Tell E.ON what your energy saving tips are - an iPad Air to be won! NOW CLOSED

[MichelleMumsnet]

We have been asked by the team at E.ON to find your best energy saving tips - relating specifically to gadget use. This comes following new research from E.ON has uncovered that UK parents now spend almost £300 per household on gadgets for their kids each year.

E.ON know that with technology playing an increasingly significant role in family life – from helping the kids with their homework to listening to the latest music – there’s rarely a time when a gadget isn’t on the go. However, their research shows that under half of parents (44%) consider the impact their gadget use could be having on their energy bills.

That’s why E.ON is working with Mumsnet to highlight their Saving Energy Toolkit, which enables E.ON customers to monitor how much energy their family is using – and compare it to similar homes in their local area. E.ON’s research found that eight in 10 parents find gadgets useful in running their households.

The E.ON Saving Energy Toolkit also contains tips to save energy, and they are now keen to know more about the ways parents stay savvy with their energy use. Whether it’s getting the family to watch TV together – so multiple devices aren’t used in one go, or ways to incentivise children to turn off their bedroom lights, E.ON want to know how your family uses no more energy that it needs to. What are your tips to save energy? Please share them on this thread.

Everyone who posts a tip on this thread will be entered into a prize draw, where one winner will receive an 16GB iPad air worth £399.

Please note your comments may be included on E.ON’s social media channels, and possibly elsewhere, so please only post if you're comfortable with this.

Thanks and good luck,

MNHQ

P.S. Please click here for the terms and conditions of this thread.

Ive just changed energy supplier- I think thats the biggest money saver Ive done this year.

oh and not using the lights as its still light till about half 9 now.

work full time and get warmed up there also charge my phone at work

in all seriousness, whilst unemployed last year I couldnt afford to run the tumble dryer so I installed a 6 quid washing line over the bath, opened the windows all day and hung my clothes up to dry. the deating was o at nigh so the heat and icywind blow dried my clothes much like the line outside

was handy enough

I have 2 teenagers and a baby . My teens used to be very wasteful with water and electricity usage until i told them i was chargiing them out of their spends. sudenly their laptops / phone chargers / tvs were all unplugged when not in use and they turn the taps off when brushing teeth.... My son thinks hes a bright spark and uses this excuse for not flushing the loo though :(

Turning the thermostat down is a brilliant way of cutting bills without really noticing a difference.
In the winter we keep the living room warm and layer up everywhere else. Heating one room is essential for sanity and health I think!
When cooking pasta and rice bring to boil then switch off and put lid on - it will cook perfectly well like that.

I have a thermostat and valves on the radiators.
I have no dishwasher.

Make sure you disconnect phone chargers etc off as soon as the item is charged, rather than just forgetting about

Switch to Npower!

We have managed to bring our energy bills down by checking all chargers and tv/computers during the evening and switching off all those not in use it's amazing how often I turn off 7 or more gadgets! . . . That adds up to a big saving over a month. In the colder months too instead of turning the thermostat up on the heating we put a jumper on first this also contributes to lowering our energy bills

Attach another set of curtains to the ones you already have hanging up. Either use ring/tab tops, safety pins, or if you can those plastic hooks that are used for pencil top curtains (just hook the secondary curtain on the lower line of the strip).

Your house is warmer, drafts are less likely to come through AND your neighbours annoying flashing chirstmas lights won't be seen through the material, helping you to sleep better!

Onesies really, really do keep you warm. I was very surprised by them.

A good base layer under your normal clothes. Tights or leggings under trousers, silk or satin vests under your tops. Don't leave gaps.

3 teird steamers are brilliant.
Bottom with the water, potatoes, middle for the meat/fish and the top for the veg.

Slowcookers - another brilliant invention, pence to run, hot cooked meal to look forward to, bugger all washing up.

Open the oven door if you've used it after cooking to help warm the room up - don't let that heat go to waste.

We used to have chargers plugged in and switched on ALL THE TIME. I've started to turn them off at the plug whenever they aren't in use now.

I use a low energy Remoska for 99% of the stuff that would normally be cooked in the oven. The savings are significant. Also don't turn the heating on during the winter, instead just wearing more and more clothes until we can't move, and having cheap fleecy blankets everywhere. This stemmed from living in a flat which didn't have central heating, instead it had a 50 year old hot air blowing heating system which coupled with the massive 1960s single glazed windows was highly inefficient and incredibly expensive so we just stopped using it.

I turn everything off at the wall when it's not in use and I mean everything, I've been known to turn the TV off when people leave the room halfway through a programme.

Bathe and then have the children bathe in the same water. Lights off when not in use. Dishwasher on every 3rd day on economy and completely full. Washing at 30 degrees. Tumble dry only in emergency. Washing line or indoor racks and radiators. Heating on after jumpers and only for limited time per day.

Don't leave TV on standby.

Energy saving lightbulbs in every room.

Turn off light if you leave the room.

To put clothes on washing line outside, tumble-dry is waste of money unless need that clothes urgently

Turn your thermostat down half a degree a week for a month - do it gradually and you don't notice the change.

Double check when your water heating is on - the standard setting seems to be on almost 24/7

turn the hot water thermostat down to a level where its comfortable enough to hold your hands under the hot water tap, there is no point boiling it up to 50-60 degrees just to add cold water to chill it down again to a temperature that your skin can handle

Turning things off and restricting times for using devices.
Holiday time - if you are away for a couple of weeks why not run your fridge freezer down and empty/defrost it and leave it off for a couple of weeks.

We got one of those little gadgets from our energy provider which tells you how much electricity you're consuming at that time. We've knocked a third off our average daily consumption by using that. Its amazing how odd lights been left on, things plugged in, etc add up.

My husband is an enery saving maniac. We sit in semi darkness at night - he says it's more romantic as we cuddle on the sofa... But I know it's really just to save money!
We also have a timetable thing on the fridge which lists the cheapest times to use the washing machine! Drives me mad when he sets it to spin in the middle of the night.
He's been doing this since my maternity leave (2 years ago!) and our energy bills have gone down dramatically so it does work.
Quick showers / jumpers rather than heating and all plugs switched off are our defaults now.

We have been changing our lightbulbs to energy saving ones in every room when they are needing changed. Also been setting our heating lower when the colder months come in. :)

Don't leave things on you don't need, open windows in the summer and dry outdoors.

In Winter, if I am the only person in the house, I wear a jumper and don't put heating on (when DH is home the house is heated), there are also blankets by every sofa so we can get wrapped and snuggly in the evening.

The children have fleecey PJ and bedsocks or onesies to wear to bed

But our best energy saving tip, is remove all electronic toys / tablets / laptops etc from DS room every night at bedtime.

I always dry the washing in the conseratory on a rack - it will get warm enough in there during the day even in this weather !

Heating on comes on when timed - put a jumper on !

Always maker bigger portions of a meal and then freeze so cooker not on and off all the time.

Use a season duvet so still warm at night.

Claimed a heavy velvet curtain from my mum for the front door to stop draughts.

At the risk of being repetitive....

I try and use my tablet rather than pc whenever I can.

We have a new thermostat which auto starts so that it is at the right temperature for when you need it, so you don't have to guess when to set it for. It has multiple periods you can set it for.

I batch cook in the oven. I also make double portions and then freeze half.

My cats snuggle on top of us in the evening keeping us warm

I'd like to be able to set my heating on via an app. That would be handy. I'm sure there are many more ways to employ technology, I just don't know what they are.