Money Saving Hints and Tips
Following on from our first hints and tips article where we focused on reducing food bills, article two is looking at household savings and using your utilities and appliances more efficiently to help make a big difference to your energy costs.
At the moment, cheap energy deals are few and far between, but you can check potential deals using energy comparison sites including
www.uswitch.com/gas-electricity/
www.comparethemarket.com/energy/
www.moneysupermarket.com/gas-and-electricity/
Also watch out for Martin Lewis TV Shows or see his website www.moneysavingexpert.com/ for more information on switching and saving money on utilities.
Try out some of these hint and tips to use less and pay less, while making your home comfortable.
Household Savings
- Reduce the cost of heating your home by wearing an extra layer of clothing and turning your thermostat down to the lowest temperature that feels comfortable.
- Turn off lights when you're not in the room and turn off appliances at the plug. Many appliances still use electricity, even when they’re on standby.
- Based on typical usage, an LED light bulb uses around 80% less energy than a conventional light bulb which could potentially save around £4-6 per bulb per year.
- Fitting radiator reflector foil behind your radiators reflects heat back into the room and stops it escaping through the wall. It cuts heat loss by up to 50%, meaning your room stays warmer, so you use less energy.
- Prevent heat escaping through your windows by keeping your curtains and blinds closed at night.
- Check that you have enough loft insulation (recommended 270mm), cavity wall insulation and insulation for exposed hot water pipes.
- If you have a solid fuel fire, make sure your chimney is kept clean and clear. A clean chimney is more efficient and will keep your home warmer with less fuel.
- High volume power showers can use more water in less than 5 minutes than running a bath, so fit an eco-shower head. Your shower will still feel powerful, but it’ll cut down on your hot water use.
- Try keeping your shower time to 4 minutes or less. This can save a typical household £95 a year on energy according to the Energy Saving Trust.
- You could save 6-8% on your gas bills by lowering a combi boilers radiator flow to 50%, according to the Heating and Hotwater Industry Council (HHIC) in 2022.
Using your appliances efficiently
Washer dryers, condenser tumble dryers and American style fridge freezers are some of the priciest appliances to run, adding between £230 and £125 on average per year to your electricity bill, according to testing by Which.
- If you only half-load your dishwasher, washing machine or dryer, it will use the same amount of detergent/water/electricity. Waiting until you have enough for a full load will ensure you get the most from the energy you’re using.
- Washing your clothes at 30ºC instead of 40ºC is often just as effective but uses less energy.
- If you’re washing items that aren’t especially dirty or stained and only need a refresh, use the shortest cycle you can.
- Dry laundry outside when possible but if you have to use a tumble dryer, avoid tumble drying single garments.
- On your washing machine, dishwasher, etc. look for the eco setting, which also uses a lower temperature.
- Load your dishwasher properly, run it only when its full and stacked.
- Your oven will use the same amount of energy however much you cook. So, cook as much as you can and freeze the extra portions for another meal.
- If you’re boiling pasta or rice, you can steam the vegetables to go with it on top of the saucepan, so you only need to use one ring.
- Wait for food to cool before freezing and defrost frozen food in the fridge.
- Keep appliances clean, regularly descaling your kettle, defrosting the freezer, cleaning lint filters in tumble dryers and coils on the back of fridges all help them to run as efficiently as possible.
- Fully turn off wireless speakers or sound bars as they are the most power-hungry gadgets in standby, costing around £6 per year (based on 20 standby hours per day).
Energy Bills
Every electrical appliance has a kilowatt rating (kW). This is the number of kilowatts it takes to run it. For example, charging a smartphone can use as little as 2.5kW and running an electric shower can use as much as 10,500kW.
You pay for your electricity in kilowatts per hour (kWh), because how much it costs depends on how long you run the appliance. You can see how much each appliance is using by multiplying the kWh by the unit cost of your electricity. This may help you to see where you can make some savings.
Other savings on your utility bills maybe achieved by:
- If you get paper bills, ask your energy company to change to paperless ones and manager your account online instead. Some companies charge customers for paper bills.
- Paying by direct debit is usually cheapest. But if your supplier wants to increase your direct debit by more than you’d expect, ask it to explain why. Over a year your usage and payments should balance out.
- If you’ve built up too much credit in your account, you can ask for it to be refunded or for your direct debit to be reduced while you work through it. Recommendation is to keep around 2-3 months’ worth of payments in your account.
- Sending your supplier regular meter readings will also keep your payments accurate and prevent estimated bills. If you have a smart meter, it should send your meter readings automatically (although not all do).
Small habitual changes add up and some of the tips above take just a few minutes to set up
For more information on saving money and becoming more energy efficient, check with your local energy supplier websites.