Author Topic: Utility savings in downsizing  (Read 2198 times)

Canoe_Camping

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Utility savings in downsizing
« on: January 20, 2018, 02:56:21 PM »
Hi, I am in the process of moving into a smaller home, from a 3200 sq ft home to a 1400 sq ft.  I am wondering if anyone has made a similar change and if so Approximately how much did you save on your utilities? I know that it will definitely vary but region, and household size.  We are a couple living in Minnesota.  Thanks!

redbird

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Re: Utility savings in downsizing
« Reply #1 on: January 20, 2018, 04:18:52 PM »
It can vary. I moved back in May from an apartment to a single family house. The house is about twice the square footage of the apartment but I'm paying less in heating than I did in the apartment. I'm not really sure why, as the apartment building was brand new (my house is about 2 years old). The heat pump there must've been less efficient than the one in my house.

Where I've seen the biggest savings in utilities is having the temperature set lower in the winter/higher in the summer than I used to. I used to keep it set at 70 for the most part year-round. I now keep it at 68 in the winter/72 in the summer. 2 degrees difference is not bad getting used to and it's surprising how much I save per month. I also have a gas fire place and gas water heater. The gas guy turned on the pilot light for the fireplace for me when I first moved in and I never turned it off. I don't use the fire place and turned the pilot light off. Simply not having the pilot light on 24/7 saves me $10/month in gas costs.

calimom

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Re: Utility savings in downsizing
« Reply #2 on: January 20, 2018, 05:01:24 PM »
Can you get the utility history from the previous occupants of the new house from the power company? That can help tell the story, but there's probably no way of knowing how much they used the heat and AC, plus any other high usage appliances, TVs or computers they might have had.

Cranky

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Re: Utility savings in downsizing
« Reply #3 on: January 21, 2018, 04:24:45 AM »
I’ve lived in a variety of places of different sizes, and I don’t think that water and light usage vary all that much - that more about your individual usage. It’s heating and cooling that really vary with the size of what you are heating and cooling, but there are a lot of individual factors there, too - the temperatures you keep the house at, the insulation, etc.

So much of my utility bills are the service charge that changing my usage has a rather modest effect.

soccerluvof4

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Re: Utility savings in downsizing
« Reply #4 on: January 21, 2018, 04:36:32 AM »
Went from 7200 square feet to 4200 and the last 2.5 years to 2700. And yes the utilites all went down but depended alot on type of heat. The biggest house was the most efficient with in floor heat in the basement so the furnaces barely ran. Water usage our is really dropping as kids 2 kids have moved out. As well of course as Electric use. I budget 300$ a month for all utilities and we are mostly a family of 4 in 2700 square feet and that more than covers everything and its dropping. Each time I remodel a room I update everything. Working on another bathroom right now just started this week. Replace all windows in house that made a difference. Light bulbs you use to water saving shower heads etc...

KungfuRabbit

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Re: Utility savings in downsizing
« Reply #5 on: January 21, 2018, 06:13:17 AM »
I love Minnesota. Just got my $376 utility bill due to the -15 weather for a few weeks straight - and we kept our house at a balmy 64 degrees.

My coworker has a high end new construction bigger than mine and keeps it at 72 for his baby, and had a smaller bill (way better insulation than my 1962 house). My other coworker has a smaller house than me and was pushing $500, but his windows are practically falling out (not really, but they're drafty).

So,  size does matter, but insulation and window quality matter more.

As far as electricity goes I used to have a chest freezer from the mid 80s. I got rid of it and my electric bill dropped like $20 / month. That thing was a guzzler apparently !

Also. Heated floors make the wife happy, but they come at a price...

 

Wow, a phone plan for fifteen bucks!