10 Ways You Can Go Electricity Free for a Weekend

As people continue to try and cut back on their expenses the high cost of the electricity bill is one that gets revisited over and over again.  In an attempt to lower that bill there are always the tried and true recommendations of turning off the lights when you leave the room, turning the furnace colder or the air conditioning warmer, and putting more efficient light bulbs and appliances in your house. But will those things actually help?  Of course, but what if you could take it up a notch by going entirely electricity free for a whole weekend?  Don’t think it can be done? Check out the following suggestions.

1. Go camping: Take your family, a tent, and enough food to last the weekend and hike over to the edge of a lake and pitch your tent.  Your food will be in a cooler with ice, you’ll cook over an open fire, and you’ll tell ghost stories around the fire for entertainment.  Think of the bonding you’ll do with your family and the fresh air you will get.
2. Camp in your back yard: Put up the tent (borrow one if you need to) in the back yard.  Use your grill or fire pit to cook your food.  Putting all of your food for the weekend into a cooler is an option, but one you may want to skip since you are at home.  Play games and tell stories to entertain the kids.  Take a nature walk and see what cool things you can find.
3. Camp in your living room: Pull out the sleeping bags and have everyone find a spot in the living or family room.  Start a fire in the fireplace and use that for heat and to cook over.  Other food that is not cooked over the fire is to be consumed cold or room temperature.  If it’s cold outside you can keep your food outside for the weekend, just be sure to put it in a cooler so the animals don’t get into it.
4. Stay in a cabin: There are plenty of rustic areas where you can go stay in a cabin.  Bring a lot of candles since you will need them to see by.  Make sure everyone brings a book to read and non-electronic games to play.  Cook over a camp stove or open fire.  Hiking in the woods, going swimming, exploring the area are all great things to do to unplug for the weekend.  Make sure to bring plenty of water too.
5. Black out: No TV, no computers, no electronics and no lights for the entire weekend.  You eat by candlelight, you read by natural light or candlelight, and you play games the same way.  Back in the old day’s people didn’t have electricity so just try to think of what kind of things they did.  Do you need your soccer shorts washed?  Put them in a bucket of water with some soap and wash them by hand and hang them out to dry.  Remember you don’t have a washer and dryer for the weekend.

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