Slaying the Energy Vampires

At a cost of more than $1,100, you would have to save $46 a month on your electric bill to have it pay for itself in two years ($30 a month if you want to give it three years). But if you have a lot of gadgets or a sizable house that often sits empty, maybe because you travel a lot or you split your time between a primary and weekend residence, it might be worth it.

For a lower-tech and lower-cost approach, do what my husband and I did: We've taken our Linksys router and Toshiba(TOSBF Quote) cable modem, which cost $2.61 a month combined when left running perpetually, and put them on a power strip that we turn off when we go away. We'll do the same for the TV, DVD and cable box -- and no more leaving the TV on standby.

Turning off the power strips in our home offices when we go away can't hurt either. More important, we'll be turning off our computers and printers at night. And we won't leave our cell-phones and laptops dangling on their power cords for hours after they're recharged.