how to reduce gas and electricity use?

[MrsLargeEmbodied]

any suggestions?
turn lights off?
dont use oven?
turn off heaters in unoccupied rooms?
fill a flask?

@Alexapause i found a website that says an iPhone charger uses 135W a month when not in use which is 0.13p a day or 45p a YEAR. While that’s obviously 45p that you might not want to spend, it’s not worth stressing about. Switch them off if you see them but don’t get anxious about it. For comparison, a 9kw electric shower uses 4p a minute. Getting someone to cut their shower time by 10 minutes, once, will save the same as never having the iPhone charger plugged in at all for a year.

I believe I said it was a tiny amount and never mentioned getting stressed or anxious about it.🙄

People clearly are getting very stressed and anxious about energy costs and potential bills. While this is understandable I think it’s very important to keep a sense of proportion. I would hate people to spend a lot of time worrying about things like chargers which are not costing much, when they would be much better served getting a good idea of how much things actually cost and the benefits of reducing that usage.

I've made a great saving on my gas this month and wish I'd done it from April. Generally on my own with DS home at the weekend and had the hot water programmed to come on for an hour in the morning and 90 minutes at night. Decided to turn it off and just push the extra hour button after having a shower and it's saved me £20 this month. To be fair, it probably wouldn't work for a family and might not be so appealing in the middle of winter when I want a warm shower to warm up as I am too stingy to put the heating on but for summer months its a definite tip!

I bought some stormguard window insulation film from eBay , was about 9 quid - it's like a giant sheet of cling film you cut to size and put over the windows with double sided tape ( included in the pack ) its a bit of a faff to apply ( you tube videos were very helpful ), but it definitely made a huge difference in keeping us warmer without having the heating on so much.

How do you ventilate your house with this on the windows?

@TooManyPJs you can still open and close the windows , as the film is only over the glass pane and stuck to the edges, if that makes sense ?

Oh ok. Not sure that will help much with our windows sadly then as there’s a lot of drafts around the frame. Sash windows…

You can get stick on foam seals for round doors and windows frames that could help plug the gaps?

e.g. something like smile.amazon.co.uk/Excluder-Self-Adhesive-Soundproofing-Avoidance-Weatherstrip/dp/B07CJLVD1S/ref=sr_1_5?crid=2K2A7YWNOJ0D9&keywords=window+seal&qid=1661432491&sprefix=window+seal%2Caps%2C84&sr=8-5

Electric blankets are cheaper to run than heating.

fhad a terrible draught last year through the patio door and front door,lickily got them replaced this year so so much better

i also have a radiator cover in the hall but last year would pull it away and did make a big differrence couldnt believe howmuch heat they dont let out

have been told dont sweat lights etc but anything that heats up or cools are the big energy users and it makes sense but of cause every little helps

omg apologies for the spelling was not concentrating

i might have to change the settings for the hot water/heating when applicable
we shower in the morning
not in the evening. so doesnt seem necessary

Thanks for this thread, really useful :D as well as the cost of living going up it's important for everyone to consider the environment too! Some things I do:

• wash at 30C
• hardly use the tumble dryer, use washing line on dry days even in winter
• don't have a dishwasher
• shower only, no baths
• keep showers quick e.g. maximum 5 mins
• turn lights off in empty rooms
• turn off everything at the wall, never left on standby e.g. tv, sky box, microwave, oven (except the obvious fridge etc)
• less tv watching and video games which use lots of energy, more reading books and craft activities
• turn off heating at night and whilst out the house
• wear more layers in the house and use blankets to have the heating set lower
• don't leave things on charge overnight e.g. mobile phone, unplug once battery full
• scented candles and incense instead of plug-in air fresheners

shower only, no baths

Surely this depends on how long the person would shower for.

Unless you are getting straight in the shower, get dressed as soon as you get up with jumpers and wooly socks, then you don’t get chilled wandering around barefoot in a robe. Turn down the thermostat and cut off heating to rooms or parts of the house you don’t use. If you WFH, use a study / small room you can heat independently. Shut doors -now I’m sounding like my late father. Make extra soups, casseroles that can be microwaved for lunch. If you WFH, wrap up warm and go for a long walk, you feel the benefit when you go back home as the house feels warmer. Look at energy use when buying appliances and read the instruction manual on how to reduce wash cycles, reduce temperatures, weigh loads. Service your boiler. Insulate your loft. When we lived in a house with no central heating, growing up, draughty areas areas such as the door had heavy curtains lined with old blankets. I never tumble dry clothes, but hang them on indoor lines in the utility room, then the heat from the tumble dryer when drying bedding and towels gets the clothes dry too (obviously avoid tumble drying at all apart from when very wet - plan your washing around the weather forecast). Use a radio instead of the TV to listen to radio programmes - I am guilty of just switching over the TV to the radio.

Don’t take risks with your safety - only have tumble dryers on when you are awake/up. I would be very careful of using hot water bottles to avoid burns - use a heated wheat pad instead.

I've kept the plug in whilst washing my hair and that uses a similar amount of water as a bath (not a really deep one.)

I'm considering switching to leave in conditioner to cut down time in the shower. I'm also looking into heatless styling to avoid using the hairdryer/tongs/straighteners, and at weekends just having a quick wash.

I'm going to try and change the beds every ten days or fortnightly instead of weekly, (pillowcases more often)

We already put all appliances on plugs with switches or extension leads with switches per plug, and we turn things on to use them, off otherwise. (It did make a noticeable difference)

My mum says she's turning her fridge freezer off overnight in wintertime. I haven't looked into that one. Might turn the internet router off though.

I would like to do less washing but can't work out how yet.

I've just had a bit of a lightbulb (!) moment that our kitchen lights might be eating electricity. Previous occupier installed a dropped ceiling and 'office style' square lights with four tubes. We haven't dared to rip out the drop ceiling for fear of what we might find hidden (house is a bit of a nightmare that we're slowly sorting out). I need to read meter for an hour with and without the kitchen lights to see what difference they make ...

I cook new potatoes in the microwave instead of boiling them on the hob.

Rinse them under the tap
Prick them all over
Put them in a Pyrex dish with a lid
10mins (make sure you shake them halfway through)
Perfectly cooked and uses less energy

Im quite interested in this

Nearly all of our sockets are behind heavy furniture, Im not convinced things on standby are ramping up the cost compared to other things

I am turning the shower off when Im washing my hair or soaping up but I can still hear the boiler on during this which means surely the water is still heating up?

I like the idea of the tea flask, Im constantly wasting tea by letting it go cold

I dont understand the dry fitted sheet over a radiator comment - what does this do?

How do you get washing dry on the airer without some other form of heat? We use a dehumidifier

Our 'eco' wash on the washing machine which OH insists on using takes 2 hours

I put jacket potatoes in the oven for the last 5-10 minutes when I'm batch cooking something else. I then turn the oven off and leave the potatoes in there over night, put them in the fridge the next day and then microwave them when I want them. Probably works better with smaller potatoes, but the poor rain means we'll have small veg this year anyway I think.

@bellac11 you can get 1 metre and 2 metre extension leads with individual switches so you can switch individual things plugged into that extension lead off.

Obviously don't over load them.

Our 'eco' wash on the washing machine which OH insists on using takes 2 hours

Someone else earlier found that a shorter wash used less electricity than an eco wash on their individual machine. The only difference they worked out was that an eco wash uses less water.

I refused to use the eco wash on my own machine as it seems to take double the time of my mixed wash, and just wash everything except bedding and towels at lower temperatures. Most washing detergents now state clearly they work under 40 degrees and some state they work for cold washes.

If you are going to turn your heating down this winter, please remember to keep an eye out for damp patches especially inside wardrobes or on outside walls. Some houses can generate a lot of condensation which will cause mould if a house is not heated adequately. When I first moved in this house I turned down the heating in the spare bedrooms and only had the heating on when I was in the house. My house always felt cold and after a few months I discovered that my mattress was damp where it touched an outside wall and these were large patches of black mould in a wardrobe. The builder I called out to look at the problem told me to install air bricks in my bedroom to get fresh air and to turn up the heating a couple of degrees.

I now heat my house from 8 am to 10 pm at 18 degrees even when I am out and only turn it up if I am sat down and feel cold. I work from home but luckily I get a heating allowance from my employer - not a huge amount and it is taxed but better than nothing!

I'm doing 30 min wash at 20c. I tried our eco setting but it was 4 hours and everything was dripping wet. I'm pretty sure the 30 mins at 20c won't be using more electricity or will negligible. ESP as we get into autumn and winter and you need to make use of whatever drying weather there is I can't afford to wait 4 hours.

I am still going to use my dryer but will restrict to a load a week if I can for towels and sheets only. Other than will be a clothes horse near the master radiator which can't be turned off when heating is on.