The wise @pennsif posed an exercise for me to do:

list every appliance/item you have that uses electricity. Then look at each in turn to see if they can be used less or in any more efficient way. Might uncover a few little areas where a bit more can be saved.

Being @frugallady I had to jump on that right away. Homesteading is very much about consuming less and producing more in my mind. Right now we can't produce energy, but we can consume less. I decided to go through our home room by room, to make me think of all the things used and stored in each room. So here we go...

Source

Entryway

• One lamp, only on when needed and sometimes at night when we walk through there a lot too and from the bedroom and kitchen. Has an energy-saving bulb.
• Bicycle lights, we have four lights total, one is a dynamo, the remaining three take batteries. Hopefully, we have that covered with our new rechargeable batteries
• Door intercom, can't be turned off, so nothing we can do there.
• Two phone chargers, only plugged in when in use. I charge my phone when I'm attending lectures.
• Two computer chargers, only plugged in when in use. I charge my computer when I'm attending lectures.
• Iron, only plugged in when in use.
• Vacuum, only plugged in when in use.

Bedroom

• Three lamps, one overhead, one by the bed, one by the desk. The overhead lamp is the most frequently used and has an energy-saving bulb. The one by the desk is rarely used and has a LED bulb. I have no idea if it sucks any power when not turned on, but I just unplugged it anyway. The final lamp is by our bed and will now be turned off at the main switch during the day. Again, I don't know if it will make a difference, but this one is connected to something that will:
• Our printer. We only turn this on when we use it, which is a lot, but I'm diligent about turning it off when we're done. Last night though, as I couldn't sleep, I noticed it has a glare at night. Apparently, there is some light on, in the back of the machine. We don't have a lot of outlets, so this printer is connected to a power strip with our nightlight. It will have to be turned on at night (we aren't getting any more timers right now), but I will make an effort to turn the main off in the morning and use it when I need the printer as well. So hopefully we'll be able to cut about half of that wasted energy.

Kitchen

• Coffee grinder, only plugged in when in use, at least in theory. This one lives in a cupboard, so it should only be plugged in when it is out to be used.
• Kitchen machine, we own a Kenwood Major and we love it. We use it a lot, but we try to remember to turn it off/ unplug it from the main when not in use.
• Stick blender, lives in the cupboard, only plugged in when used.
• Electric kettle, this is a pain point for me, as I drink a good amount of 'tea' every day. We have a kettle that will heat water at your selected temperature. It can even keep the water warm using batteries, but we never use that function. We've had it for about 3 years and haven't changed the batteries once. It used to be on standby all the time, but now I turn it off at the main switch every time I've used it.

All the things out of our control:

• Lights, oh so many lights. We rent, the kitchen has light fixtures that all turn on with one switch, they are inefficient, energy guzzling and ugly and they can't be unplugged. The owner doesn't care, so there isn't much we can do about it. We try to only keep the lights on when we are in the room.
• Fridge, we keep it clean, at the correct temperature and full-ish. That's all we can do as far as I know.
• Freezer, same as for the fridge. Fairly new so hopefully fairly energy efficient.
• Dishwasher, we do one load a day, on the eco (water and energy saving) program, keep it clean and only do full loads. Fairly new so hopefully fairly energy efficient.

Bathroom

• Lights, these are spotlights build into the ceiling and the vanity. Again, not our call, nothing we can do about it. We only have them on when we're in there.
• Exhaust fan. We just managed to get a new fan installed. It took a lot of battling with the owner, but we have moisture problems and finally convinced the landlord that we needed a new one. It's a lot more efficient at venting out the bathroom (which has no windows in it) and hopefully, it will be more energy efficient as well. We only have it on when needed after showers.
• Beard trimmer, rechargeable, only plugged in when needed.

Livingroom

• Five lamps, two with energy saving bulbs, three with LED bulbs. At night most of them are turned on, but when we can try to only have the needed ones on.
• TV, now on a timer.
• Xbox, only turned on when in use.
• DVD player, only turned on when in use.
• Vinyl player, only turned on when in use.
• Internet router, now on a timer too.
• Rechargeable hand vacuum. We use this a lot to clean up after dinner on the floor around my son's chair. My son also uses it every time we vacuum our home. It uses a lot of energy but it is worth it. It's only plugged in when it needs to be recharged.

Tiny basement room

• Power tools and lots of them, only plugged in when in use.

Insights gained by this exercise

1. Our printer has a light on even when it's turned off. Turning that on at the main switch should save us a little money.
2. I'm so glad my child doesn't have any toys with batteries.
3. Overall we are doing well at turning things off and unplugging them. Better than I expected.
4. I must have forgotten something. If you have an idea of what, let me know in the comments.
5. I could drink less tea and we could use the hand vacuum less, but that's a quality of life issue and we're ready to pay for those things right now. The same goes for the lights we have on at night in the room we are in.

Do you see any area in which we could save electricity while still keeping our quality of life at roughly the same level? Have you ever done an exercise like this? What were your results?