Avoid using GAS and ELECTRIC !

nodwah

Wish I'd seen this thread before as I just paid a £600 bill to Scottish Power when I switched.

On the subject of door curtains I got M2M curtains from Econormine by mail order and they do "bump" interlining which I think is basically a blanket in the middle. I first saw these in a highland holiday cottage which was toasty warm. THey're not cheap but they are exceptionally good quality. I've had mine more than 5 years and still look like new

anguk

I needed a curtain for my back door a few years back and couldn't afford a proper one so I bought a pair of long curtains from the charity shop for a few pounds and stitched the tops together to make one double thickness curtain. The curtains have now lasted 4 winters and it definately makes a big difference.

sammy_kaye18

Hi All

Just Havign A Re Read Of This Thread - I Am Due To Have My Gas And Electric Changed Soon From Token Meters Onto Direct Debit Payments. Ive Decided To Pay £30 A Month On Each Starting This Month. Im Hoping Then I Will Have Enough Saved To Cover Us This Winter But I Still Want A Few Things To Get Me By This Winter Without Usign Too Much If I Can Help It

Its Already Been Unnaturally Hot Here In South Wales The Last 2 Weeks So Im Dreading This Winter - Its Either Goign To Be Hotter Than Normal Or Twice As Cold And Im Not Looking Forward To It As I Really Suffer When Its Cold - Im Constantly Ill.

Anywya I Had A Brain Wave Today - I Brought A Blind For My Kitchen So Had An Extendable Shower Rail (cant Put Up Curtains Thanks To A Metal Beam Above The Window) So It Was Just Layign About - Well With The Recent Down Pour I Decided To See If I Could Hang It Anywhere - Well It Fits Perfectly In My Hall Wya Is High Enough That Its Out Of Reach Of The Dog, And Long Wnough That I Could If Need Be Extend It In The Wider Part Of The Hallway For Extra Space - Bonus Is I Have A Spare Second One Sitting Above The Front Door Too Which Was Intended For A Curtain Last Winter But Never Got Around Too It So Ive Jsut Created Another 3/4 Meters Worth Of Hanging Space. Also I Have The Tops Of Doors, Around The Shower Rail And On 5 Radiators Int He House (the 6th Is Currently Obstructed By A 3 Seater Settee In My Bedroom!but Its Broken Anyway!!)

Plus Ive Started Putting Money Aside For The Window Sheeting Stuff As We Dont Have Double Glazing (council Property) So Im Hopign To Get That In About September (obviously Depends On Weather) To Help Insulate Us A Bit And This Year I Think We Will Be Getting Spare Quilts To Go Under Bottom Sheets Etc.

Anywya Im Re Reading This Thread And Already Have A Couple Of Page Worths Of Ideas For Us All. Now If I Could Just Learn How To Thread My Sewing Machine Properly I Could Make A Start Ont He Rice Bags And Draught Excluders!

miemie

Just been having a read through this Trying to got my backside into gear ready for this winter, thought maybe it might be helpful for other.

emmie1234

I'm so glad I have seent his thread as our gas bills are huge and I desparately need to cut down on our usage this year. Our flat (council) is freezing in the winter. We have central heating (run through a back boiler) and the hot water runs off this too. We have a gas fire in the living room and thats it. Everything else is run through the leccy. This year I'm going to be turning off the radiators in the rooms we don't "live" in. Hallway, Spare room, Toilet (is separate from bathroom) and kitchen - Once I'm in there cooking, the oven heats the kitchen anyway. As the CH system is outdated and we didn't have any operating instructions for the timer we tended to leave it on all the time and just turn the thermostat dial up and down when we needed the heating on or off. I have managed to find some instructions now on the net and have set up the timer for the hot water and I have switched the CH part off altogether for now until we really need it. I've got a throw over the back of the sofa and I have wrapped that round me for the past few nights when I've been watching telly as it's been quite chilly. When we do need the heating on, I will prob go without during the day while DD and OH are out of the flat and then just have it on at night time. I'm also going to make some draught excluders for the doors and I have been looking around the charity shops for a nice long thermal curtain to hang in front of the front door.

