Avoid using Gas and Electricity

bluebag

silly_moo wrote: »

Sounds like a really good idea but unfortunately DH likes his side of the bed COLD! So no feather mattress topper for me

So does mine, unless it's really freezing. He used to be a softie like me till he started on new medication, now he's boiling all the time.

I take a fleece blanket to bed and put it next to me like a top sheet, it works really well and the 'living radiator' aka OH seems quite happy.

bluebag

sianlee wrote: »

Thats a very good idea. Thank you. My little experiment didn't go well. Two solar lights obviously weren't strong enough to banish their fears as the landing light was on when I got up this morning! Oh well it worth a try. I don't have a local Wilkos here so I will have to source the timer gadget elsewhere. I do have a timer which I use when on hols etc so I could try that & plug the adaptor into it. Doh! I think that may have been what you were talking about !

Yes thats what I meant. A low wattage energy saver bulb on the landing may do the job and be easier and cheaper to source if you live miles away from a wilkies.

chirpychick

sianlee wrote: »

I am lovin' reading through this thread. Thanks to all of the posters and their fab contributions.:T
I have let my MS slip quite a bit lately and my electric usage is creeping up again. I have been trying to think creatively to cutback my consumption. I have a son, with Aspergers, & he has quite a lot of trouble sleeping. He often drifts off in the wee hours with his tv left on a blue screen, his cd player still playing a talking book & his bedside lamp on. I only realise the next morning - luckily the lamp is a low energy bulb. I can't particularly change any of that but as we always have the landing light on all night (both sons request this), I wondered if I could bring in one of my fence post solar lights from the patio & stand it on the landing bookcase to give 'free' light all or most of the night. Then put it back out again the next morning for a days charge. The solar light is from the £shop so not broken the bank. I'll try it tonight and post the result. They could also be used in the sitting room whilst watching tv instead of candles. If it works I will be visiting said shop to buy some more as I reckon over the whole summer they will help to cut down my usage. I would like to reduce so I don't feel the price hike that B/gas will no doubt announce shortly.....:mad:

I havent finished reading through yet but i saw this and remembered seeing something called a moonlight the other day, if you google it you will see - they also sell them on ebay which may well be ideal for your hallway

chirpychick

I have no finally read all the posts and i thank all the posters so much!
our energy bill is not too bad £53 for both gas & elec combined on a monthly basis. This is for a 2 bed mid terrace.
However i realised there was so much more we could do so we have gotten a lamp from freecycle and put a 40w low energy bulb in it instead of having the lights on in the living room which are them ridiculously expensive spot lights (already installed when we moved in).
We are investing in a Masterplug 4-Way Individually Switched 1m Extension Lead so i can turn each item off but we are getting this from a**s with our shop and scan vouchers
We have got draft excluder for the front door, changed the bay window curtains and kitchen blind and gotten back door and front door curtains.
We are being very good with switching everything off, put the tv on energy saving mode (takes some getting used to but its fine).
We need to insulate the loft a bit more (got 1 roll off freecycle need 2 more) we enquired about solar panels too and have someone coming round to check out our house, we also now get everything out of the freezer the night before and defrost in the fridge instead of the microwave as and when we need it. We have a JML star chef which is amazing and we use that for most things instead of the oven.
We still have a bit more to do but i had no idea how much we could do, i assumed that because our house is about 28 yrs old that it would still be fairly modern and not need much help but there is loads that we can do - i.e we keep being told we need to replace our boiler but we just cant afford it right now. Next year we are getting cavity wall insulation, there is a little crack in our bay window which hubby can repair and at some point we need a new front and back door. I just imagined it was 100 yr old houses that needed all this extra work.
So i thank you very much for opening my eyes and teaching me what i need to consider. :T

aplaceinthesun

Thank you to everyone for their valuable input to this thread, it has really given me something to think about and I can definitely see where we can save some money.... first thing will be to change the timer on the boiler for the hot water, I think we are heating water in the morning that we are just not using , what a waste !!! I am sure we can just heat the hot water in the evening and that will do us. Like another poster we left our heating on low over the coldest months constantly , set at 17 degrees and really noticed a saving instead of the house going cold and then having to wack it up to 30 degrees to get warm , falling asleep cos it got too hot and then not turning it down ! We will definitely be doing the same this year, we managed without the heatring going on till 16/11 and hope for about the same again, end of March its off and thats it!
I was so surprised how cold it was on sunday, we are on the 'sunny' south coast and had to light the fire in the afternoon and snuggle under blankets!

Anyway thanks again everyone for sharing your ideas and tips.

dianadoesnt

Hello Everyone
I have a combi boiler. When i wash up, is it cheaper to boil the kettle or use water from the hot tap?
Many Thanks
Diana

bluebag

dianadoesnt wrote: »

Hello Everyone
I have a combi boiler. When i wash up, is it cheaper to boil the kettle or use water from the hot tap?
Many Thanks
Diana

I honestly don't really know, gas costs about a third of the price of electric, so I would guess that it is cheaper to use the tap.

chirpychick
I can only dream about a direct debit that low, I am sure I'm heating the street!

GreyQueen

I've read in various books on green living/ energy efficiency that it's cheaper to boil water on gas than by electricity.

Re combi boiler (gas) versus kettle (gas or electricity), I don't know but if anyone up here does, I'd be interested. I know when I had a combi in my old flat it used to craze me that you'd have to run water out of the hot tap for a while before the combi heated it; I used to save that for the backyard flowerpots.

Intersting posts about mattress toppers etc. I have something which is similar but less luxe; a faux-sheepskin mattress cover. It's a synthetic but made to have a fleece-like surface, and the sides are stretchy polyester which are elasticated and it goes on like a fitted sheet and then you put your bottom sheet over it.

I've had it years; came new off a market stall, we had them on all the beds at home and they really make a difference. Because they're a synthetic they wash and dry really easily and they cost very little. I normally hate anything synthetic on the bed, can't even abide poly-cotton blend sheets, but this is something I don't notice. It really makes a difference to how snuggly you feel in winter.

Another OS tip is to put a blanket under the bottom sheet for extra warmth, if anyone still has these on the premises these days. HTH.

I suppose we might have to resort to some truly OS methods of keeping warm if they keep playing silly burgers with fuel price hikes; nightcaps, floor-length skirts with lots of flannel petticoats.

Or we could have tapestries on the wall, like medieval castles, except ours would probably have to be carpet remnants.........

alec_eiffel

GQ - I am currently making a wallhanging for my bedroom. Partly for decoration, partly to shop the echoey sounds and partly for a bit of warmth (whether it's real or perceived)

annie123

GreyQueen wrote: »

Or we could have tapestries on the wall, like medieval castles, except ours would probably have to be carpet remnants.........

Not as extreme as you may think!
My son has had his walls covered for years with hangings and it makes a massive difference, even if they are just thin cotton ones.

His ceilings are 13' high and has 3 victorian outside walls in his main room so it gets very cold in the winter in that room.
He has large 'hippy' type throws hanging from picture rails on every bit of wall in the winter and a quilted one which hangs above the door too to stop hall drafts.

He has to take them down in the summer months as they hold the heat in, but as yet it hasn't been hot enough to remove them:(

He has asked for window quilts for his windows as the ones I made for DD bedroom made a big difference last winter.