Getting your electric bill down to the bare minimum

uncommonadvice

Hi All,

I got an "energy owl" free via a newspaper a few weeks back and I've found it absolutely amazing. I reckon I've decreased my usage by half since I got it. We used to leave our hot water on overnight before but I think I wouldn't be able to drop off to sleep nowadays if I knew it was on!!

I was wondering if any of you good souls could help me with a few queries:

* Will it harm our Sky box if we turn it off at the wall overnight? Will any scheduled recordings on the Sky plus still tape?

* Can Wifi safely be turned off overnight?

* I have one of those phones which charges up in a holder and then we can walk about with it when someone calls - can that be turned off overnight?

* I've heard that keeping the fridge full uses less electric but it is only me and my fiance in the house. What could I put in my fridge to bring the cost down? (Or is this just an old wive's tale)

I look forward to hearing your views. I think I can get my monthly bill down to £11pcm (Supplier is Utility Warehouse).

MUMMYTO2BOYS

uncommonadvice wrote: »

Hi All,

I got an "energy owl" free via a newspaper a few weeks back and I've found it absolutely amazing. I reckon I've decreased my usage by half since I got it. We used to leave our hot water on overnight before but I think I wouldn't be able to drop off to sleep nowadays if I knew it was on!!

I was wondering if any of you good souls could help me with a few queries:

* Will it harm our Sky box if we turn it off at the wall overnight? Will any scheduled recordings on the Sky plus still tape?

* Can Wifi safely be turned off overnight?

* I have one of those phones which charges up in a holder and then we can walk about with it when someone calls - can that be turned off overnight?

* I've heard that keeping the fridge full uses less electric but it is only me and my fiance in the house. What could I put in my fridge to bring the cost down? (Or is this just an old wive's tale)

I look forward to hearing your views. I think I can get my monthly bill down to £11pcm (Supplier is Utility Warehouse).

Sky + won't record if turned off at the switch

Your cordless phone can be turned off overnight - just make sure it has enough charge in it for you to make your calls (trial and error)

Cardboard boxes flattened and placed in your fridge should suffice.

chirpchirp

My cordless phone can't be turned off overnight as it won't ring. Mine needs to be able to "talk" to the charger, it it's out of range it won't work. So if the charger is switched off it won't be in range but yours might be different.

glodh1973

Not sure if the fridge one is true or a old wives tale but you could always fill it up with empty bottles of tap water that way you have water chilled and fridge full

Barneysmom

My owl fell down the back of the sideboard, no chance of getting it out without emptying all my junk out

Karmacat

I've heard that keeping the fridge full uses less electric but it is only me and my fiance in the house. What could I put in my fridge to bring the cost down? (Or is this just an old wive's tale)

Thats definitely not an old wives tale, but its a bit complex. Freezers should be kept as full as possible, up to the brim, but fridges should be able to have air circulate. Oh boy, re-reading this before I post, I *hope* this isn't an old wives tale! Keep units cold by filling with anything - old newspapers, etc, but even better, as another poster mentions, is old plastic bottles full of water - they retain cold, so even when you open it, more cold is retained, and the unit has to work less hard to retain the temperature.

Kittikins

Hi there - I got one of those as well and boy does it make you think!! I've always been good at switching the cooker/washing machine etc off, but used to leave the tv, sky box (it's a 'freeview' only, I'm MS ) etc on.

What I've gone now is have my main cordless phone unit (the one that's connected to the phone line rather than the other headsets) and my modem plugged in to the socket and left on and now everything else gets switched off. bar the fridge and boiler. That way there's always one phone headset charge available so you can move headsets in and out of it as they get low on charge.

I'm now really conscious when I use the cooker (have a big range-style thing) and am using my remo$ka far more frequently, which can't be a bad thing.

HTH

nesssie1702

I've always got a conventional phone as well as the cordless set, as I know the conventional one will work if/when there's a power cut.

Please don't put cardboard into the fridge - you've no idea where it's been before you got it and what kind of stuff is on the outside - could be a lovely way to contaminate the fridge contents.

Storm

I've recently turned my boiler off completely - we have an electric shower & cold fill washign machine, so realised we were heating a whole boiler of water a day to do the washing up! One kettle's worth instead is ample to do a day's washing as there's only 2 of us & it just means I have to think ahead if I want a bath instead of a shower!

I had also heard that the freezer should be as full as possible (old ice cream tubs or similar are good filled with water) but the fridge should have room for air to circulate.

Shouldn't be a problem turning wifi off overnight either.

Other things to bring the cost down that I've done are:

-switching from a plug in radio alarm clock to a battery beeping one
-charge phones, laptops etc during the evening so can unplug before going to bed
-if we've not used much in the kitchen we generally only wash up every other day now

moonrakerz

You know what they say: "every little, helps little" !

Many of these so called money saving ideas:
a. don't save much, if any, money.
b. often cause more inconvenience/damage than they are worth.

Example: It is true that a full fridge/freezer will possibly use less power than an empty one. But what about the extra cost incurred in freezing/cooling the additional stuff you put in there ? Also it takes longer to find things if it is full, so you have it open for longer, wasting more energy.

THINK before you act !

janninew

uncommonadvice wrote: »

Hi All,

I got an "energy owl" free via a newspaper a few weeks back and I've found it absolutely amazing. I reckon I've decreased my usage by half since I got it. We used to leave our hot water on overnight before but I think I wouldn't be able to drop off to sleep nowadays if I knew it was on!!

I was wondering if any of you good souls could help me with a few queries:

* Will it harm our Sky box if we turn it off at the wall overnight? Will any scheduled recordings on the Sky plus still tape?

* Can Wifi safely be turned off overnight?

* I have one of those phones which charges up in a holder and then we can walk about with it when someone calls - can that be turned off overnight?

* I've heard that keeping the fridge full uses less electric but it is only me and my fiance in the house. What could I put in my fridge to bring the cost down? (Or is this just an old wive's tale)

I look forward to hearing your views. I think I can get my monthly bill down to £11pcm (Supplier is Utility Warehouse).

Hi OP,

I always turn my Sky+ box off over night (i'm not recording anything through the night though!)
I use to unplug my cordless phone to, but i found that it knackered the battery, so i stopped doing that.
I use to have my microwave on all the time as it displayed the time, now i only plug it in when i'm using it.
I changed all my bulbs to energy saving, my last employer gave them out to all staff so this cost me nothing!

I'm really good now at minimising my electricity bill and see it as a bit of a challenge.

Good luck!
Janninew