My family used to pay very little attention to our wasteful use of home appliances. Computers were kept running for weeks, TV's were turned on the minute we entered the house, the dryer was used on sunny days and the boiler was left on to make sure no one is left without hot water.

Little did we know how costly our electrical carelessness is in terms of money and energy conservation. Ignorance may be bliss but not in this case. Simple awareness to the costs of our home appliances is a big step in saving money regularly and conserving energy.

The rate of electrical use at any moment is measured in watts. For example, a 100-watt bulb uses 100 watts. In order to know how much electricity an appliance consumes we need to take time into consideration. In electricity consumption of home appliances is measured in Kilowatt-hour (kWh). For example, if a 100 watt butt is lit for an hour it consumes 0.1 kWh (100/1,000).

The average cost for electricity in the US is around 9.9c per kWh. These costs vary by region and can be easily adjusted for.

Now all that is left is to take a look at average consumption and costs for our home appliances (In ascending order of potential savings):

1. Heating and Cooling - Costs of central heating or air-conditioning vary. The average consumption of an air conditioner or electric heater is between 1-5 kWh. The average costs for operating an air conditioner for 5 hours a day are $40 a month.
2. Water Heating - There are many ways to heat water and they are all energy expansive. An electric water heater consumes approximately 2-3 kWh. Each hour of heating costs us 30c. Using simple math having a heater on for 3 hours on a daily basis costs around $27 a month.
3. Laundry - Your average laundry machine consumes 2 kWh each wash and you dryer around 3.3 kWh a dry. 0.75 wash and dry each day costs $15 a month.
4. Dishwasher - Your average dish washer consumes 2 kWh each dishing which quickly translates to 20c a dishing. Using a dishwasher one a half times a day translates to $9 a month.
5. PC - A pc consumes 0.15 kWh. Leaving it on for a month costs $10.
6. Lighting - A regular incandescent lamp consumes 0.1 kWh. Averaging 7 light bulbs for 3 hours a days amounts to $7 a month. Compact fluorescent lamps are much more efficient and consume 0.02 kWh (they are more expansive however).
7. Refrigerator - There is little freedom in turning a refrigerator off. However, refrigerator consumption level varies significantly from one model to another. Average consumption of kW on a daily basis for a refrigerator can start from as little as 0.2 and go up to as much as 4. This difference on average is worth around $6 a month.
8. Cooking - An average oven consumes 1.8 kWh per cooking. 0.5 cooking actions a day amount to $3 a month.
9. Television - An average television consumes 0.1 kWh. 8 hours of television a day cost $2.50 a month.

Each article on its own sounds like small change. If you summed up the numbers you should have reached a whopping 120$ a month for an unaware household. This cost can be reduced by 15%-25% or $18- $30 a month by simple awareness.

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