I was recently asked by Best Electric Radiators to share my energy saving tips. As a stay-at-home mum of two children, we’re always looking to cut corners and save money. These are some of the changes I have made over the last few years which have helped us to save money and energy. United PLumbing Heating Air & Electric suggests some great ways to save energy

– Take a shower instead of a bath.
I used to love a long bath – a soak in the tub for over an hour. However I don’t really have the time to spare these days and obviously baths take up far more water than a shower. Instead I hope in the shower and I’m out 10 minutes later. Maybe not as luxurious but it suits my lifestyle better and saves water!

– Fill the kettle only as much as you need it.
I moan at everyone in the house about this, along with everyone who visits. Why is it that we naturally “fill” the kettle, even when we’re only making two cups. The latest kettle I’ve bought has far clearer markings as to where you need to fill to, to get the right amount. Filling the kettle with only what you need saves not only on water, but on the electric it takes to boil the water.

 

– Turning off lights.
If you’ve ever needed a commercial electrician to come take a look at your wiring, you’ve probably heard this before. They know what kind of wear and tear these things endure while we take electricity for granted until something stops working or we get the power bill. If you leave a room, turn off the light. During summer with longer hours of daylight, we don’t even need to be turning them on too early. Don’t get into bad habits and turn on lights when you don’t need them – last as long as you can and then when you do turn them on, remember to turn them off when not needed!

– Use the Timer Set and Controls on the heating
It’s not been that warm this year as a whole and I hate to admit I was still popping my heating on for the odd day in May and June. However we reset our heating controls as soon as the weather got milder. Making sure your timer settings and temperature control are right will save on the heating. It’s one thing to pop it on for an hour here and there but another to have it coming on automatically every morning and night when you don’t really need it.

– Air dry your clothes instead of tumble dry.
We’ve always been using washers with tumble dry function but the last one broke last year. Now, we bought a new washing machine that didn’t have a tumble function. My partner was always far too quick to throw something into the tumble dryer when he could have just hung it out to try. Now he can’t and that saves us loads of energy! Not only that, but hung out to dry, the clothes are a lot less likely to need ironing and this saves us too. As well as that, use a lower temperature wash and that will save you as well.

There are loads of other tips too, but I sadly can’t say I’m very good at following those. Switching off appliances fully instead of to standby, making sure the fridge and freezer are full as it takes less work to keep them chilled, using the right size hob on your gas cooker, avoid using pre-rinse on the dishwasher and so on. You may also ask your electrician to inspect your electrical wiring and make sure there are no electricity leakages through damaged or exposed wires which are also potential fire hazards. There are many great ways to save energy and money – along with plenty of websites out there with tips. These are just a few of mine and the ones I’ve found easiest to adapt to.

What are your tips?