The amount of electronic appliances we have in a house has risen considerably for the last ten years. At one time we usually only had just a TV-set and stereo. Now, we have also one or two computers, a DVD player, DVR and who knows what else. This situation, of course, impacts our energy bills a lot more than one would think. While all those appliances taken separately use very little electricity, the situation looks quite differently if we sum up all the energy they use collectively.

Here are some quick and easy to implement tips you can use right now that can and will save you some money on your next electric bill.

1) Turn your PC on only if you need to work on it. Switch it off once you're done. The common misconception is that a PC uses so much energy while starting up that it is cheaper to keep it on all the time. This used to be true in times before the first Apple was created. Now PCs use only a bit more power during the startup. While turning your PC on and off every fifteen minutes will certainly add to your energy bill, an hour or two is long enough to switch your PC off and let it rest a bit.

2) Never keep your chargers plugged in when you don't need them. You may not know about it, but they still use up energy even if you don't charge any batteries. Of course, it is only around $5 per family per month, but do you feel like giving out $3 every month for your electricity provider for nothing? The worse offender in this area is the cell phone charger. Your cell phone rarely needs charging every night, so just re-charge it when needed.

3) Use hard power downs whenever possible. Nowadays most electronics keep drawing energy even when they seem to be turned off. While it is, of course, much less than they need when they're on, standbys can become quite costly, too. Unplug those devices you're not going to use. Do not worry about the startup energy cost - it is pretty much the same as with computers.

4) Keep in mind that seemingly similar devices may need various amounts of energy. Generally, look for the Energy Star mark - it means that the device is considered energy-efficient and uses up to a third of energy needed to power the gadgets without the Energy Star.

See? That's not that hard is it? Usually the smallest changes can add up to make the biggest differences.