If you unplug all your electric appliances before going to sleep (except fridge), and you do it every night, you'll save 5% to10% of electricity, and that will be reflected in your  electric bill.

Yes!  We call them vampires around here.

We don't unplug, but we do have the larger vampire clusters (such as the gaming system) on power bars with actual switches that we throw when we are done using them. 

If you have a computer, just shutting it down is not enough.  It still draws power. You can throw the switch on the back of the machine (if it has one), but this won't stop the monitor.  I'd suggest putting the entire system, including all periphreals, on one power strip.  Then you only have to remember one switch when you are done.  Do shut down the machine first, then throw the switch.

Maria, this is an excellent tip.  We started to do this last year and it is amazing how much of our "stuff" uses electricity, never mind how much can be shut off when not in use. 

I tried doing this with our TV and DVD/VCR when we first cut out cable a few years ago because we weren't watching so much TV. But it drove me crazy because everytime we wanted to pop in a video, we first had to set the clock. It's not that we cared what time it was, but the DVD/VCR insisted that the time be set. First it would try to do it automatically (which would fail because we don't have cable) and we would have to sit there and wait while it went through all that. Then we would have to take the time to set it manually... just to watch a video! I gave up and keep that all plugged in now. I don't want to have to go through all kinds of set up everytime we pop something in.

Funny thing is, in all the times I've heard this discussed, I've never heard of anybody else having to go through this. Does anybody else have things that aren't worth unplugging because of the hassle vs. the savings?

Well, we leave our microwave plugged in b/c we use it as a clock as well. 

The computers were left plugged in for a while, then Hibernating started working properly, so now they boot quickly & right back where I left off so the hassle is low enough to be fine.

As a minor step, could you cut power to the rest of the setup (TV, sterio if you have one, etc) and just leave the DVD player plugged in?

Thanks for the reminder, Maria! Another tip that people usually don't remember is to remember to unplug chargers (like cell phone chargers or iPod chargers). These can eat up a lot of electricity when not being used.

Does this really save 5-10%? Has anyone ever tracked it? I would be interested in seeing the before & after numbers if someone doesn't mind sharing.

I looked up the wattage for "cold steam" (ultrasonic) humidifiers, and "hot steam" humidifiers. The ultrasonics use much less electricity. And I found a new 1 gallon ultrasonic humidifier for only $22. I believe the "hot steam" used 250 watts, and the ultrasonic used 42 watts.

Remember, there are 2 "cold steam" humidifiers: the ultrasonic type, and the wick type.

Found this article just now on Yahoo about this very topic...

green.yahoo.com/blog/the_conscious_consumer/50/energy-vampires-fact-versus-fiction.html

We started doing that as well unplugging computer, tvs, toasters, etc and saved $25 in a month on electricity. Last month exactly. Just thing about how we can save this money and use on something else. We turn down temps too on other levels we are not at during the night as well.

I leave my TV and stereo plugged in as I would have to reset the darn things every day.  My laptop and printer are unplugged when not in use as well as my microwave as I only use that a few minutes a day.  The Fridge, Lights and my alarm clock remained plugged in.  All my lights have CFLs now.  I would say i cut my electric bill almost in half.  It used to be about $90 for a one-bedroom apartment without A/C and now is 45 - 50.  My summer bills used to be about 160 or more.  Last year my highest bill was just under 100.  I would say it DEFINATELY helps to do these little things.  Its not really inconvenient at all.