Getting your children to save electricity

We are all seeking ways to make our bills smaller. Running a home is expensive, and it's never been more vital than now to shrink our bills. Electricity is one thing we have to pay for, have to consume and have to worry about, it seems. It's a rare electricity bill that is cheaper than the one that came before.

And yes, we all know ways to reduce our consumption. But do our families know them? They don't show them, that's for sure. The only person concerned with turning out lights is the one who gets to see the bills. That is a well known truth.

This article helps you find ways to get the whole family eager to reduce your spending on electricity. First, we will look at why no one but you is really interested in keeping this bill low.

+ Only you get to see the total on the bill

+ Only you get to pay the bill

+ Only you are bothered by the high amount you are spending on power and light

+ Only you are really affected - life goes on as usual for everyone else

What's common to all those points? Yeah... only you!

It's time you started sharing it out fairly. Find the one person in your house who does not use electricity. Can't find one? Everyone benefits from what you do when you pay that bill, so everyone needs to become involved. The fridge, the computer(s), the television, lights, the chargers... everyone uses those.

No one will bother to turn out a light if they feel they are not benefitting from it, or if they feel that nothing happens if they do not turn it out.

You need to benefit - all the family needs to benefit.

Here is a way to make everyone in your house feel they are on a good thing if they save electricity. Share the bill. No, I do not mean you all have to pay a part of it!

But you will share in the savings. Here's how. Horrible as it may feel, take the last four or five bills that have come to the house. Write down the amounts and the dates. Note that in general, the amount seems to be increasing! Of course - the children are growing, and they need more electricity, right?

Not necessarily so. Share the information you have just gathered. Most bills will give you a breakdown, and a comparison graph. That is, how much you used this bill, last bill, and the bill that came around the same time last year.

Now - make the deal!

Tell your kids that if the next bill is lower, you'll take the difference and split it between them in real dollars. Yes, that's right - you will give them the money. Let's say the bill last time was $305.00 and this time it's $282.50 - that means there's $22.50 to split. If you have two kids, that comes to $11.25 each. It's real money. You've saved it.

But it still comes out of my pocket, you exclaim! What am I saving?

The money stays in the family. Call it the cost of education. Call it being able to spend it on something else, like books or hobbies or movie tickets. Call it saving for a rainy day if you get your kids to bank it.

In a wider perspective: call it doing your bit for the planet. Less electricity consumed.

Teaching kids value-added practice involves using 'carrot or stick' techniques. Carrot here means a reward, and stick means punishment. This comes from the ancient way people would reward or punish mill donkeys! They found that rather than hit the poor beast, the more carrots they gave the donkey, the faster it was inclined to wind its way around the mill, producing more grain (or whatever it was they were grinding!) The more carrots, the more grain.

When there is an incentive, people bend over backwards to get it. I think you will find that the kids will be spurring each other on, in the hope of getting their hands on that money.

'Turn that light out, Cindy - you're wasting our electricity bonus!'

'Don't leave your laptop on, Joey. It's money down the drain!'

'Take your phone off the charger now it's done - save the money!'

They might even turn each other's lights out. Now when did that ever happen?