying in my laundry room for a few months now - I fell off the wagon for a while, but I’m back on! I’ve been doing all of my laundry and save between $40 and $50 a month (in Texas, so I’m saving on air conditioning my house, too). I use a big fan on my clothes so they dry faster. And I dry my sheets on the line outside.
BUT, to the point, I’m joining your challenge, and I’m going to reduce my dining out bill this month. It’s a huge thing for us, as it’s our favorite form of entertainment, but for a family of five, it’s expensive!
By fiveberries on Oct 5, 2007
fiveberries,
Welcome to the challenge!
$40-$50 a month is an amazing savings! I’m interested to see how much I save. I have never air dryed my laundry before (other than the occasional nice things I don’t want to put in the dryer) so I’m curious to see how much I’ll save. Maybe if it makes a difference I’ll try air drying everything for a month.
Good luck with reducing your dining bill this month. We are a family of 5 also; just going out for fast food isn’t cheap.
By Momof3 on Oct 5, 2007
Wow! This is really taking off! This was a great idea!
Good luck to everyone! I can’t wait to find out how much everyone saved over the course of the month!
By Lynnae @ Being Frugal on Oct 5, 2007
Lynnae,
I’m super happy that others are joining me in the challenge though.
I’m excited too, everyone came up with some great ideas. I told my husband about the challenge tonight and he asked where I was going to hang all the laundry (he’s been out of town for work all week) You should have seen his face when he saw the laundry room.
It really taken off because of you and your article though. Sometimes I feel like I’m talking to myself in my little corner of the blogging world.
By Momof3 on Oct 5, 2007
I have found that if you take your tiles and run them in the dryer for 5 minutes then take them out and hang them on the line they are soft and don’t get stiff as they do if you take them straight from the washer.
This still reduces your usage of the dryer.
If you also hang blouses and dresses on hangers on the line they can still come in and go straight to the closet.
By susan on Jul 29, 2008
I’m sorry…I spelled Tiles instead of Towels. We are replacing tiles and had them on my mind.
By susan on Jul 29, 2008