Sign up to our newsletter!
No matter if you are moving, or improving, our newsletter is packed with the best tips, tricks and ideas to help you dwell well.
We may have made it through Christmas and the New Year’s Eve celebrations, but in good old blighty, that means we still face wintery conditions and uncomfortably cold temperatures for weeks or even months to come.
And, sure enough, as regular a fixture as opening presents on Christmas day, at this time of year we always hear the same questions: How can we save energy this winter? How can I reduce my gas and electric bills? What saves the most energy?
I’m sure you can see a pattern emerging, and this winter things have been thrown into overdrive due to soaring energy prices and record-breaking rises in fuel bills.
Winter home energy-saving tips are in demand and who are we to deny the will of the masses?
So, in order to help you see out the season without freezing in your own socks or needing to re-mortgage the house to fire up that electric blanket, we present you with our top ten tips for saving money and energy in your home this winter.
But take this as a warning, like it or not, the single best way to reduce both your energy usage and your fuel bills is to change your daily habits in the home.
This can include things such as:
On average a ten-minute shower will use roughly half the amount of energy used by running a full bath. And having a five-minute shower, instead of a ten-minute shower, saves half as much again.
One of the best ways at saving energy in the home is by having top-notch insulation.
Consider the difference between having wood-beamed floors and a loft without insulation, to being carpeted with top-level insulation in the attic.
This is not only a significant way to lower the monthly electric bill, but also a way of achieving lower expenditure without suffering from frostbite or hypothermia in order to do it.
Before we look at the more tech-based solutions, it would be remiss of us if we didn’t advise you to avail yourselves of three essential, old-school winter warmers:
When was the last time you used, saw, or even remembered the existence of hot water bottles?
No, me neither… until I saw one in a supermarket during a weekly shop and remembered what an absolute game-changer they were when I was a child.
During a typical day’s work, how many times do you get up to boil the kettle for a cuppa?
I literally make one cup every hour for at least the first 5 hours of a typical day.
Or at least I did. Because now I make one thermos full of that heated juice of the wonder bean and that sees me right through my normal quota. Less money on coffee, less money on energy, but no less caffeine running through my veins.
Along with insulation, draught excluders can have a significant impact on heating rooms and maintaining that heat at a lower cost. And that is before we even mention the fun that can be had with novelty draught excluders!
Your boiler is one of the largest consumers of energy in your home. Servicing an old boiler can lead to a notable markup in efficiency and performance and can be a game-changer in terms of delivering heat to your home.
Likewise, if you have a really old boiler - replacing it with a new, modern heating system could make significant, immediate reductions in your monthly energy bills and it will more than pay for itself over the course of its lifespan.
Efficiency is the name of the game when it comes to saving money on your fuel bills over the winter months. And whilst some people are often quick to check the state of their boiler, one frequently overlooked aspect of optimising the heating output in one's home is the state of the radiators themselves.
Some people go for years without thinking about their radiators and this is when problems occur, pockets of air get into the system causing blockages and resulting in the radiators operating at a limited capacity. Bleeding your radiators every 6 months will ensure you get the best out of your central heating system, especially when you need it most.
If you do decide to procure a new boiler it might well be worth considering investing in one with a Smart Thermostat. These devices allow for a much greater range of control of your heating system in your day-to-day life and with improved monitoring and control facilities they really enable you to optimise your energy usage.
Obviously, this falls in line with the “turning everything off” point made above, but Smart Plugs can be a real facilitator in that regard.
Smart Plugs, like Smart Thermostats, bring value to your home by giving you the ability to take full control of your energy use at any time and from any place.
You can manage your central heating remotely, switch off electrical devices you’d forgotten about when you are abroad on holiday, or even Switch off the kid’s PS5 without having to leave the confines of the sofa and go traipsing all the way upstairs.
Old boilers aren’t the only ageing bits of kit that can increase fuel bills significantly.
Depending on the size of your home replacing the existing bulbs with newer, LED bulbs can potentially save up to £10 on a monthly bill.
Keeping the bills down and the mercury up isn’t an easy task, but it is achievable to one degree or another (corny or not that’s staying).
Making sure your central heating system is functioning optimally is the key and there are many ways to do this from servicing or replacing an old boiler to upgrading your thermostat and heating controls.
On a long-term basis insulation should become a high priority for people keen to mitigate the effects of future winter cost rises and if you can do all this with a couple of draught excluders and a thermos full of Columbian coffee then all the better!
Live well with Moving and Improving