Turning off plugs -stopped turning on tv a lot more !!

mumofthetwins

Hi everyone ...
Last month I decided I was gonna up my game and start shopping/spending better
Well my mum had bought me one of those energy monitors a while ago so I decided to connect it up last week ....
There's me and my 2 boys (both 10) we have now turned off every plug in the house overnight and before we go out through the day (only fridge and cooker still on)
I am saving a fortune ... I'm now averaging 70p/day ... That's without changing any other habits, still using dishwasher/washing machine etc..
I have found I've stopped turning the tv on for background noise and the boys even turn their stuff off without being told and beer we go to bed/out for the day they check the monitor to make sure nothing has been left on ...

Just thought I would share as I didn't think it would really make that much difference !!

good_advice

It just shows... these days any reduced bill helps with the housekeeping.
I turn off lights and unplug here everyday to keep the electric bill low.

marmitepotato

I've got one of those monitors, they are good. It really makes me think about how much electricity I have wasted, and how much I have saved!

zippychick

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Zip

DragonQ

All of my A/V equipment is attached to one of those remote switches that means they're truly off rather than on standby (except my HTPC since that sleeps, using ~1 W).

I also try not to turn it on when not actually using it. I do turn it on sometimes to listen to music whilst doing washing up, etc. though.

molerat

I hope you are calculating your savings from your meter and not from the monitor or you could be in for a nasty surprise.

JamesMason_2

Molerat, what matters is engagement through technology. We need all households in the UK to have better data feeding into changing habits. It works

Well done Mrs Mum!

yangptangkipperbang

JamesMason wrote: »

Molerat, what matters is engagement through technology.

Ah ! Nice bit of techno-babble......... totally ignoring Molerat's very valid point that those monitors are extremely inaccurate !

Daz2009

So if you turn everything off do you lose your settings ? Tv ? skybox ? Central heating/hot water programmer ? Etc

DragonQ

Daz2009 wrote: »

So if you turn everything off do you lose your settings ? Tv ? skybox ? Central heating/hot water programmer ? Etc

Any TV recording box (e.g. Sky) shouldn't be turned off because it won't record anything. Nothing else that I have loses settings when turned off even for a week.

molerat

JamesMason wrote: »

Molerat, what matters is engagement through technology. We need all households in the UK to have better data feeding into changing habits. It works

Well done Mrs Mum!

My monitor tells me I used 79 units over the past 7 days and my meter shows 60, for the past 30 it shows 324, the meter gives 265 so way off in accuracy. Monitors can only be used as a very rough guide as to whether your energy use is going up or down, it is of no use in calculating any accurate values.