wise-life.com

Posts Tagged ‘save money’

Last time I gave some ideas for reducing your water bills. This time I’m going to show you some ideas that will help reduce your gas and electricity bills. With the onset of winter, these bills will go through the roof, like a helium filled balloon on steroids! But we have to stay warm, and with shorter days upon us, we’ll need to use more light.

So what do I do to save money on those bills at this time of year?

Let’s start with the central heating. Everybody that I know who has central heating, is on gas central heating, and that means big bills! Long gone are the days when it was cheap and affordable. But just how long do you really need to use it for during the week? By that, I mean Monday through Friday.

Think about one of these for your back yard!

We all like to get out of bed to a warm environment during the winter. My heating is set to come on 30 minutes before the alarm clock goes off. That 30 minutes is sufficient to take away the overnight chill, and make the house warm enough to be comfortable while everybody gets themselves ready for work/school. The radiators will still give out enough warmth for a while after the heating goes off. By the time they do cool down, most folk, if not all in the household, will be out.

The heating is then set to come back on for 30 minutes before the first person is due back home. That gives the house a welcoming warmth to come home to.

The heating will go on again for 30 mins at around an hour after evening meal. That gives us time to take a shower in comfort, before settling down for the night. That’s just 90 minutes per day for the central heating.

The living room is generally the centre of my household, so the gas fire is the source of heat there. I don’t see the point in having heating on in rooms that are not getting used, bedrooms, hallway and landing etc. If my daughter wants to watch TV or do homework in her room, I put a thermostatically controlled electric convector heater in there. It does the job well, and surprisingly economically too.

Once Aimee is in bed, that same heater goes in my room, and gets switched on around 15 minutes before I retire for the night. Again, the little heater does enough to take away any chill, and makes getting ready for bed a lot more comfortable. I would certainly recommend getting one for your house, they are a godsend.

I might sound like a tight wad! but seriously folks, trying to limit the central heating use during the week, racks up big savings over those winter months. It isn’t always going to be possible to follow religiously, but try to keep midweek use to 7.5 hours, and certainly under 10 hours. That gives a little extra heating time over the weekend when most of the household are at home, and most of the rooms will be in use.

I’ve turned into my Dad when it comes to people leaving lights on all around the house! Anyone with kids will know just how difficult it is to get kids to turn off lights in areas where they’re not really needed. I know, I was a kid once! I guess you only really learn to economise once you leave home and start forking out your own hard earned on bills yourself. I understand what Dad meant now!

My household can resemble a mini Las Vegas at times, and I’ve pretty much given up yelling at everyone to turn lights out. I still cut down on electricity use though, by replacing old incandescent bulbs with low energy, long life bulbs.

It’s no contest really, 1 x 100 watt incandescent bulb uses the same energy as 5 x 20 watt low energy bulbs. Don’t be fooled by the wattage either. Modern low energy 20 watt bulbs are as bright as the old incandesent 100 watt bulbs.

Sure, sometimes they take a few minutes to build up their brightness, but once warmed up, you wouldn’t know the difference. I’ve been using them for the past 5 years now (I’ve only had to replace 2 so far, and that was because I was a clutz and bust one), and I wouldn’t go back to using the older type of bulb. Again, I would certainly recommend switching to those type of bulbs, THEY DO SAVE YOU MONEY.

So the last couple of posts will hopefully give you some ideas of your own to make some cutbacks, and savings. Like I said previously, individually they will only make small savings, but put all those small savings together, they will reduce your bills!!! Take a look at the previous post here.

Coming up. I will be doing a review of an ebook I’ve been reading. The subject is the Aloe Vera plant and the amazing properties it has, including saving you more money! Stay tuned, and until next time, keep your chin up.

If you enjoyed this article, please share it using the buttons up on the left. Thanks.

Follow @1wiseowl

Paul.

We’re all feeling the pinch at this moment in time, and we’re going to be feeling it for a while to come, by all accounts.

How much did this cost?

That is why I thought I would offer some of my current strategies for cutting back on utilities expenditure. Let’s see if we can retrieve some of your hard earned, and leave it in your bank account, instead of handing it over to the fat cats. Let’s start saving money!

I really hate paying in excess for something that is mine by right. That something is water. Water is God’s gift to us all, and we’re being made to pay for it excessively. I accept that the infrastructure has to be paid for, and that is right. But putting money into somebody else’s pocket for what is rightfully mine annoys the hell out of me. So I’ve been doing what I can to reduce the amount I use.

• Start by not flushing the toilet each time you or somebody in the house only takes a pee! A toilet cistern holds around 15 litres of water. If your household flushes 10 times in the day, say goodbye to 150 litres of water, and quite a few pennies.

• It goes without saying really, but shower instead of bathing if you can. Doing so will use around 60% less water. To put it into context, an average persons bath will hold 150 – 200 litres of water, a shower will only use up approx’ 80 litres! A massive saving. If you don’t have a shower at home, and some of us still don’t, then try to bathe in half the water you usually use. Just picture your water meter clicking up the units used, it’ll help alter your mindset.

• When you are doing your laundry, make sure you’re not just putting a half load in the machine. I’m not saying cram the stuff in, that’s no good either, just make sure you have enough going in the machine to justify the water you will use.

• Turn the tap off while you brush your teeth, if you leave it running, you’re watching your money go down the drain as you brush.

• Fill a container, such as an empty juice bottle, to place in the refrigerator as drinking water. How much water will get wasted as you let the tap run until the water is cool enough to drink.

Some of the above may seem like an effort at first, but once you see the reduction in your bills, it’ll get easier. As a bonus, you’re not only saving money, you’re being ecologically prudent with a valuable resource too!

Next time, I will pass on the tips I use to save on my gas and electricity. Until then, keep your chin up.

If you enjoyed reading this post, please share it using the buttons up on the left. Thanks.

Follow @1wiseowl