What are you all doing to save £ on energy?!

[koalalala]

Evening All,

I know there are lots of threads about the prices rises but wondered what we are all doing in response to keep head above water and save a few quid?
Any tips or tricks?

Our fixed rate ended in Feb to make matters worse we moved to a much larger house that's a bit of a doer uper last Jan. it's super inefficient... currently using about £160 a month on gas & electric (old prices).

The real answer is we need all new windows and doors but it's completely unaffordable at the moment. A bit concerned about the rising cost of living with another baby due in August and another maternity leave looming. We'll be okay but we will certainly have to cut back and be careful about use-age.

I took all the meter readings yesterday. Turned thermostat down from 20 to 18. we currently have the hearing and hot water on for 2 hours in the morning and 4 hours in the evening when it's coldest.

We're being careful about switching off lights and appliances and the warmer weather should help with less tumble dryer use and less heating required.

What else are you all doing?

Plastic on the windows, curtains over doors. Boiler turned down and radiator thermostats on correct settings. Lots of thermals. Cooking several meals at once.

Old fashioned ceiling airier for drying clothes. Vintage wool blankets on beds (eBay).

Led bulbs running at 2 watts instead of 60.

What do you use your hot water for that you can switch to cold? I now wash hands and rinse stuff that I would previously rinse in warm water to cold as I was finding the water was only feeling warm whenI had finished the job so not really essential! Washing machine set on cold and dishwasher on eco setting. Any water left from boiling a kettle in the morning is added to a flask to use later for soaking any pots which may benefit from the warmer water.

We have massive drafts in this house from uncompleted building work so I will have to get that remedied before next winter.

@MarbleQueen

Plastic on the windows, curtains over doors. Boiler turned down and radiator thermostats on correct settings. Lots of thermals. Cooking several meals at once.

Old fashioned ceiling airier for drying clothes. Vintage wool blankets on beds (eBay).

Led bulbs running at 2 watts instead of 60.

What does plastic on windows involve?

And do the wool blankets have to be “vintage”
Or can they be “old”?!

The biggest thing we did a few years ago was insulate the whole loft and it has paid off so if you can do that. It almost halved our energy bills at that time.

Little things at the moment like turning the thermostat down by a degree and only putting the oven on for the minimum time instead of leaving it on for ages to heat up.

Don’t use the tumble dryer at all- get a heated airer for when you can’t dry outside

We've turned the thermostat down to 16, and the heating is now only on for 1 hour in the morning and 1 hour in the evening.
Put the dishwasher on only when it's full.
Lights off unless it's dark.
Candles in the living room in the evening.
Curtains drawn the minute it starts to get dark.
Open the oven when I've finished cooking to let the heat out into the kitchen to warm it up.
Wearing thermals and layers around the house.
Radiators off in rooms we don't use as much.
Hot water bottles and hot drinks.
Electric blanket to warm up in the evening.

Our smart meter is showing £3.42 used today and that's with using next to nothing all day.

I've turned the boiler off. Not sure how long that's gonna last but I like a challenge!

I doubt anyone can do anything more other than just turn it all off and sit in the library etc to keep warm....!!...a friend of mine who is a retired nuclear power station scientist fixes his rates for 5 years etc by ringing them up...he urged us to do the same so we got a 3 year deal before it went up so ok until it runs out....people challenge car insurance increases and mobile phone so he haggles hard to get a good deal !

Ndefhn1 the plastic is a bit like cling film over your windows, it’s about 3 quid a pack and is really effective.

The advantage of the older blankets is they’re usually pure wool or pressed wool and are really warm.

Use a slow cooker or halogen oven rather than your oven. Ovens use tonnes of electricity as its such a large space to heat.

Boil kettle once and store in a thermos for the day, or make sure kettle is only filed with the amount of water you will use on that occasion.

Dehumidifier cheaper to run than tumble dryer and also dries the air so feels less cold - especially in older damp houses. Obviously have to factor in the cost of the machine but they start from about £100.

When I was younger and on a serious budget, I read that defrosting your freezer made it more energy efficient, so I did that. I also cooked extra portions, which took the same cooking time as smaller portions, and reheated. Kept all doors closed. Wore thermal pretty much everything I could including socks. Went to bed early.

You can save 6-8% on your gas bill if you have a condensing combi boiler turning down the flow temperature. How-to vid here:

Doing a year's washing on the 31st March then taking the meter readings at 9pm 🙃

Banning the tumble drier. Investing in better detergent and trying the eco wash. Not using the heating as much. Just bought new carpets with thick underlay, which should help, but was just coincidence. Using the slow cooker instead of the oven. Got rid of the tropical fish tank.

This is a hot house thank god but still sat here in a big jumper and a hot water bottle. Heating has been on for about 30mins today.

Trying to use slow cooker more. Have all but given up using the tumble dryer, but that’s been for a while. Debating getting some electric throws.

I often go to bed early which helps with heating bills but that’s just because I’m an early bird and knackered by 8!

Turning down hot water temp on boiler, opening oven door after cooking to use heat in the kitchen, reflective panels behind radiators, layers and blankets!

Our hot water is used to shower for us and bath the kids.
We don't have any electric showers in the house so we need to heat the water.
We only used LED lighting anyway.
We air dry where possible but the heater airer just doesn't cope with the volume of laundry we need to do. We both work full time and have professional jobs so we do use a fair amount of clothes.
We could probably do with more loft insulation but we just don't have any spare funds right now so it will wait - a good thing to prioritise though particularly before next winter!

Our hot water is an hour in the morning and an hour in the afternoon. Found the kids bath was sometimes a bit cold without the afternoon stint but would it be cheaper to use the immersion heater for 30 mins just for a small amount of hot water for the kids? Not sure if it's cheaper or more expensive? Ordinarily we don't use it at all.

Definitely can't turn the heating down more. The thermostat at 18 keeps the house between 16-17.5degrees and colder during the night as it goes off at 9pm - 6am. Honestly I'm not prepared to be colder than that.

Cooking is one area we are really inefficient on. It's just lack of organisation as we work full time demanding jobs and we chose convince over efficiency. Perhaps we can focus on getting organised and doing better on this. Seems like an easy win.

It's all so miserable isn't it? We're what I'd generally class as fairly middle class and we have always been comfortable. We are both middle management in the public sector so we don't have huge salaries but we do just fine.

I know kids / childcare and house renovation are challenging Financial Times for all families but I didn't imagine us in this position. Hopefully it won't be as bad as I'm expecting but happy to save money and hopefully help the environment a bit too!!

@earsup

I doubt anyone can do anything more other than just turn it all off and sit in the library etc to keep warm....!!...a friend of mine who is a retired nuclear power station scientist fixes his rates for 5 years etc by ringing them up...he urged us to do the same so we got a 3 year deal before it went up so ok until it runs out....people challenge car insurance increases and mobile phone so he haggles hard to get a good deal !

* Well, if you run a business, you can. Ofgem rules prohibit negotiations for domestic energy contracts. But business energy buyers can negotiate to their heart's content*

@earsup

Turning down the temp on boiler is also a good idea - no idea what ours even is so well worth looking at!

Also considering electric blankets for the beds but kids sleep in with me so makes me nervous.

@MarbleQueen

Ndefhn1 the plastic is a bit like cling film over your windows, it’s about 3 quid a pack and is really effective.

The advantage of the older blankets is they’re usually pure wool or pressed wool and are really warm.

Wouldn’t work for me because not matter how cold… I always open the windows every day.

So old blankets would work just as well as vintage

@koalalala

Turning down the temp on boiler is also a good idea - no idea what ours even is so well worth looking at!

Also considering electric blankets for the beds but kids sleep in with me so makes me nervous.

Why nervous? Mine love them?
And your kids sleep in your bed? If so… lots of warmth in that! How old?

Heating was at 15 for three hours a day, now off, I will press plus one if it drops below 12. Hot water for an hour, but we also have solar hot water. Short showers. Bought a thermal door curtain for next winter. DS has a blanket hoodie, I wear second hand merino jumpers with a hoodie on top. Hot water bottle late evening then take to bed, though haven't done that in a few weeks.

Kettle boiled with correct amount of water. Usually proper cook a pot of curry/chilli/bolognaise/soup twice a week then reheat. Have a stovetop pressure cooker to save on gas and time. Rarely use the oven.

Don't have a tumble dryer. Wash at 30. Usually two loads a week, one clothes and one towels/bedding on rotation (two people). Clothes wash is mostly pants, socks and t-shirts, other things as needed.

[quote BlossomOut]You can save 6-8% on your gas bill if you have a condensing combi boiler turning down the flow temperature. How-to vid here:

[/quote] I've just adjusted my flow rate - thank you @BlossomOut! Great tip

A great video, thank you!