The amount of electronic appliances we have in a house has risen considerably for the last ten years. Once we usually had just a TV-set and stereo. Now, we have also one or two computers, a DVD player and who knows what else. This situation, of course, impacts our energy bills a lot. While all those appliances taken separately use very little electricity, the situation looks quite differently if we sum up all the energy they use.

1)Turn your PC on only if you need to work on it. Switch it off once you're done. The common misconception is that a PC uses so much energy while starting up that it is cheaper to keep it on all the time. This used to be true in times before the first Apple was created. Now PCs use only a bit more power during the startup. While turning your PC on and off every fifteen minutes will certainly add to your energy bill, an hour or two is long enough to switch your PC off and let it rest a bit.

2)Battery and cell phone chargers should be plugged off as soon as you finish charging them. The change will not be large for your family budget, but keeping the chargers plugged is practically begging your electricity provider to charge you this $5 a month more for no reason. If you feel like having $5 dollars too much, you can give them to some charity, not a local power plant!

3)Unplug any electronic gadgets you don't need. Remember that your TV, DVD player and all other electronic appliances use energy even if in the standby mode. The only way to prevent this is a hard power down (using a button on the appliance rather than the one on your remote).

4)The Energy Star certification is important! Those appliances which received it use up to 70% energy less than their counterparts. Generally, it is unwise to buy those appliances which are not marked as energy-efficient. It is practically begging for high energy bills.