Will this really make a difference to my energy bills?

Owleyes00

Hi! I have always been a bit laissez-faire with regards to energy bills, set up the direct debit and never thought that much about it (bills were adjusted up or down and I never seemed to be using excessively). However I have recently moved to a much bigger property and with rising energy costs (although I am on a fix from my previous rate until June 22 which is nice!) I am trying to make some small changes to reduce my bills. The changes I have made are:
-turning things off at the plug when not using it
-keeping curtains drawn in rooms I’m
not using and keeping doors shut to keep rooms warm
-turning lights off when I leave a room and trying not to switch them on if I don’t need to
-running a sink of water to do my morning ablutions rather than letting the tap run
-washing on 20 and 30 or eco 40 for underwear, reducing drier usage to pants, towels and bedsheets and trying to do fewer loads a week
-switching radiators off in rooms I don’t use e.g. in my office at the weekend
-conscious use of my heating 
-cooking more meals in the slowcooker rather than on the hob
-switching to showers on most days and trying to limit myself to one bath a week (I love a bath and previously would have one most days)

I am finding it all very tedious and am wondering if it’s all going to make a significant difference to my energy bills? If it’s only going to shave a few pounds off I’m not sure I can be bothered! Is there more I can be doing (without punishing myself!)??

knightstyle

Most of your energy costs come from heating the house and water. All steps that do not reduce the use of these two will save a tiny amount. Much better to draught proof and insulate to save money.

matelodave

Yes all of those thing can make a big difference to your consumption. If you've been sending in regular readings and have kept copies of your previous bills you should be able to see a noticeable reduction in the number of kwh that you use. 

The only way to keep on top of your energy consumption is to read your meters and check your bills regularly (ideally no less than once a month).

Monitoring your consumption and keeping your own records enables you to keep control and has the benefit that if your supplier goes bust or their system crashes you've got your own info to sort it out.

Brewer21

Sounds good to me, you can only compare to what you did before and how much savings you make when the bills roll in. Bit more difficult for yourself being in a bigger property, hard to compare to the last smaller one.
We generally leave all rooms heated but upstairs rads have stats on the rads so are adjusted to suit. Definitely keep all doors shut to rooms especially to the upstairs rooms as out downstairs is all open plan with the stairs off, so the heat can rise up. We keep pretty cosy though, it's a well insulated 70's semi.
Anything that can be switched off gets switched off overnight except the internet. We take baths in winter and shower in summer, we share the bath water (not together of course) as we are on a water meter, bathe every other day.  We only wash up at the kitchen sink twice per day and use any kettle water to rinse anything in-between. 
It all works pretty well for us and we don't feel we are scrimping, far from it just being sensible, save the pennies without being OTT about it.

Owleyes00

Hmm thanks everyone. It’s definitely a fine line between being sensible and being unnecessarily stingy (different if we were struggling for money of course but this is mostly about feeling resentful about spending excessive money on basic amenities to live!).

house is reasonably well insulated. 90s semi ex new build EPC rating C+. I am considering buying a curtain to go over the front door but not sure if it will be irritating!

wild666

Owleyes00 said:

Hi! I have always been a bit laissez-faire with regards to energy bills, set up the direct debit and never thought that much about it (bills were adjusted up or down and I never seemed to be using excessively). However I have recently moved to a much bigger property and with rising energy costs (although I am on a fix from my previous rate until June 22 which is nice!) I am trying to make some small changes to reduce my bills. The changes I have made are:
-turning things off at the plug when not using it
-keeping curtains drawn in rooms I’m
not using and keeping doors shut to keep rooms warm
-turning lights off when I leave a room and trying not to switch them on if I don’t need to
-running a sink of water to do my morning ablutions rather than letting the tap run
-washing on 20 and 30 or eco 40 for underwear, reducing drier usage to pants, towels and bedsheets and trying to do fewer loads a week
-switching radiators off in rooms I don’t use e.g. in my office at the weekend
-conscious use of my heating 
-cooking more meals in the slowcooker rather than on the hob
-switching to showers on most days and trying to limit myself to one bath a week (I love a bath and previously would have one most days)

I am finding it all very tedious and am wondering if it’s all going to make a significant difference to my energy bills? If it’s only going to shave a few pounds off I’m not sure I can be bothered! Is there more I can be doing (without punishing myself!)??

Turning appliances off rather than leaving them in standby mode will save money the more appliances turned off the more the savings will be. TV, surround sound equipment, DVD player, stereo, Desktop/Laptop PC, Smart speakers, games consoles, charging leads, left plugged in with the socket switched on, kettle, cooker, microwave, extractor fans, shower, all those appliances draw power left switched on. Try it for a day, week, month, taking a reading at the start and at the end or regular intervals. In a month it could save 60 to 70 kWh, if you pay 20p per kWh that's  £14 per month.

Astria

I've found that instead of using a drier, using a dehumidifier and a clothes frame not only uses a lot less electric, but also the clothes require minimal ironing afterwards and you don't have to find somewhere to put the pipe from the drier, plus if you are busy doing other things you can simply leave it so it's convenient too.

Owleyes00

Astria said:

I've found that instead of using a drier, using a dehumidifier and a clothes frame not only uses a lot less electric, but also the clothes require minimal ironing afterwards and you don't have to find somewhere to put the pipe from the drier, plus if you are busy doing other things you can simply leave it so it's convenient too.

I have been doing this for the things I don’t tumble dry but I do find in the winter months they still take ages to dry unless you whack the heating on really high which might well negate not using the drier!

Astria

Yes, they will take longer to dry than using a dryer, but I'm using the heating as I'm typically at home during the weekend anyway, so the only additional consumption is the dehumidifier for me.

Reed_Richards

Owleyes00 said:

-turning lights off when I leave a room and trying not to switch them on if I don’t need to

Modern LED bulbs use tiny amounts of energy but the older filament light bulbs or halogen down-lighters use very much more.  Make sure you don't have any of these old bulbs. 

EssexHebridean

I'm right there with you on being fortunate enough to be able to afford the rising bills but feeling resentful of the fact that I have to, so I can really identify with your efforts. 
Some stuff becomes habit over time - and so the issue of it being tedious stops being an issue. I'd put the turning off of lights and management of heating under this heading.
Some things are a "one off change" - to LED lightbulbs for example - we've just done that ourselves anywhere that there weren't already at least low energy options in use - where what we have IS low energy we've taken the view that we will leave them as such for the most part in a bid to "use what we have" rather than throwing away functional items, but all the old Incandescent bulbs have now gone, regardless. 
Even in winter it's surprising how much drying of washing you can do outdoors - basically the rule here tends to be that if it is dry underfoot, and a clear day, it's worth hanging stuff out at least for a few hours. If it's wet underfoot, or misty/foggy, then probably no point. we use a washer/dryer and generally with towels and bedding I try to give them just a half hour blast in the dryer then they dry the rest of the way on the airer or outside subject to the above. A dehumidifier can definitely be very useful in getting clothing dried faster. Clothes don't get tumble dried at all with us. 

The subject of turning off things you don't use at the plug is an often contested one on here. Personally I think a balance has to be struck with living your live in a way that makes you content, and not wasting money unnecessarily, too. Our Sky box for example stays on standby because we record a lot of programmes and if it was off at the wall it wouldn't do that. The TV has a switch on the front that turns it fully off - turning off at the plug would have no further effect. Our oven has a timer function which we use a lot - not just for cooking - and the microwave has a clock that we use regularly - neither of those things cause much of a drain at all, literally barely anything. The Washing machine and dishwasher aren't "smart" and neither is the kettle, so simply turning off at the appliance after use means they aren't using any power - again, no need for us to mess around flicking the wall switch. If you have either a lot of "smart" appliances OR a lot of much older tech, then there may be more of an advantage in your turning off at the plug - but equally in the case of the former that has to be balanced out against the reasons you bought the smart appliances in the first place - if having them fully turned off affects their functionality in the way you want to use them, the "quality of life" aspect might outweigh that tiny power use that them being on standby might make - and with modern items, it really is VERY small.