Our daughter gets DLA and I've only just found out about the warm front grants so I will be enquiring about that too.

beingjdc

The water heater (electric) in our rented flat is directly wired to the wall with an on-off switch and no timer. Any ideas for having it hot other than leaving it on all night or setting an alarm for 3am? It's playing havoc with our electricity bills - have just got down to £70 a month, but that's in so-called Summer...

IanBroadhurst

you could try one of these

http://www.toolstation.com/shop/Electrical/Timers&RCD's/d190/sd2660

hope that helps...
ian

IanBroadhurst

We followed this thread last winter and as a result probably had the heating on for mere hours over the whole Winter. With that in mind we are already looking at how we can better this over this winter.

This year is the year of the house we have a bit of cash to spend on improving the house we'll get the chimneys lined which should improve performance of the stoves in the living room and dining room. We are going to replace the loft hatch as well, and in clearing out the loft to install lights in an upstairs cloakroom, we found that the loft was boarded but not insulated - so we plan to get some wool insulation and get that done. In addition when the decorating has completed we will be re carpeting and putting a good quality underlay down. Over the summer my dad has repaired our wood windows and they are being repainted inside and out - this will make a massive difference this year.

The house we live in used to be 3 cottages, now converted to 2. The old doorway is in our living room and this year we ripped out the boarded and have bricked and plastered over it - now we don't get a draft. In addition the door is still intact on the outside and that has been repainted so is now weather proofed.

There is still much work that we can do - but I feel that these things are a good long term investment in keeping the fuel costs down. They are costing us a pretty penny - but its worth it and it adds value at the same time.

If I could get through next winter without turing on the heating I would be really pleased!

sammy_kaye18

Hi IanWe followed the thread last year too and we didnt end up turnign on the heating until mid/end of November and that was only because little one had jabs etc and the welsh weather was chucking it down as always.I was on token meters until early this year and am now on pay monthly thingys. Just had an electric bill for £40 though! so am going to see about setting up monthly direct debits for those. I have been rereading this thread though for ideas. I am in the same situation as emmie1234. I am in a rented council flat on the ground floor of our block. we dont have double glazing but we did just get cavity wall insulation from Warm Wales grant thingys which im hoping will help. Im also going to look into the sheeting for the windows and will probably be buying this in with the next pay packet. Only problem is I have a huge window in my living room (the actual glass pane in huge) - any idea how id do this?? I think that will help - i already turn off the unneeded radiators - ie hallway, bathroom, and our bedroom (we currently have a 3 seater settee in the way so no point using it). Im also wondering if it would be a good investment to buy a couple of oil heaters. That way i could have one in bens room (my little boy) and one in the living room, and then the only time id need gas would be to heat water with. I already have fleece blankets for snuggling in front of the tv in, extra duvets for under bottom sheets, bed throws for over the bed (or to go over the chairs in winter seeing as its leather and that can be a bit chilly at 6am!) my kitchen is barely big enough to turn round in let alone swing anything so if im cooking then the living room is heated which is good. I never use the oven for one thing - i always have other things in there to so i dont use twice as much gas. The slow cooker is also a god send come winter. Ive got all my energy saving light bulbs in plus bf is a candle maker so we have plenty of candles about the place rather than having the lights on. The dog even has extra jumpers to keep him warm!!!Im off to look for some other ideas too!!!!

moanymoany

When we moved into this house the first thing we did was to have cavity wall insulation. I would go for this before double glazing because it's cheaper and curtains are as good. We put double glazing in 8 years later and the only real difference is noise reduction.

The cavity wall insulation saves a lot of money in heating. More than that it keeps the walls feeling warmer. DD's room was on a chilly corner of the house. After the insulation was in the room was immediately much warmer.