This time of year, as days are shorter and the time we spend indoors longer, many people find their electric bills going up quite a bit.  Those longer nights mean more time with lights turned on, and this can affect not only your bill but the environment with the increased energy consumption.  Even though Earth Day is months away, we can still practice the energy-saving steps now to help reduce the demands on our environment and on our pocket book.

One of the ways many people celebrate Earth Day is to participate in Earth Hour, where lights are turned off and electricity consumption reduced for exactly one hour.  This can be a fun time to have a candle lit dinner, take a walk outside, or even go to bed early. 

While it is not really practical to light our homes with candles every day, we can try to look for little ways to reduce our electricity use each and every day.  Turning off lights as we leave the room, shutting off the TV for a little bit longer every day, or line drying our clothes when we can are all ways to have a big impact without sacrificing the convenience we appreciate about electricity.

You can install a power strip for your TV and its related electronics.  Most of these will draw power even when they are turned off.  If you have a power strip, you can simply flip the switch to cut power to those electronics when they are not in use.  This can add up to a big savings.

What are some other ways to reduce energy consumption without a lot of hassle or sacrifice?