Today’s Handy Hint—SHOPPING

[Spiky Bugger]

So let's do a little calculating

Electricity costs about 25 cents per kwh
A gadget requires about a minute (1/60 hr) to heat a cup of water
Each gadget draws abut 1 kw ( adjust as needed)
So the cost to heat is 25 x 1 /60 < 0.5 cents

At about a penny per tea cup... really who cares.

The comments about auto shutoff are important, but it's easy enough to set the microwave for 1 minute, most come with a 30 sec duration per button push

That said, I mostly use an electric tea kettle for the liter of tea I make once a day for just the reasons Spikey said..it does just enough but no more

OTOH, to reheat a cup of coffee, I use the microwave

If you do get the tea kettle going.. let the old guy fill it to the brim... at the very most you are out a nickel, and he's happy. If I could make my spouse happy for less than a nickel, I know I'm in

And it’s not JUST electricity that costs a fortune. We stopped for a burger after his doctor’s appointment. We got a HELOC on our house to pay for it!

 

[southernlady]

OMG, @Spiky Bugger, that’s insane.

We try to eat in full service restaurants cause the prices are about the same as fast food. And we typically have leftovers to take home for another meal. That tends to make the cost of eating out a tad more bearable.

We had a late afternoon doctors appointment last week, something we try to avoid but it happens. Anyway, we decided to eat out on the way home. We were gonna hit up our favorite Chinese restaurant but that was the day they were closed, so I did quick search in the area and found a “chain” local Italian place we’ve been meaning to try. OMG, it was SO WORTH it. We are obviously going back. It was started in1953, they have three local places in the area, that is why they are a local chain. Yes, it was expensive but we got three meals out of each of our options. So it truly wasn’t that expensive broken down.

 

[JackieOnLine]

lately I have been using food trucks and not tipping* and then it's a bit less than anything else and still real food and not fast food.

* sometimes I feel bad but usually I don't, I've been not tipping where there is no actual service for years now.

(for sit down service I tip 20% and more for delivery which I now never get because it's too expensive)

 

[bearmom]

The microwave uses ALMOST twice as much power…1.5 kW vs 700-900 Watts.

But the major deal is “operator error.” MrSue sticks a measuring cup of water into the microwave for 4 minutes. If it starts boiling sooner, it just keeps on boiling. The “selling point” on the kettle is that it brings the water to a boil and then automatically shuts off. (Now I just have to convince him to heat only about a cup at a time.) (And, he is I the very early stages of dementia, so I may be repeating this lesson. LOL)

A selling point to his over boiling water in the microwave, is that it makes it really easy to wipe out immediately afterward (I doubt he does, but he COULD). Good lord your electricity is high. People are up in arms here because ours has gone up to 13cents per kwh.

The electric kettles are especially fast if you only heat what you need immediatley. Hubby fills it, which makes me nuts because I'm so impatient, but now you have me wondering how much it costs for it to heat 8X the water.