Trying to figure out my home's energy use took me a full Saturday

Michael Burns · 2026-03-13T08:10:08.323787+00:00

I wanted to cut my power bill and help out a bit, so I tried to track down what was using the most electricity. I spent hours flipping breakers on and off, checking the meter, and writing numbers down. The real shocker was finding out my old basement freezer, which I barely use, was costing me about $15 a month just to run empty. Has anyone else found a single appliance that was a huge energy drain?

parkerp807mo ago

Yeah, my old cable box was like that. I got one of those plug in energy meters and it was using way more power than my game console, which is just wild to me. Unplugging that thing when I'm not using it saved me a good chunk each month, it's crazy what just sits there sucking power.

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clark.robin6mo ago

My ancient dehumidifier was basically running a small power plant in my crawlspace... I felt so dumb when I finally checked it.

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grant_wright7mo ago

Check your water heater's temperature setting, that one's a silent budget killer.

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