Everyone’s been giving out credit repair advice for free these days, and we’re all for it. By and large, here’s the consensus: paying off your credit bills right now = very good idea. It’ll save you money in the long haul. A lot of money, actually.

Great, you say. But if I had the money to pay off the debt, I probably wouldn’t have the debt in the first place, smartypants. How am I supposed to get rid of these bills when I don’t have the money for them right now? 

Fair point. Here’s at least one place to find some extra cash this month, and every month thereafter: your electric bill.

We know you’re all smart people, so we’re not going to be so obvious as to say you should turn off the lights when you’re not using them. However, there are probably a couple of things you could be doing that you haven’t considered – and those things will save you a fair-sized chunk of change every month.

Get Used to the Temperature Outside

Air conditioning uses a ton of energy. Fine. But summer is hot and sticky and it sucks and damned if you’re living without it. Ditto for heat in a below-freezing winter. We’re with you thus far. However.

Most of us don’t use the heat or the AC only when they’re really necessary. What we’re trying to accomplish with these little luxuries is making the inside of our house duplicate the weather in another part of the globe. We are actually trying to create a different climate for our own little house-sized country. Maintaining the temperature of a crisp fall day in New Hampshire when your house actually wants to be the temperature of a melting summer day in LA? Very difficult. Takes a lot of energy. Costs much.

With the AC, use it for as long as it’s necessary to actually cool down the house a notch. You don’t need it to be 60 degrees in there – you just need it to be a little less than the 107 degrees outside in the sun. Often, a plug-in fan will do the trick, and for far less cost. In the winter it’s the same deal. You’re not trying to make it summertime in the house. You’re trying to make it NOT freezing.

So get used to the temperature it is. If your actual health is at stake, as in some very hot or cold areas, by all means use the very handy climate-control devices we have invented so as not to expire. That is why they are there.

They are NOT there to transport your house to another climate entirely. You’d be better off buying a plane ticket to the climate in question and leaving your house’s electricity alone for that amount of time.

Make Smart Decision About New Purchases

Heard this spiel? “If you replace every lightbulb in your house with an energy-saving lightbulb, you can save up to $500 a year in energy costs!”

Brilliant, you think. I’ll just go buy 10 energy-saving lightbulbs. At $15 apiece. Because I totally have that kind of money to spare.

All right, so you don’t have the money to spare right now, so you won’t replace all the lights at once. The next time one of them burns out, though, get the energy-saver one instead of the old kind. You will save money on your electric bill – more than enough to cover the extra cost of the bulb in about two months – they’ll last longer, and while you may not have $150 to blow right now, you can probably find the extra $12. Especially when it’s going to save you that much over the next few month’s worth of bills.

Another good strategy for this one is to replace the light you use most with an energy-saver bulb. So if your garage light burns out, go unscrew the light bulb in the kitchen, stick that one into the garage socket, and replace the kitchen light with an energy-saver. Since you use that one more often, it’ll pay off faster.

Ditto goes for buying new energy-saver appliances. We know you’re not going to replace your stove for an energy-saver right now. If yours breaks and you need a new one, though, shell out the extra cash for the energy saver.

Get the Family On Board

You may be very diligent about turning off appliances, lights, and power cables when you’re not using them, but the rest of your family may not be. If your teenage son wanders through and turns on a light right after you’ve turned it off, you may as well not have been so conscientious.

Stupid kid. What is he thinking?

He’s not thinking. The kid does not see the light bulb and think, “Man, that’s costing my parents money.” Nor would he necessarily care if he did. He doesn’t pay the bills. He doesn’t really get it. He won’t until he gets his own apartment. The kid sees the light, thinks nothing at all about it, and goes into another room to listen to that damned newfangled music.

So get the kids – even the little kids – involved. One brilliant way to do this that I’m almost sure does not actually constitute scandalous parenting practices is through bribery. Offer your kid a percentage of the money you save off the electric bill every month. If you can shave a buck off of your light bill by having just one light in your house off whenever it’s not in use, that’s like found money for your kid.

He’ll see the light, and this time he’ll think, “Sweet, I found a quarter.”

And he’ll click it off.