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?

Thanks for the video - I definitely have the white plume - I'm going to give it a shot @frostedfruit !

Boiling the kettle once in the morning and filling up a flask / heat saving water bottle to use throughout the day.

@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.

I've got an electric throw with a three hour timer that I use to warm my little ones bed up. He's in the coldest room in the house. It's also easy to move around the house so it often comes downstairs too.

@flumposie

Boiling the kettle once in the morning and filling up a flask / heat saving water bottle to use throughout the day.

I keep reading this but don't see how boiling (say) 4 cups worth at once is cheaper than boiling 1 cup 4 times unless you are overfilling the kettle each time then wouldn't it be nicer to stop doing that and have the drinks made when you want them? I never find flask hot drinks taste the same as freshly made

When I can't dry outside I do two loads in one day (and use a shorter wash), hang on large (minky tower 40m) airer in the bathroom and put the dehumidifier in overnight with the door closed. All dry in the morning, even towels. I've put radiator foil behind radiators on external walls, a thermal curtain over front door and bought a carpet sweeper which works surprisingly well. I've also lowered the temperature on the boiler. But it was on full before so I could probably lower it further. Cooking I'm doing less well with due to my disorganisation but my idea is to cook two meals in the oven and freeze one for another day. Or put a cake in the oven with the one meal. Also use the slow cooker more often. I've got pet heat pads for the kids beds. Should stay a bit warm most of the night. Then the usual blankets and warm clothes for everyone not t-shirts while the heating's blasting. Our windows and doors (apart from the front door which has the thermal curtain now) are ok but you can get stop breeze strip things to stop the breeze round the edges of windows and doors and window film to act like double glazing.

Join pure gym for £18 a month. Hot water showers every day. Gym use optional!!!

Spending more time out the house. Showering at work after a late shift.
Radiatiors off and only use oven if really needed, use multicooker for all meals I can.
Only use hairdryer and straiteners on work days otherwise let hair air dry.
It's not a nice feeling

The CH was on early yesterday evening for a 30 minute blast. That's the most I've used it in weeks. Hot water is no longer on all day (system boiler) now timed for 3 hours in the evening. Curtains are open until dusk to allow natural light in and delay lights coming on, then drawn at dusk to keep heat in.

Have also invested in some fleece lounge wear/pyjamas for all of us - also found a set at the CS. Am thinking about getting more blankets and fleece fitted sheets. Hot water bottles and heated pads, etc all cost extra energy, the former is a better option IMO.

Check your loft insulation.
Yes, it costs money, but it's one of the best value improvements you can make in terms of return. There are some grants and other help available too.

When we moved in our loft was underinsulated & full of pigeons and pigeon shit - it was a health hazard & it had to be cleared out, disinfected & new insulation at the right thickness put in. It made a noticeable difference in warmth immediately.

Make sure you aren't squashing it by storing stuff up there directly on top of the insulation too - squashed insulation is less effective and you may get damp or mould issues. Use timber or loft legs to raise any storage an inch or so above the insulation.

Brushed cotton sheets.
Lots of cheap fleeces on the bed.
Warm it up with a hot water bottle.

All the usual (switch things off, reduce heating, shorter showers, consolidate oven use, wear jumpers etc), but also.....

We have solar panels, so our best time to use electricity is during the day, especially when sunny, because we consume what we've generated, rather than return it to the grid. So I'm trying to get into the habit of only running the washing machine, oven and dishwasher in daylight. Obviously, that logic doesn't work on lighting.

Our heating is rubbish, as we currently have a plumber in to sort it out; this should stop us having to wheel out the costly electric heaters to supplement the rubbish rads. But we WFH much of the time, so need to keep it vaguely warm during the day.

DDs both away at university, so we can keep the heating off completely in half of the house.

I also need to dig out the instructions for the electric underfloor heating in the bathroom, and reduce the hours/temperature. I nearly scorched my feet on it the other day, so I'm going to rein it in.

We hardly ever use the tumble dryer.

Our thermostat has been turned down to 16.5 in the morning and lower when it's just me in the day. We have a electric blanket and the kids have hot water bottles in bed. It's off overnight and the hot water is two half hour blocks morning and eve for showers/baths but we have a new, efficient boiler. We adjusted the temp on that. That is still costing us £2.50+ a day at the moment with very limited use and a cold house! We do put it up occasionally if the kids are cold but they have learnt to put on an extra layer now and I've invested in Sherpa and wool slippers and a snuggy for working from home.

I pretty much always used the tumble dryer and now I use airers for everything except towels and finishing a load off if it hasn't fully dried. I am trying to wash less too as we do a lot of washing (around 15 loads a week).

We have done draft proofing and have just become more conscious about energy use generally.

Our gas went up with the cap but our electric is fixed until September and we get cheap night rates, so we set dishwasher and washing machines (have 2) to make the most of the cheap rate.

I am dreading the next increase which will unfortunately coincide with the end of our fixed deal

I'm going to keep bed sharing with my 5 year old for a bit longer, she's like a hot water bottle.

But also have 2 duvets on the bed now.

Only heat one room with a small electric heater.

Boiler flow temperature down to 70 so it is more efficient.
Thermostat down 1-1.5 degrees with the preheat turned off on Nest.
Blankets and hot water bottles in the evening if we're cold.
Draught excluder at the back door which leads straight into the lounge.
Radiators turned right down in bedrooms.
Less tumble drier use.
Shower timer for teenage ds.

No tumble drier here, stopped using the heated airer and choosing bright / windy days to get washing done. Stricter about not leaving devices charging overnight. Lights off, short showers. Layer up before switching heating on. Combining oven use so only turn it on off will be full / really needed.

I’ve closed all internal doors (except the utility room because the hot water tank is in there). I hate it, it makes the house depressing and dark. But it feels less cold.

www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/heat-the-human-not-the-home-save-energy/

Who even knew there was such a thing as a daily standing order, just for having gas and electricity even if you don't use it, which has also doubled daily along with each unit used

So for electricity we've used £13 from apr 1 till today and on top of that the standing charge which comes to £2.50 so £15.50 in total.

I haven't worked out the gas yet but that's less

@JengaTower

Who even knew there was such a thing as a daily standing order, just for having gas and electricity even if you don't use it, which has also doubled daily along with each unit used

So for electricity we've used £13 from apr 1 till today and on top of that the standing charge which comes to £2.50 so £15.50 in total.

I haven't worked out the gas yet but that's less

Er, everyone apart from you I think knows that you pay standing charges

It's part of your total bill and is always shown as a separate item

I don't have the bathroom light on when I'm in the bath because it's still daylight outside, I switch my mini fridge over to the Eco setting before I go to bed and when I leave the house and I switch all electricals off at the wall when not in use.

I will admit I'm not the bill payer but I still want to do my bit. I've never liked lights on all the time in the first place when it's broad daylight outside. It annoys me no end when I'm told I should really have the light on.

No, I really shouldn't actually

We had a very efficient Worcester combi boiler installed not long after we moved here which has made a big difference.

Put washing out on the line or if it's raining it goes on the airer. Most clothes now just get washed on 20, undies and socks at 40, towels and bedding at 60. Trying to avoid the tumble dryer as much as possible.

Our showers are electric and everyone just has a quick daily shower now, 5 minutes max.

There's not much more to cut back on.

Food prep is good for saving energy cooking, cook once and reheat in microwave.

Fills up dishwasher, but less washing up through week.

Jacket potatoes can be batched cooked, wrapped up and reheated, so always cook double or triple and freeze

Airers x2
Hot water bottles all round
Reading MN for tips!

I’ve been up for most of the night and have had the monitor in my eyeline. Our house seems to run at about 16p per hour as an overnight baseline. That is fridge, freezers WiFi, wifiboosters, pond pump (need to get a timer for that), everhot oven (on eco setting overnight) and any extension leads etc with lights (just why do they even need lights?!), one nightlight on the landing, watchman for the oil tank, probably a phone on charge in ds2s room.

I need to get the dc more on board to think about what is using energy.

Not leaving appliances and devices on standby, including cooker, wifi etc.
I'm considering decommissioning my digital radio alarm clock, which is a wrench, as I really like waking up to the radio, but it's literally on all the time to give me a 3 min benefit in the morning. Just typing that tells me it's got to go.
Thermostat down by one degree to 16.
Might do the thermos thing as use hot water for various cleaning jobs in the evenings.