Ways to keep the utility bills down when home all day?

Penny-Pincher!!

craigywv wrote: »

excuse my dumbness but whats a freezer saver plug?:)

http://www.greenhealthwatch.com/goodslifeworks/goodsenergysavers/esswsavaplug.htm

You can usually get them on Ebay for around £12. We've used one for 4 years now and we have a huge chest freezer and its great.

MessyTessie

Get out of the house ...... find your nearest toddler groups, check your local library for story times, ask your midwife for a list of any other local groups, do any pubs nearby have a soft play area, one near me had a coffee morning for parent and babies. It might sound strange but find local parks and walks you can do, obviously wrapping baby up warm, I find that after a walk the house always feels warmer when I get back.

I know I was lucky with this but our local independant cinema has a mother and baby showing each week, I got to see up to date films for a while (babies have to be under 18 months).

sonastin

We've been without heating for over a year due to house renovation and to be honest I've gotten used to living at a lower temperature. The other day I got up and it was only because the thermometer told me so that I realised it was 12.5 degrees in the living room! When it was really cold out, with every single heater turned up to full whack (and the electricity meter whirring round so fast you couldn't see the numbers!), we only got the temperature up to 18 degrees.

If you turn the heating off/down, I reckon you'll quickly get used to the lower temperature. And the little one won't have a concept of "room temperature" - make him/her comfortable with clothes and blankets rather than warming the whole room.

BitterAndTwisted

Only heat the room you're actually in. Turn the thermostat down by one degree at a time. If you're too cold pop some thermal undies on and if you're still chilly wear an extra fleece. I don't necessarily recommend doing what I did the last couple of winters and not put the heating on at all when it's below freezing outside, bar about an hour a day in the early evenings. The only bonus is that my winter fuel bill this year was forty quid.

At this time of year you shouldn't need any heating on if you're busy doing chores. Sitting about means you'll feel the cold. Get a snuggly blanket to huddle under of you've no jobs to do, or put a warm jacket on and go out for a really brisk walk. Even an unheated house feels warm and cosy when you come back in from the cold.

Have a read of the MASSIVE thread entitled "Preparing For Winter", Loads and loads of interesting suggestions on there about how to cut the fuels bills down, preserve the heat and make a home feel warmer.

The suggestion of wrapping up the baby properly and not heating up a home to sub-tropical is a sensible one. I think it's healthier for us, too, not just babies.

Broke_n_Broken

Keep doors to rooms you're not using closed.

Energy saving & florescent lights are only cheaper to run over time, it costs more to turn them on than to keep them on.

Use dimmer switches where you can.
Look into dim-able LED's too, much cheaper to run than energy savers.

Computers use less electricity than TV's, especially if your just listening to it, & it's easy to be efficient, eg, downloading something in the background while watching a film, setting the monitor to switch off automatically...
You can listen to the radio or watch TV on the PC too!

Computers can also kick out a lot of heat, move it away from the wall a bit, or lift it up if it's a laptop.

Make sure your phone charger is unplugged.

Don't keep going to the fridge "for a look".

Buy a water bag (£1 in pound shop, not good though, £5 OK) or a jug to fill with cold water. Keep it in the sink or a cupboard, or the fridge if you must.

A camping solar shower bag (around £5+)can be hanged in the window or placed on the sill for warm water. (Just thought of that, I'm going to buy 1 tomorrow).

Hmm...That's got me thinking now...
Infact, a lot of camping stuff is geared toward efficiency, a wind up lantern instead of a table lamp, wind up radio...

Look here: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/826963
& here: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2426287
for more tips.

Hermia

sonastin wrote: »

We've been without heating for over a year due to house renovation and to be honest I've gotten used to living at a lower temperature. The other day I got up and it was only because the thermometer told me so that I realised it was 12.5 degrees in the living room! When it was really cold out, with every single heater turned up to full whack (and the electricity meter whirring round so fast you couldn't see the numbers!), we only got the temperature up to 18 degrees.

If you turn the heating off/down, I reckon you'll quickly get used to the lower temperature. And the little one won't have a concept of "room temperature" - make him/her comfortable with clothes and blankets rather than warming the whole room.

I used to live in a house with GCH, but now I live in a flat that has night storage heating. At first, I whinged because it was so cold in comparison, but now I really struggle when I go to someone else's house as I find it so hot & get a headache.

OP - when I am at home on chilly days I will often just sit in bed reading a book, sorting through bills, listening to my portable radio or using my laptop. If I am watching TV I will wrap myself in my very warm dressing gown (it has a hood!) and sit with a hot water bottle.

Oliver14

building_with_lego wrote: »

Get a thermos flask and fill it from the first boiled kettle (or two) of the day. The water will stay hot enough all day, saving a lot of boiling. I've even used the water the following morning for coffee and it was just about an acceptable temperature.

If your making tea or Ground Coffee making them with less than boiling water effects the taste. It doesn't take long for water in a flask to lose its temperature. If your going to go this route I would suggest actually making the drink (Coffee or Tea) and keeping that in the flask rather than just the water. It will taste better

Broke_n_Broken wrote:

Energy saving & florescent lights are only cheaper to run over time, it costs more to turn them on than to keep them on.

