Electricity and water rates vary widely across the country, and the costs of doing laundry shake out differently depending on where you live. In this post, we survey big cities all over the country to find out where a load of wash is the least (and most) expensive…and where investing in an efficient washer gets you the most bang for your buck!

Pop quiz: which is the one appliance in your house that is on all day every day? Fitting with the chilly temps of the season, we investigate how to save $$ on keeping things cold...

Now that temperatures in much of the US are as cold as the inside of a fridge (34-37 degrees Fahrenheit, or 1.7 to 3.3 degrees Celsius), I’ve started wondering how much it costs to keep my food that cold year-round – my fridge isn’t the newest model out there, but would buying a new one really knock so much off my power bill that it’s worth the switch?

Well it looks like the Mayan apocalypse didn’t happen, or you wouldn’t be reading this blog post…But while the world is not ending, some opportunities to save money are: a lot of incentive programs for energy efficiency and power-saving appliances expire at the end of 2012, including some that you could still take advantage of!

Like many of you, I took some trips this summer – including ones that involved camping and other muddy outdoor activities. As usual, such excursions increased my appreciation of appliances: rinsing cookware in a cold, rocky stream and losing food to mold after just a few days reminded me how great my dishwasher and fridge really are! But as the sweaty shirts and muddy shorts accumulated, the appliance I enjoyed returning to most was the washing machine.