Saving money on energy costs around your home has quickly become the number one priority for many people, as they try to reduce their energy bills, save money and keep costs down.
In this article, I’ll go through some simple tips that will result in saving money on energy costs around your home.
Please do remember to bookmark this page, and share it with friends and family if possible – we are currently witnessing unprecedented times, and saving a little here and there can add up to big saving over time.
And as you’ll soon see, saving money on energy costs around your home isn’t difficult – it’s all about a change of habits and mindset.
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Saving Money On Energy Costs Around Your Home
There’s very little we can do about the prices energy companies are currently charging us. There are many reasons why energy costs have soared, from economic sanctions to green agendas, prices have risen beyond what many people can reasonably afford – or be reasonably expected to pay.
The only way we can fight against these price rises are from our own home. I’m not going to advocate switching everything off and wearing 3 jumpers – rather, below is a sensible approach to saving money on energy costs around your home.
I’ll go through these tips in a methodical way, looking at in detail electric and gas consumption – and how to save on your bills.
TIP 1 – Remove Drafts
Simple really.
If you have a draft coming in from a window or door, then you are literally wasting money by not fixing these drafts.
You’ll be saving money on energy costs around your home by fixing these draughts, and keeping the cold air out, meaning you won’t need the heating on as much, because the heating is not battling against cold air coming in.
There’s a number of things you can do to fix these draughts. Let’s look at windows and doors seperately.
Doors
Doors can let in a draught when the seals and joints aren’t properly aligned. Over time, this happens naturally, both through wear and tear, and the natural movement of your home.
There’s a couple of things you can do here. One I’m a fan of, one I’m not such a big fan of – but it’s up to you.
The first thing I’ve seen is the use of thermal curtains that pull across a front door. The are the same size as the door, and go from top to bottom of the door to help prevent cold air entering a home.
This works best if you have a recessed door, and not a door that is flat against the walls, becuase you’re going to have drafts coming in at the sides of the curtains anyway.
It’s an idea I’m not particularly fond of, simply because I don’t like the idea of my door behind a curtain in daylight hours and blocking out the light dark, but if you don’t mind this, then it can help stop draft
You’ll need to make sure you measure your door width and height, and buy thermal curtains like the ones here for maximum benefit.
The second tip also stops draughts entering your home – this time, by using draught excluders.
Draught excluders can be used on both front doors and internal doors by stopping draughts entering your home or individual rooms.
Below are some examples of draught excluders that I reommmend.
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Remember though, in terms of safety, some draught excluders to have the potential of hindering your quick escape in the event of a fire, so always factor this into any home fire action escape plan.
The third tip I’d like to share is both simple and free.
Close all internal doors in your home. And it’s that simple.
Keeping internal doors closed (like living room doors, bedroom doors) prevents heat escaping into hallways, landings and stairs, where perhaps you don’t have a radiator.
It means that heating a room is easier, because there is less space to heat.
Consider this. You have the heating on in your living room, but the door to the hallway is alwasy kept open. The radiator in your living room is heating the air in your living room, but some of that heat escapes to the hallways, where it will then escape through windows and doors.
Keeping the door shut means that the heat will stay in that room for longer, and it will take less time to heat the room to the desired temperature.
And when it comes down to it, it all results in saving money on energy costs around your home.
Windows
If you have curtains that cover your windows, and you have a radiator below that window, ensure that the curtains, when closed, don’t cover the radiator.
Take a look at the image below – when the curtains are closed, where do you think most of the heat is going to go?
It’s simple common sense really isn’t it – most of that heat is going to be directed behind the curtains, and not into the room.
A good proportion of the heat will escape through the glass, and to be honest, you may as well not have the radiator on at all, if you are doing this.
So ensure:
- If you have curtains that are near a radiator, don’t block the heat of the radiator by pulling the curtains over them.
- Tuck the curtains behind the radiator if possible, so the heat now has a barrier and comes into the room rather than behind the curtains.
- If it’s not possible to tuck them behind, shorten the curtains – or buy new, shorter ones.
TIP 2 – Radiator Reflectors & Insulation
It’s said that up to 35% of heat a radiator creates escapes through the wall it is attached to.