I'm afraid that's an urban myth

This is US research there is plent of British research showing the same thing I've jused used this as it explains it well

CEC wrote:

URBAN MYTH -
LEAVING A FLUORESCENT LIGHT TURNED ON IS CHEAPER THAN TURNING IT OFF AND ON This is an urban myth that has persisted for many years. Here's what you should do...
You should turn off your fluorescent lamps if the space is not going to be occupied for more than a few minutes (3-5 minues is a good rule of thumb). The modern electronic ballast and T8/T5 lamp combination do draw a higher level of current during startup, but it only lasts for a fraction of a second, which is negligible compared to normal current requirements of the lamps.
Leaving fluorescent lights on when you leave an area is one of those myths from the '70s that has somehow survived to this date. In fact, occupancy sensors are routinely used with fluorescent fixtures to turn the lights off when no one is in a room.
A bigger concern here may be the impact of frequent on/off cycles on the lamp's life. This does shorten the lamp life somewhat. However, leaving the lights on all the time also reduces the lamp life. In fact, it has been shown that even though occupancy sensors reduce the lamp life as measured in total hours, they actually extend the calender of the lamps because the lamps operate only during those hours that are needed.
According to the Electric Power Research Institute, not only does turning off fluorescent lights reduce lamp replacement costs, it also reduces electric bills. For example, turning off an F40 fluorescent lamp for only one-half hour a day can save about $4.00 (based on 8 cents/kWh) in energy over the life of the lamp. In fact, the money saved by this routine is typically more than the price of a new lamp.

http://www.consumerenergycenter.org/myths/fluorescent_lights.html

[Deleted User]

Penny-Pincher!! wrote: »

http://www.greenhealthwatch.com/goodslifeworks/goodsenergysavers/esswsavaplug.htm

You can usually get them on Ebay for around £12. We've used one for 4 years now and we have a huge chest freezer and its great.

What a pain I have a Bosch F/freezer so I can't use one,but it looks a great idea all the same.
I too am a boil the kettle up and put into a thermos person.I live alone, so a thermos full does me for most of the day.My luxury is my coffee perculator, but I have rationed myself to once a week when my DD come on a Sunday morning for coffee,cake and a natter.I also have a knitted blanket that goes over my knees in the evening,main reason being, to switch my CH on I have to climb the stairs to the airing cupboard and often I just cba'd to bother.I also never put .t.v on until the 6.00.p.m. My heating in my small sitting room has to be fairly warm or my joints seize up (arthritis) so I keep doors closed and shut the curtains when its dusk.Its suprising how small savings add up.I have a small lamp by my chair that has a LE light bulb in which is more than enough to read by and the middle light rarely has to go on.My son-in-law is a surveyor for a large housing association and he checked my house for fuel and energy saving a couple of years ago and it came out as 'A' rated with the insulation in both the walls and roof and a new boiler that I had installed.When I had my kitchen renovated a couple of years ago I got rid of my old white goods and bought all 'A' rated ones.I can have a short wash in my machine thats only 30 minutes long, and more than cleans my clothes.I use my SC several times a week and if I'm cooking a chicken or stew I put it on last thing at night and the kitchen is warm and smells lovely in the morning.I also have a Remoska so I only have to put my big oven on when I am batch baking I can cook most things in my 'mosky at a fraction of the price of my large oven.Jacket spuds get a quick 5 minute blast in the microwave then finished off in the Remoska to crisp up
I pay per month to EDF £31.00 in DD and that more than covers my gas and electricity in fact I am in credit at the moment .My last winter bill for the both utilites was £124.90 which I thought was very reasonable .I am a great believer of there is no such thing as bad weather, only badly dressed for it.often I will put a thicker jumper on if I'm chilly and I often wear a wooly hat or scarf indoors to keep me warm :DI'm not bothered at what I look like but keeping warm is essential, and keeping the bills down even more

YORKSHIRELASS

Some good advice on here. I think the most important thing is not to fall into the habit of having the heating on all the time and getting used to the house being really warm.

I feel the cold something terrible and I will put the heating on if its really cold but I tend to make a mental note of the time I put it on then switch it off an hour later.

Keeping busy and active helps stop you feeling cold and getting out as much as possible is a good idea, even if its just a little walk around the block.

And make sure you rest up for the next 3 weeks, I would advise snuggly blankets and the sofa and not feeling guilty about it - this will be the last chance you get to have some proper time for yourself for a while! Good luck with the new arrival.

Broke_n_Broken

Oliver14 wrote: »

If your making tea or Ground Coffee making them with less than boiling water effects the taste. It doesn't take long for water in a flask to lose its temperature. If your going to go this route I would suggest actually making the drink (Coffee or Tea) and keeping that in the flask rather than just the water. It will taste better

I'm afraid that's an urban myth

This is US research there is plent of British research showing the same thing I've jused used this as it explains it well



http://www.consumerenergycenter.org/myths/fluorescent_lights.html

Thanks for that. Is it the same with energy savers?

As for the coffee, you should NOT use boiling water. It can burn the coffee. Hot, but not boiling.
I could smack people for burning my coffee, yuk!:cool: