Tips on getting your electricity bill down a notch - After all don't you have better things to spend your money on?

How low can you go?

I have gone as low as $ 36.25 with our monthly electricity bill in our four-bedroom, 2,000-square-foot house.

People who live in similar homes tell us they routinely spend $ 100 to $ 150 a month, and ask us how we do it.

Basically, by saving energy.

Buying new energy efficient light bulbs is a good way to start. They just passed a law in Canada that will make using old bulbs a thing of the past. This is a good thing as the bulbs save money twice. They burn less energy and they last longer so it is a win-win situation for your wallet.

We always buy energy efficient appliances. We follow our electric company's advice, and figure out the appliance's "unit life" cost, its purchase price plus what it costs to run. One refrigerator may sell for $ 950 and cost $ 93 a year to operate. Another may sell for $ 1,050, but cost only $ 73 a year to run. The $ 1,050 refrigerator is a better deal.

Even allowing for the earnings you would lose on the additional $ 100 upfront cost (let us say, 8 percent a year), it would take less than seven years to recover the extra cost of the energy-efficient refrigerator. (Remember, the $ 20 you save every year on electricity can also make 8 percent interest.) Over an average 15-year life span, the refrigerator selling for $ 100 more would be $ 226 cheaper.

You can calculate the unit-life cost from the yellow and black Energy Guide label taped on most appliances. The label, required by federal law, tells you the appliance's estimated annual energy cost and helps you compare one model with another.

Costs are derived from average electricity rates, so you need to call your electric company and find the one for your area. Our utility, Florida Power and Light (FPL), charges about 8 cents per kilowatt hour, including tax and fuel surcharge.

Your utility can also give you ideas for lowering energy costs.

FPL sent us brochures on lighting our home efficiently, saving on water heating, avoiding energy loss, ceiling insulation, window treatments, landscaping and many other topics.

FPL also sent a representative to our home to do a free energy survey. He checked our insulation, weather stripping, window tinting and appliances' efficiency, and gave us a passing grade.

Here are some of the tips FPL gave us:

Read the instruction manual from the manufacturer before you begin using an appliance, and keep warranty information safe but accessible. We keep a file on each appliance, including the manual, warranty card and where to call for service.

Clean appliances regularly. We do it at least once a month.

Open the refrigerator door only when necessary, and when you do, shut it as quickly as possible.

Turn the oven on just before you use it. Preheating is not necessary for most foods.

Do not open the oven door to peek, because you will lose valuable heat. Check food through the window if your oven has one, as ours does.

Use a counter-top, compact microwave oven to reheat leftovers and for quick meals. Our compact microwave - the only one we have - does not heat up the kitchen, so it puts no strain on the air conditioner.

Use hot water only for heavily soiled clothes or normal loads in which soil has begun to accumulate. Warm or even cold water is enough for less soiled loads. Doing three to four full loads a week in warm water costs $ 4 a month; in cold water, only $ 1.20. We always use the cold-water setting.

Try to wash clothes during off-peak hours, such as early morning or late night. We are early risers, and we do our washes after breakfast.

In some cases, we go beyond what our utility recommends.

The television set, Xbox, radio and stereo are never background noise to us. If we are not watching, playing, or listening, we turn them off.

FPL recommends that you set the air-conditioning thermostat or cooling-control switch to the highest comfortable temperature, and suggests 78 degrees Fahrenheit. We can go higher. We keep the temperature at 80 to 82 degrees during the day and 78 at night.

Our utility says that for every degree we raise it, we save 6 percent to 8 percent on the electricity bill. In the winter, we save 3 percent to 5 percent for every degree we turn the thermostat down.

These are just some tips that I have used and I don't want you to pay high electric bills. There are more important things to do with your money.