Here in Phoenix, the power company that we use has a plan that allows you to save some money on energy costs, if you use the most energy during off-peak hours. That’s after 9pm and on the weekends. (I don’t know what time that 9pm shift ends every morning.)
One of the reasons that this plan exists is self-serving to the power entity. They want as much power available during the daytime hours to the people who pay the most for it; businesses and the like. That’s fine by me, I get to save money.
We subscribe to this plan and make the most out of it by running the dishwasher at night and doing our laundry at night. Sometimes I just forget that there’s a load of laundry that needs doing, and I end up waiting an extra day to do it. (It’s laundry, if it was super urgent, I’d do a load, but usually we can wait another day.)
Anyway, earlier this evening I realized that I needed to do some laundry. Since I didn’t want to forget about this chore, I grabbed the dirty clothing, loaded the washing machine, set the features I wanted, and then set the machine to start in 2 hours. That was how much time until our energy costs went down.
The neat thing about this is that our home office is near the laundry room. When the washing machine is done I’ll hear the beep and be able to get the stuff into the dryer promptly. (As I’m typing this, I just heard the machine start. It must know we’re typing about it!)
Our dishwasher also has a delay setting. We can set it up to 8 hours in advance. You should check out your appliances, see if you have these features, and make them work for you. While you’re at it, see if your power company offers any savings if you’re willing to subscribe to an off-peak plan.