Nobody likes paying bills and the sight of that newly delivered brown envelope lying on your doormat is never a welcome sight. It seems that electricity prices keep going up and up all of the time. The good news is that the size of your bill is something that you do have some control over and it can be minimized.

Before you dismiss the suggestion of converting your home to run on solar power due to the extremely high costs, you should be aware that you can build your own solar panels very cheaply. What would set you back maybe $ 30,000 can be built using materials from your local hardware store for less than $ 200 a solar panel.

Another great way to cut your electricity bill is to only use the electricity that you actually need. This means that when lights and appliances are not in use you turn them off. If you have a family you will need their co-operation to make this work so try and discuss your plans with them. It's all the little things such as switching off lights whenever you leave a room that all add up to create a reduction by the time you get your next bill.

There are many household appliances such as televisions that get switched into a standby mode when not in use rather than actually switched off. Even though the amount of electricity consumed is small these devices are often left for hours or days in this idle state. So remember to turn these appliances off instead of leaving them in standby mode. Do you really need to use 100W light bulbs in every single room, would a 60W bulb suffice? The old fashioned incandescent light bulbs are not nearly as efficient as the modern compact fluorescent bulbs. So why not switch your light bulbs to this more efficient variety.

It's not the number of appliances you have or their power consumption that uses up the most electricity. It is how you use your appliances that have the biggest impact on the size of your power bill. Some people use their washing machine every single day when they don't need to. If you have to use your washing machine every other other because you haven't got many pairs of socks, buy some new socks! Wait until you have a full load of washing if you have enough clothes to last until your next wash.

When you think that a homemade solar power system can reduce your electricity bills by up to 80% and it won't cost you the earth to build it, then solar power suddenly become a realistic option. You can easily learn how to build your own and you can even make your own wind turbine too. There is no need to be an expert in DIY. By helping yourself to the infinite source of solar power you will make huge cuts to your electricity bills and you will be making a valuable contribution to the environment and to future generations.

To read more on how to reduce energy consumption in your home and how to make homemade solar panels please visit www.greencheapenergy.com