I left the iron on all day

[TheAverageJoanne]

I ironed a top this morning and arrived home at 12.50 after a night out after work to realise I'd left it on since about 7.30 am.

What will I have to go without and for how long to compensate for my stupidity? I daren't even look at the smart meter. I'm pissed off too as I'm really trying hard to budget.

I honestly once left mine on for a week - went away, forgot to turn it off, walked back in after a week and heard the iron’s thermostat clicking away.

I don't know what you will have to go without.

When I was about 19, I was renting a room for the summer in somebody's house. I had an electric hob in my room. I was out at work all day and when it came home in the evening , I found I had left the hob on. It was as its maximum and it was glowing orange. It was one of those old fashioned ones that stay black when they are on. I was so glad it didn't cause a fire.

Smart plugs. App on your phone and you can switch stuff on and off remotely provided you remember but if you always iron something first thing and run off to work, you set a timer on the plug using the app so it only works between 7 and 9am daily for example.

We used them for a kids electric blanket for exactly this reason so if they fell asleep with it on, it would cut out by 10pm and couldn't be switched on again.