9 Ways to Stop Thanksgiving From Sending Your Energy Bill Soaring

Your home gets a serious workout on Thanksgiving. While you may be packing on the pounds, your home is sweating from increased usage -- more people coming in and out, and more digital devices to charge so everyone can keep up with their favorite football team and friends.

Your homes energy consumption can skyrocket, especially when the ovens working non-stop and youre pulling out kitchen gadgets to chop and puree.

Give your home a break, and dont make it work so hard, which will also save you cash on energy bills. Try these tips:

A Few Days Before Thanksgiving

1. Install a dimmer switch for the dining room chandelier. Every time you dim a bulbs brightness by 10%, youll double the bulbs lifespan. Most CFLs dont work with dimmers, but you can create mood lighting with incandescents and LEDs.

2. Plan side dishes that can cook simultaneously with the turkey. If you cook dishes at the same temperature at the same time, youll reduce the amount of time the oven has to be running -- its easier for the cook and saves energy, too.

When You Start Cooking

3. Lower your house thermostat a few degrees. The oven will keep the house warm. You also can turn on your ceiling fan so it sucks air up, distributing heat throughout the room.

4. Use ceramic or glass pans -- you can turn down the ovens temp by up to 25 degrees and get the same results. Thats because these materials retain heat so well, theyll continue cooking food even after being removed from the oven.

5. Use your ovens convection feature. When heated air is circulated around the food, it reduces the required temperature and cooking time. Youll cut your energy use by about 20%.

6. Cook in the microwave whenever possible. Ditto slow cookers. Microwaves get the job done quickly, and although slow cookers take much longer, they still use less energy than the oven. Resist the urge to peek inside your slow cooker: Each time you remove the lid, it releases heat and can add about 25 minutes of cooking time to your dish.

7. Use lids on pots to retain heat. The food youre cooking on the stovetop will heat up faster when you use lids.

When Its Cleanup Time

8. Scrape plates instead of rinsing with hot water. Unless food is really caked on there, your dishwasher should get the dishes clean without a pre-rinse. Compost your non-meat food waste.

9. Use your dishwasher. It saves energy and water, so only hand-wash things that arent dishwasher-safe. Wait until youve got a full load before starting the dishwasher. Be sure to stop the appliance before the heated dry cycle; just open the door and let your dishes air-dry.