It feels ridiculous to be writing this post. Ridiculous for two reasons really, firstly I cannot believe we have got to the current situation with rising cost of living. Thousands of people are likely to die this winter, in the UK as a direct result of fuel poverty. And, secondly, throughout the summer, we’ve had extreme heat warnings and some of the hottest days / weeks and months on record. I have been thinking a lot about how I’m going to prepare for the increasing energy costs. (The next increase I mean). Unfortunately the cost of living crisis has coincided with the end of my maternity pay. (Gulp). So it makes sense to try and do what I can to mitigate against rising costs as much as I can.
I’d like to mention that I realise how privileged I am to be able to action to below tips. I have a small sinking fund for home improvements allowing me to spend a bit of money ‘winterising’ our home. In addition to being able to buy things out of season to get the best deals on winter clothes etc. With the recent cost of living hikes, I know not everyone is this fortunate and just getting to the end of the current month is a struggle.
We live in a cottage, it had single glazing, open fireplaces and drafty doors, it is glorious in the summer, but in the winter it gets COLD. So, a lot of my suggestions focus on (hopefully) needing to use the central heating less. However, with any luck there will be something in here most people can do in their home. My suggestions range from costing just pence to being more expensive. Even if you can ‘afford’ the price hikes, I imagine you don’t want to be spending hundreds more pounds just to exist if you can help it.
Heat the Human Not the Home
When I was researching what I could do in our home to heat it, one of the websites with the best advice I thought was Martin Lewis’ Money Saving Expert. One of the things he (begrudgingly) suggests is that it’s cheaper to warm a person than a whole house. To that end, I’ve done the following things:Bought an electric blanket. They’re mega cheap to run and a good option for if the kids get up really early, or during the night feeds with my baby or if my husband is working late. If you’ve only got one or two people to heat up, it’s a good option. I bought this one with some Amazon vouchers I had. My 4 year old insisted we test it this morning, and it heats up really quickly and feels very luxurious.
- Bought my children some thermal layers. I bought them a set each, brand new with tags, from Vinted for £2 and £3 respectively. (Presumably not many people are buying thermal layers right now so I got a bargain).
2. Ensured everyone has a hot water bottle.
3. Invested in new thick jumpers & slipper socks for both children (again, Vinted). Ash and I can wear things we already have.
Heat the Home
There are some things I’ve also done or I’m going to do to try to stop our home losing so much heat when we do put the heating on.
5. Inflatable cushions to block chimneys not in use. We only use one of the fireplaces in our house, so I’m going to try and make sure we’re losing as little heat as possible through the others.
6. I’ve ordered heavy, thick curtains to hang over the front and back doors to keep drafts at bay. Again I bought these second hand (what a surprise), £20 for two.
7. I’ve ordered heavy velvet curtains and tension rods to install in the boys bedroom, they only have Venetian blinds at the moment which add no insulation whatsoever. I would like to buy new thermal blinds for all the upstairs rooms in my house but that’s not in the budget right now, so this was a good budget friendly option.
8. Something else I’ve done is buy our winter supply of logs early. I don’t know for sure, but I’m assuming they’re cheaper now than they’re likely to be in 3 months time.
9. Added rugs in some rooms where I didn’t have any. The floor is going to be the coldest part of a room, so I want to ensure everyone is keeping their feet as warm as possible.
Other things I’m Doing to Prepare for Increasing Energy Costs
10. Auditing my lightbulbs and swapping out to LEDs. (I haven’t really paid much attention to the lightbulbs which were left behind when we moved in) – but I recently noticed that our smart meter hops up every time I put the kitchen lights on, so they’re the first I need to change.
11. Keeping large bottles of water in the freezer. To run at it’s most efficient your freezer should be 70% full. Mine isn’t always that full as I don’t keep a large back stock of food, so I bought some cheap 2lt bottles of water to store in the bottom of the freezer to keep it 70% full.
12. Not running a tumble dryer. The amount of washing I do – the tumble dryer temptation is real. Instead I’ve added some rails in our teeny pantry room, and I run a dehumidifier in there to get things dry. (Instead of having wet washing all around the house). It’s fairly cheap to run and actually does a very quick job.
13. Adding silver foil / space blankets behind my radiators to reflect the heat back into the room instead of losing it into the walls.
14. Bought a timer for our shower. Our water is fixed rate, but is heated up by the gas, so shorter showers mean less water heating.
It’s hard to say if these tips will directly end up saving me money or not. Is spending £20 on curtains to insulate the front and back door going to save me £20 or more of heating, who’s to say. But considering these things is really getting me to think about our energy consumption, and I’m sure our combined family effort will result in a lower energy usage.
I would LOVE to hear if you’ve started thinking about this. Perhaps you’ve already implemented some good systems which are helping you reduce your energy consumption and your bills. Please share any of them with me!
This page contains affiliate links. If you choose to purchase after clicking a link, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
Leave a Reply