If you’re looking for ways on saving money on energy costs around your home, it makes sense to insulate the wall directly behind the raditor, so more warm air is directed into the room, rather than warming a portion of your wall up.
There’s a cheap and very simple solution for this, even if you’re terrible at DIY. And that’s to install some insulating sheets directly behind your radiator, like the one from Amazon below.
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These work by deflecting heat that is going towards the wall, back into the room, meaning your room will heat up quicker, and the room will reach the desired temperature quicker, essentially meaning that the heating doesn’t have to be on for as long as it used to be on – meaning you’re saving money on energy costs around your home by reducing the amount of gas you are using.
It’s clever. it’s easy to install. And it’s cheap to do. It’s a win-win situation.
TIP 3 – Smart Scheduling
With smart meters and more people turning to smart solutions, there’s never been an easier time to schedule things like your central heating turning on and off automatically.
But to use smart technology to its fullest, you’ll have to be smart too.
My wife set our heating schedule through our Hive smart system.
When I looked at it, I immediately shaved hours and hours of unnecessary cost by looking at things like what time the house would be empty, what times people left for work and school, and what times people woke up and went to bed.
If everyone has left the house by 8.30am for example, should you set the central heating schedule to turn off at 8.30am?
The answer is NO!
The heating can be scheduled to switch off at least 30 minutes before everyone leaves, because there is no point in leaving an empty house warm. Even if the heating was set to switch off at 8.00am, the radiators would still be radiating heat at 8.30am because it takes a while for them to go completely cold.
Just this little trick alone can save 2.5 hours energy consumption a week, 10 hours a month, and based on 6 months of the year of using the heating, that’s 60 hours of costs that you are saving – leaving more money in your account, and less in the energy companies account.
TIP 4 – Heat Rooms, Not Houses
Only heat the rooms you use.
If you have a 4 bedroomed house, and two of the bedrooms aren’t used, it’s often wise to turn the radiator to ‘0’ or ‘off’ at the actual radiator thermostat.
This stops the radiator heating up, and in turn, stops your boiler having to heat up so much water.
Of course, in turn, this means you save more money.
It is advisable to turn these radiators on now and again even if the room is unused, to allow for protection against potential frozen pipes and inadvertantly creating air pockets in the radiators.
Small portable electric heaters can also be a good idea, especially if you just want to hest the room you are in without turning on the whole central heating system.
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TIP 5 – Unplug The Plug!
Get into the habit of switching the plug off at the socket when you’re not using electrical items.
Kettles, toasters, microwaves, coffee machines, TV’s – in fact all electrical items, will consume some power, even when not in use (but when plugged in and switched on at the socket).
This will take a change of mindset, and a lot of discipline. And it will be annoying at first, but once you get used to doing this, it will become a natural habit, and you’ll be able to shave off a little more money on your energy bill.
Summary
Adding all of these tips together results in saving money on energy costs around your home.
Not only that, but it also helps save the planet too, so you’re doing your bit for the UK’s push to net zero.
In summary then, saving money on energy costs around your home isn’t particularly hard, it’s all about being disciplined and modifying your habits slighty. Here’s the overall summary of the article:
- Reducing draughts means having the heating on less.
- Using draught excluders keeps heat in your home – and cold air out.
- Radiator insulation ensures more warm air enters the room – and less is lost through your walls.
- Heat rooms you use, not entire homes.
- Set up a savvy heat schedule.
- Unplugging unused electrical items will result in saving money on energy costs around your home.
Other Articles You May Like
Here’s a small selection of articles you may also like from this site:
- – Staying Warm Working From Home – Cost Cutting Tips
- – Fire Escape Plan
- – Linked Fire Detectors
- – 75 Ways To Improve Home Security
Here’s the products and links for those products, mentioned on this page:
- – Thermal Curtains For Doors
- – Hive Smart System
- – Animal Draught Excluder
- – Adhesive Draught Excluder
- – No Tool Draught Excluder
- – Radiator Insulation
Questions & Comments
If you have a question or a comment on this article on saving money on energy costs around your home, please use the comments box below. I’ll try my best to reply to each and every one of your questions, comments and suggestions.
Stay warm. Keep those energy bills down. Stay Safe. Stay Secure.
