Please share your gas and electricity saving tips

Tippytoes

When you use the washing machine and the cycle has finished, reset it to do an extra spin. You'd be surprised how much drier clothes are for having an extra spin - they dry much quicker in the tumble drier (when you have to use it).

Yes, you will use a little more electricity doing the extra spin, but you save an awful lot more in drying costs.

Wickedkitten

Or if you really want to save money and have the space, hang them outside. Even if its overcast, as long as there is a bit of wind they will dry.

dannymccann

Wickedkitten wrote: »

Or if you really want to save money and have the space, hang them outside. Even if its overcast, as long as there is a bit of wind they will dry.

You see now I dont do this if its overcast, as I find the clothes come back in smelling a bit odd? Especially if its humid day they smell 'dewy', I hate it. I do the extra spin cycle because it uses pretty much no electricity and then as we have the space (we have 2 spare bedrooms) I put everything on hangers in the spare room and after a day in there its all dry. I hang shirts and tops on hangers on the curtain rails so they dry in the sun shining through the window, also less hassle to put them away and stuff irons itself hanging straight :T

I have an underwear hanger which goes on the window handle as well, for the same reason as above.

Simples

Easiest way to save money on heating is to invest in a good comfy pair of slippers that you will enjoy wearing (I have 'old man' slippers that have a hard sole so its easy to go up and down stairs, soft soles I find slip off all too easy) and get a thin thermal top to put over your normal clothes (it doesnt have to be bomber jacket thick, something like a thin pull over made for people who go hiking so its flexible, warm and easy to wear normally), try Blacks and Millets

As said, heat from a TV will cost less than central heating and is surprisingly effective, all the more reason to get a bigger telly

If you find yourself getting cold go outside for a couple of minutes then come back inside, you wont believe how warm it is

Electric blankets are one of the best inventions ever, see the thread on it in the Gas&Electric forum - if you have one of these you can turn your bedroom radiator off

If you are feeling nippy get a cup of tea / coffee / hot chocolate or if you are hungry cheese on toast, beans on toast, soup especially anything thats quick, cheap and still relatively healthy to keep you warm for a while

Do some housework, doing the vacuuming or mopping the floor you will soon find in no time you will be sweating

Exercise DVD / CD?

Im sure theres more to come

edgex

plimsoll wrote: »

to save gas have heating on low throughout the day rather than high for short periods, you get a lovely ambient temperature and it's cheaper/same cost as it's heating up the water in first place that's most expensive doesn't cost too much to just keep it hot

this has been proven numerous times on here to be INCORRECT

if your not at home, why are you heating it?


saving money on heating is really really easy/simple:

insulate, insulate, insulate
then, set the heating & hot water to be on when you need it to be on

Miss_Moppet

I agree with Dannymccann, do an extra spin on the washing machine and you’ll be surprised how dry the clothes are. I put my dampish clothes in my airing cupboard on a clothes horse in the winter to dry and some in the spare bedroom but I also use the radiators for, dare I say, the smalls, which puts some moisture back, as they dry, into the atmosphere but I never use my tumbler dryer now.

We haven’t got double glazing so we’ve gone round each window to seal any draughts and we’ve also put foil behind our radiators so the heat doesn’t go through the wall, it throws it back into the room, a friend has a shelf on her radiators so the heat doesn’t go up behind the curtains. Nice thing is you can’t see the foil behind the radiators.

If I’m cooking rice or veggies, I bring them to the boil, simmer for a minute or two and then turn off the gas, they then cook by themselves.

A body warmer, fur lined boots or leg/ankle warmers are a must if you’re sitting still, and my mother came up with the great idea of knitting wrist warmers as her hands get very cold and they work.

Housework, cleaning windows, sweeping up leaves keeps you warm but especially an exercise DVD, you’ll need to turn the heating off after that while you cool down.

I agree with Edgex, it sounds dull but insulation is the most cost effective measure as compared with solar panels and the like, and of course, there are no serious maintenance costs either.

JasX

Live in an apartment, I usually manage to keep my heating off pretty much year round and leach heat from above/below.....

Also I find waste heat from my PC (which I use alot anyway) keeps my living room toasty and warm at the same time, a large TV works for this as well

Finally switch energy suppliers via cashback sites as frequently as you can grabbing £50 or so from them every few months... I'm not making money from my utility suppliers, but they're barely breaking even


-oh, also tend to cook larger batches of (eg bolognaise/curry etc) and divide into portions to freeze (have a set of square glass ikea bowls for this -reusable & stack well) so reduce the need to cook every night

blaque*angel

thank you all for the useful posts i don't know why the sarcastic people even bother!

Mynewt

Most energy saving measure work best in conjuction with other measures. So i've found by doing more than one thing will have a greater effect (may sound obvious to most but you never know who reads these things sometimes).

If/when you decorate Put a layer of tinfoil behind the radiator before papering and/or painting over. This will redirect heat back into the room. (I suppose you could do this with the enitre room never tried through).

If you have curtains that hang below the height of the radiator tuck them behind so the heat is direct up the curtain into the room, rahter than up the curtain straight at the winddow.

If you have air vents replacing the cover with one that can open and close and shut these for the winter (you can temporarily seal most vents with paper and tape if it doens't have this facility.)

Power-downs are great investment. Automatically cut power to peripherals of some appliances. For example automatically cutting power to the moniroa dn printer when the pc is switched off. (can save a little more if you do this manually).

If like me you have a conservatory (south facing) make sure the doors are closed during the day and if it get scold in the evneing open the door to the conservatory. The air in the conservatory should have been heated quite nicely buy the sun and will warm the house for you (saves you putting the heating on).

A few years ago my parent bought these plug-adapters for the fridge and freezer so that it only powered the appliances for i think 10 minutes every hour. Your friedge and freezer will maintain the cold temperatures required during the "power off". Trying to get my hands on a couple of these myself.

Don't over fill the freezer either, optimally it should be between 75 and 80% of capcity to allow cold air to circulate. If its is emptier than this fill the space with water bottles, (which will freeze and provide additioanl cooling).

Maybe a bit old Fashioned but instead of jumping into a cold bed and freezing for a few minutes, or indeed using electric blankets or evne the central heating. I put a hot water bottle in 30 mns or so befor ei head to bed -- reminds of when I was younger and staying with my grandparents.

Draught excluders are also a huge saver, place these behind all the doors leading out of the property.

For those with and without double glazing perhaps investing in "secondary glazing". It works on the same basis of double glazing except its a temporary installation that you take down in spring and put up at the end of autumn.

Turning back to computers again, turning off your router at night is something iv'e seldom seen done. People tend to remember to turn the pc off, and sometimes the monitor and printer but invariabley they'll forget the router. While it won't use that much its still usign something.

If you have security lighting exchange these for solar powered versions. (the battery charges during the day to be used at night).

spinningsheep

Just a quick one, I always thought keeping the freezer full was better? Is it in fact better to keep it a bit emptier then?

Mynewt

From what I understand yes keeping it a little empty is better as it allows the colder air to circulate - keeping the contents cooler and reducing the tempreture (whe the door is open) far quicker. I'm no expert on energy efficiency however and I could have fallen for an old wives tales.