If you are struggling with rapidly rising energy bills, the chances are you’ll be highly motivated to find ways to lower them! Happily, it’s easy to see the impact of frugal measures with your energy usage. Let’s take a look at five quick wins:
Turn down your thermostat
If you turn down your thermostat even by a degree, you will save money on your heating bills. The government provides interesting information online http://energy.gov/energysaver/articles/thermostats/ . They recommend that you set it to 68F in winter during waking hours to save between 5-15% on your bills.
Get your home insulated!
Effective insulation will greatly improve your home’s energy efficiency and allow you to turn down the heating. Get cavity wall insulation, loft insulation and draught excluders for the best results. Big energy companies are offering many of these measures for free currently. Double glazing is also a great efficiency measure which can help to boost the resale value of your home, as well as providing immediate insulation. Another great tip is to have your boiler serviced by experts like http://www.1stadvanced.co.uk/haslemere/gas_boiler_servicing.html who are based in Haslemere and offer Boiler repairs and servicing that will ensure that it is operating as effectively as possible. An energy efficient boiler is also a great investment over the longer term.
Really get to know your bill
Energy bills are packed with useful information – if you can decipher them! Energy companies are increasingly being forced to provide transparent bills so that their customers can actually understand what they are paying for. This information provides useful insights into where you might be over-using energy, and where you could make tweaks. See out providers that provide online graphs and usage calculators, or smart metering devices which show you how much energy your house is using at any one time. These are great little tools which can be used to motivate the whole family to make savings.
Ask the internet
There are great resources online to help you save money, become more efficient and run a greener home in the process. Websites such as the Energy Savings Trust have great articles written by experts, and there are also plenty of online forums with other like-minded money savers swapping ideas and hints.
Wrap up!
It sounds obvious, but if you are walking around in a T.shirt in cold weather you will be wasting money to heat your home, when you could simply put on a warm jumper! Wrap up in light layers of breathable fabrics and always wear socks or slippers around the home. You can also keep active by moving around more, rather than sitting on the sofa for prolonged periods of time. Do this and you can also cancel that gym membership! For periods of time when you are likely to be sitting down, especially if you are at home alone, wrap up in a cosy fleece or blanket, make a hot drink, and don’t be afraid to use a tactic much beloved by grandmothers everywhere… a hot water bottle!