Spill the beans... on your extreme energy saving tricks

joehoover

Corriander wrote: »

Move frozen food stuffs into the fridge the DAY BEFORE YOU NEED THEM. They will defrost slowly and save energy running the fridgeby keeping it cold. Slower defrosting is better then the microwave defrost for the food too.
Take items to be cooked out of the fridge at least a couple of hours before needed. This reduces fuel used getting the food from chilled to cooking temperature.

Good points, most food especially meats should be room temperature to begin with so it has relaxed before cooking, same with eggs

perfumed_poodle

I have a sheet up my chimney and a wear cashmere and silk. Look for bargains! Cook several things if putting the oven on and turn it off before time is up. Sell extra bits like bread at work.
If you have dogs, buy VAT free dog food from a farmers shop where there is more choice. Turn the cold water pressure down on the hand basin if people leave tap running unnecessarily! Wash small amounts of cutlery etc in the tiny sink or fill a small dish and wash them in that.

everach

Well I turn the oven off a few mins before to use the residual heat, then open the door to warm the kitchen, like alot of you lot do im so glad that im not on my own on that one. Use as few pans as possible so steam most my veg, dont even have a posh steamer pan just use a metal colander seems to do the trick great!

My CH is currently on 16.5 degrees I didnt want to turn it on yet but the kids were a bit cold (they need toughening up), this will go up in temp as the temp goes down outside But for a while yet (unless this snow turns up?).

Now maybe some of you could help me on this one, Is it cheaper to keep it constantly ticking over at this low heat or to turn it on as when its needed?? (I only work a few hours and the kids are only out from 9-4pm). Im not sure whether it uses more heat if it needs to get its self up to the desired heat or to just kick in for a few mins every few hours??? I am only talking about keeping this on at this very low heat when it gets turned up i will only put it on timer??

Advice on this would be good!!

In the living room we light candles when we feel it needs just a little boost of heat and i find that this does actually work obviously there is a lot of "SHUT THE DOOR" when the kids are around, but they get used to it. If thats not enough then the old faithfuly blanket comes out Oh yes and we tend to sit alot in the dark just using the light of the TV, certainly after the kids have gone to bed if we are watching tele why do we need to see anything else??

No tumble dryer for me just the fresh outdoors i dont think you can beat that drying on a line freshness, then NO ironing for me (apart from eldests shirts for school)

Bake cakes, cookies etc when the oven is on for other stuff. Our oven seems to be using alot of Leccy at the mo so this is on as little as possible, its bound to blow on christmas day !!!

And turn EVERYTHING OFF at the switches when not in use.

IM sure there is other stuff but i just cant think of anything right now.

Helz_Belz_2

- We have an open plan kitchen / lounge so in the winter after I've cooked dinner and switched the oven off, I leave the over door wide open to contribute to the heating! Has more of an effect than you might realise!

- Also, turn 'standby' electricals off at the plug as many items still use nearly as much energy in standby mode as they do when they're on!

- Turn off water heater if I'm going to be away for a few days

- Turn lights off when not using them (and sometimes use candles in the lounge when watching a movie or something - they smell nice and create a pleasant atmosphere!)

- I'm an avid gym goer so I have most of my showers at the gym and wash / style my hair in the changing rooms so I save on my water and elec bill

:j

jwt13

jwt13 wrote: »

Smooth, fold and stack wet clothes and leave for half an hour before carefully hanging them on the line. Removes even more creases - almost forgotten what my iron looks like :j

Husband's tip ( he irons his own shirts - I got him when he was well trained !) In the colder weather when worn with a sweater you only need to iron shirt collars and front down to second button. Who is going to see the rest of it ?

matelodave

Earlier this year I got an energy monitor and was astonished at how much power was being used when most stuff was turned off. I managed to persuade my wife to turn off her laptop, printers and screen overnight - this saved about 60watts continuous drain = about £30 a year (coz she still leaves them on all day), not a lot but useful. However there still seemed to be a lot being consumed so going round and turning absolutely everything off I discoverd that the cooker (induction hob with touch panels & oven timer) was consuming 70w when not being used = £70 a year. So we turn that off now after the meal has been cooked. So for the cost of a £40 energy monitor we are saving about £100 a year - not a bad return:j

AngryPig

The last few times we've been away from the house, I have taken meter readings to see how much lecky is used when we're using the absolute minimum - typically 1.5 kWh/day!

The only things left on are things like the burglar alarm, fridge-freezer and central heating clock (CH turned off, of course). I've even gone to lengths such as turning off the cordless phones (and removing the batteries to stop them draining!).

I wouldn't want you to think (like Mrs Pig does) that I'm obsessive about taking meter readings, but I have many months' data showing our typical usage is 5 - 7 kW/day. So about a quarter of our consumption appears to be inevitable. This seems like a lot, but I'm not sure what "normal" would be - any ideas?

FriedFish

I POSTED THIS ON LAST WEEK'S THREAD, BUT POSSIBLY WORTH REPEATING HERE FOR ANYONE WHO MISSED IT:[/I]

Serious Savings

1: My plumber came to service the central heating boiler and pointed out that I didn't need to have it running for such long periods.

"Programme in a few short breaks, one hour on, 1/2 hour off, and so on," he advised. "There will be enough residual heat in the radiators to sustain this," he assured me, "and you will be making huge savings on your gas bill!"

So last winter that is exactly what I did. He was right!

2: Try using about a third of the manufacturers' "recommended amount" of detergent in your washing machine, (and make a similar reduction if you use a dish-washer.)

Clothes and dishes will come out just as clean. You won't notice the difference - promise!

3: I do most washes on 30° - Why waste money heating water unnecessarily, and never use the maximum spin speed.

4: My clothes drier is completely solar and wind powered. It is called a washing line.

Saved quids after the electric tumble drier packed in and I replaced it with a rotary!

redglass_2

donteatthat wrote: »

Do people who are not heating their homes not have massive issues with condensation and mould?

I did. I've had to take expensive remedial action against the mould and accept that some of my bright ideas were false economies. But then I live in a very damp area, and there's high ground at the back of the house. I guess others might be luckier.

energysavingexp

redglass wrote: »

I did. I've had to take expensive remedial action against the mould and accept that some of my bright ideas were false economies. But then I live in a very damp area, and there's high ground at the back of the house. I guess others might be luckier.

one way to stop this problem is to use Dehumidifier this stops the damp issue.

also because there is less moisture in the air when you do turn on your heating it costs less as you are only heating the air and not the water in it.:T:beer: