Freaking out about cost of living increases! How to save money?

[Appalonia]

My last energy bill was £600, it was such a shock as I thought I'd been careful. Am seriously thinking about ways to cut down expenditure , so far have got:

Use candles in living room in evening
Use airfryer more as it's much more energy efficient than gas oven
No more takeaways
Cut down on meat, eat more vegetarian meals
Wear hat and fingerless gloves in house so don't have to have heating on so much
Go for a swim to wash hair
Meal plan much better to reduce food waste
Cut down on wine
Use tablet to listen to radio/watch TV

Does anyone else have any great money saving ideas?

£600 is a lot! Do you have a very big house? If so only heat the rooms you use?

Yes to meal planning
I eat no meat and it makes the weekly shop very reasonable especially as we don’t really eat meat substitutes
Shop at aldi
Have you got folk like my DP who would have a hot bath for hours at a time constantly topping up with hot water every day if they could?
Take lunch to work

Im in my parents 4 bedroom house, it's very draughty with an old boiler and immersion heater, so not v energy efficient at all.

Have a day in your meal plan to eat leftovers.

Hot water bottles when you're watching TV instead of heating and at night. Keep a bucket in the bathroom and empty the bottles into it in the morning. Catch the shower water in the bucket as it heats up. Use this water to flush the loo/water plants.

@LittleMsPerfect

Have a day in your meal plan to eat leftovers.

And a pasta and sauce night.

It is worth looking into the Laundry Egg. I have one - cuts out laundry powder/liquid.

Food app called Too Good To Go, if you're not bothered by sell-by dates, don't have specific dietary requirements, and have freezer space, it's quite a good way of cutting your food bill.
It offers food that is very close to being thrown away by the retailers for a bargain price, but you don't know what you're getting it's a surprise.
The retailer doesn't have to bin the food so it cuts their wastage, you get the satisfaction of knowing you're saving something from being thrown away as well as the money saving benefits.
Near us you can pick up a bag for £2-£5 depending on retailer, average we've had is about £15 worth of food for £3

Go for a swim to wash hair

Unless you’re going for a swim anyway, is this cheaper? Surely the cost of the swimming session would be more than any savings?

Try to avoid cooking in the oven for lomg periods, eg a jacket potatoe cooking for over an hour costs loads

I'm honestly sat here in tears, I'm so worried about how we are going to pay for these increases and yet it is such a luxury to be crying only about money, I'm not listening out for an air raid siren. So no real help op, just hear to pick up tips. Our house is cold, if we have another cold snap I think we will all move into one room.

I haven’t really thought into this in much depth, though I really should considering how much my bill has gone up this month 🤮
But a few things I’m considering, some of which you’ve already mentioned such as cutting down on meat and definitely takeaways.
We bought an air fryer for Christmas and honestly I could count on one hand the amount of times we’ve used the oven since.
Thankfully the nicer weather will be coming in soon so we plan to spend weekends out and about with our son, loads of free nature trails, parks and walks around us… we will take sandwiches. This will mean we aren’t sitting in the house all day watching tv.
We’ve already set the heating to a timer- one hour in the morning and evening. PJs, fluffy socks and plenty blankets in bed. Might invest in some hot water bottles but so far we’ve been warm enough at night. Little one is in sleepsuits and sleeping bags. Never use the tumble drier… partner used it the other day and I snapped at him so he won’t do it again 😂 Little one is still young enough to have a bath with one of us and I’ll need to cut down my shower times.
Both WFH which doesn’t help, but I plan to go out to local cafe a couple times a week, sure a cup of coffee will be cheaper than what I’d rack up at home.

Homemade soup - good for turning left overs and food waste into an extra meal and it keeps you warm.

use lined curtains and not just at windows. We've used them to section off arch between kitchen and dining room and you wouldn't believe how much heat they keep in (cuts down thermal currents). Also got a 5 width curtain at the bottom of the open plan stairs to keep heat downstairs. Keep doors closed esp upstairs.

Use pulses (peas beans and lentils in meat based meals or even as total substitute).
Change lights to LED ones, make a meal plan and stick to it, avoid snacks, make a big flask of coffee for throughout the day, make soups (fill you up for longer even with the same veg eaten on their own)

@Appalonia

Im in my parents 4 bedroom house, it's very draughty with an old boiler and immersion heater, so not v energy efficient at all.

How many of you live there? Sounds like possibly a 2 bed would be OK. Honestly, if you’re at the point of washing your hair at the swimming pool, I would offload the big house with rubbish heating ASAP. Smaller house, more efficient heating, bank then equity.

Have free days out, or very cheap

Only eat at home /homemade food.

Learn how to cook and meal plan

Eat veggie

Ebay stuff you don't need

Showers not baths

No fancy soap, shampoo showel gel etc, it's all over priced rubbish

Clothes from charity shops

Try the mumsnet haircut.
Think about your subscriptions- are you using Netflix, Prime, Disney etc enough to justify the cost?
Frozen veg is cheaper than buying fresh all the time and is a time saver too.
Join the Facebook group feed yourself for £1 a day, lots of good tips on there for keeping food costs down.
We don't use a tumble dryer at all. Will look into getting a halogen oven to save putting the oven on all the time I think.