Looking to save energy, lower your household bills and reduce your carbon footprint? With the ever-increasing energy bills and cost of living, we thought we would share our top five tips on how you could cut yours by making small changes around your home.
Don’t leave things on standby
We’re all guilty of it – leaving appliances on standby rather than switching them off at the wall. Most of our electricals can be turned off properly without causing any problems, although of course there are exceptions - fridges and freezers need to be kept on. TV’s and smart speakers will continue to use power unless they are switched off at the wall or unplugged and its little changes like this that can make a difference. It’s thought that households could save around £55 per year by remembering to avoid standby mode.
Switch out your lights
Another small change that certainly has an impact are lights around our home. Even remembering to turn off lights when leaving a room can make a difference, thought to save around £20 a year, but it’s a good idea to replace all your lights with LED bulbs. Most LED bulbs use at least 75% less energy than normal and can save you even more money on your electricity bills. You could even invest in some smart bulbs which you can control from an app on your mobile phone!
Draught proof your home
Unless you have a new build property, most houses loose heat through draughts around doors and windows, floors, skirting boards and even chimneys. You can either get a professional in to draught-proof your home, or alternatively a bit of DIY is a more cost-friendly solution. Something as simple as a draught excluder can make a difference and its thought that once you’ve made some changes, you could be saving around £45 per year.
Eco-friendly washing
When you’re next doing your washing, make sure you have a full load to do - not only will this save energy, but it will reduce the number of times you have to put the washing machine on. Another tip is switching your temperature setting to 30-degrees, this will use less energy and treat your clothes to a gentler cycle. When it comes to drying your washing, make sure to put it outside if the weather is good, or inside on an airier – avoid the tumble dryer where possible! This in itself could save you about £60 a year.
Watch the water
If you’re a bath lover, try swapping your routine bath for a shower and limit yourself on how much time you spend in there. If you swap one of your baths a week with a four-minute shower, you could see a saving of £12 a year. If you have regular showers of this length, it’s thought that a typical household could be saving £70 a year.
When it comes to the dishwasher, only put it on when it’s full to reduce the amount of water and electricity used unnecessarily. For those who love a cup of tea, try to avoid overfilling the kettle! Lots of us do it but if you just put the amount of water in that you need for what you’re making, you could be saving £11 a year.
So, there’s our quick round up on how you can use less energy, help the planet, and hopefully save yourself some money. If you want to keep a closer eye on what energy you’re using, you could install a smart meter to help you measure your usage.
