Avoid using GAS and ELECTRIC !

freakshadow4

David_Mee wrote:

Wading through thread - hope I haven't missed answers to these - looking for light switches similar to those in youth hostels / hotels - you push a big cylinder in and it slowly slides back out and turns light off again.

Hiya, I think I saw these in B&Q last week, pneumatic switches. They were in next to those big light switches you can click with your elbow / shoulder / head. Not sure how much they were though.

freakshadow4

feistymiss wrote:

turn all the rads down on their settings so there is an even temp, i actually leave all the doors open so there is free flow of warm air throughout the house

Hiya, I used to do this, but have this year started to keep all the doors shut to make it harder for drafts to circulate, and it seems to be working.

It feels like it's easier to warm an enclosed space rather than a full house's worth, especially if you concentrate on warming only the rooms you are using.

I've also been making sure I shut all of the curtains at dusk, which also seems to be making a difference.

culpepper

Not really avoiding using electricity but cutting down a bit...
If you have a bread maker and are around when it finishes its job, you can turn it off ten minutes early and just wait ten minutes more to take the bread out.

sammy_kaye18

helen_caslass wrote:

dont forget your neighbours if they are old check up on them and make sure they aren't too cold too many old people die because of cold weather. if you make a stew or casserole throw in a bit of extra veg and a cople of spuds and take it round to an elderly neighbour then at least you know that 1. they've had a warm meal that day and 2. you know they are still alive

This is a really dull question and slightly off topic i know but i posted this in another group and wondered if you think it is a valid and good idea - in our village there is alot of elderly people - and i mean ALOT but we live in a wales valley so some of them have to get up and down the hills (which are hard going just for me to walk and im not the fittest person on earth but im ok health wise) in the winter to get to the local shops (both shops are on the flat of the valley with houses all up the slopes) anyway i live and work in the valley. I was wondering if you think it would be welcomed for me to put a leaflet through some of the elderlys doors offering to collect and deliver their shopping for them - no fee just peace of mind that people are ok. A kind of added bonus is that i work in one of the main shops so im a face people know.
What do you all think?

katieowl_2

sammy_kaye18 wrote:

This is a really dull question and slightly off topic i know but i posted this in another group and wondered if you think it is a valid and good idea - in our village there is alot of elderly people - and i mean ALOT but we live in a wales valley so some of them have to get up and down the hills (which are hard going just for me to walk and im not the fittest person on earth but im ok health wise) in the winter to get to the local shops (both shops are on the flat of the valley with houses all up the slopes) anyway i live and work in the valley. I was wondering if you think it would be welcomed for me to put a leaflet through some of the elderlys doors offering to collect and deliver their shopping for them - no fee just peace of mind that people are ok. A kind of added bonus is that i work in one of the main shops so im a face people know.
What do you all think?

I think I might be more inclined to approach a couple of people you think need the help most and see how it goes....sending leaflets around could leave you inunndated with shopping trips!! I do think we should all try to help out our neighbours though, especially in the winter! It does take up quite a lot of time helping out like this - more than you might think - a lot of the elderly like a chat (human contact is scarce and valued) and you will probably get invited in for cups of tea I'm just off to see my elderly neighbour....she put herself into a care home up the road last Xmas, as she couldn't cope alone anymore and she didn't want to be a burden (she has no family - we all kept an eye on her) We have "adopted" her now, and I pop down each week to see if she needs anything! At least I don't have to worry about if she is warm and fed these days!

Regards

Kate

Reya

One of the things that I will never understand is why so many houses are built with their radiators under the windows! Every radiator in my house is under a window, and considering that I have deep window sills that also poke out about an inch above the radiators, all the heat was going up behind the curtains!

My solution? I've simply pushed the hems of the curtains back and up onto the window sills and weighted them down with anything heavy that I can find (old paperweights and the like.) I noticed the difference immediately, the first time the heating came on after I'd done it.

Also, since I live alone I've taken to putting everything that I like to relax with - laptop, books, DVDs, stereo etc - in the bedroom. I heat the house for a couple of hours in the morning during winter (I get up for work at 03:50am, and I can't bear freezing my ar*e off at that hour) I have a little halogen heater that I bought for £8 in a factory clearance shop. It costs 3p/hour to run on one bar and 6p/hour on two bars, and it doesn't half kick out some heat! Once my chores are done for the day, I settle down in the bedroom with the heater, a pile of pillows and cushions and fleecy throws, and snuggle down for the evening. That way I'm only using one (energy-saving) lightbulb and two sockets: one for the laptop if I'm on that, and one for the heater.

This weekend's task for me will be making a 'sausage' draft excluder. I remember my mum having several in the house when I was little (many moons ago!)

pensioner_margaret

I have replaced fabric lampshades with glass shades. I cant see the point in paying for light then blocking it with fabric. I find that lower watt bulbs now give same light level that as I had before. Energy bulbs are getting smaller by the year and arent obtrusively ugly any more. I just wish they would make pygmy bulbs in the energy saving type as I have got 2 lovely old glass table lamps which will not accommodate anything bigger. All these shades were bought on auction sites and being glass are washable - never need replacing like fabric ones which get tatty over time, and because they are not coloured glass they match the decor if the room colour scheme is changed.

madmoys

pensioner_margaret wrote:

I have replaced fabric lampshades with glass shades. I cant see the point in paying for light then blocking it with fabric. I find that lower watt bulbs now give same light level that as I had before. Energy bulbs are getting smaller by the year and arent obtrusively ugly any more. I just wish they would make pygmy bulbs in the energy saving type as I have got 2 lovely old glass table lamps which will not accommodate anything bigger. All these shades were bought on auction sites and being glass are washable - never need replacing like fabric ones which get tatty over time, and because they are not coloured glass they match the decor if the room colour scheme is changed.

Good idea, I'm of to town this weekend to look for glass lamp shades.
Does anyone know the best places to try?

SusanCarter

What I don't understand is those lampshades that point all the light towards the ceiling.

katieowl_2

<< Good idea, I'm of to town this weekend to look for glass lamp shades.
Does anyone know the best places to try?>>

Christoper Wray have them....but they are not cheap!

Those paper shades don't cut out much light if you get the white ones.

Regards

Kate