1. Get Insulated…For Free!
Whilst it is true that most grants have now ended or are reserved for those on lower incomes, there are still some insulation grants available to everyone! Take a look at the KeepWarm scheme. You just contact them to register and in no time they’ll send an energy surveyor around to check that you are suitable for the grant. You could get your loft and cavity walls insulated completely FREE if you match the criteria, reducing the heat lost in your home.
2. Do a Little Heating Feng Shui
Rather than adjusting your home layout to get in touch with your spiritual side, do it to save on your bills! Take a look at where your furniture is positioned – do you have a sofa blocking a radiator? Have you got thick lined curtains blocking out any cold air from windows? Do you have a rug covering cold floors? Make sure any sources of cold air are blocked, and sources of heat are fully exposed.
3. Plug the Gaps
If you have TV aerials running from a hole in the attic, or cable TV wires coming in from outside, the cold air could be sneaking its way in through these holes too. You can pick up a can of expanding foam for a few pounds in a hardware shop to insulate these gaps and keep your home warm.
4. Get Active and Play Games!
Do you sit on the sofa playing bingo on your laptop complaining you’re cold? Then get up and move! Dust off the Wii or pull out the board games and have some fun with the family. Getting up and moving around is a great way to enjoy some time with the kids, but also keep warm at home for free.
5. Use Oven Heat
You’ve heard the phrase ‘slaving over a hot stove’, well make the most of the heat and use it to keep your home toasty! After cooking, switch the oven off but leave the door open so the warm air can continue to heat the room. If you get hot whilst cooking, it can be tempting to throw a door or window open, but you’ll soon cool down. Instead, change into a t-shirt before you eat, then layer up again as you cool down after cooking.
6. Insulate Hot Water Tanks
You’re not the only one that feels the benefit when you put a jacket on. If your home has a hot water tank, buy a tank jacket for it (you can pick them up for around £10 in home improvement stores). You can reduce the amount of heat lost by a whopping 70% for just a tenner!
7. Heat the Rooms You Use
It’s likely that you’re only using one or two rooms in your home at a time, but you’ll have radiators in all of them. If you can control radiators independently, put in a little extra effort to switch off the ones in your home that you aren’t using. If you have 10 radiators, you’ll be using 10 times less energy – it’s that simple! An easy way to save on your heating bills.
8. Letter Box Rage
How frustrating is it when you return home to find junk mail sticking out of your letterbox, letting the heat out of your home in the process? Just leave a polite notice on the letter box asking for mail to be pushed all the way through, or get a mail box to attach to the outdoor wall and seal up the letter box completely to keep heat in.
9. Keep the Garden in Order
Although you don’t get as much sunlight in the winter, you want to let in as much as you can to keep your home warm naturally. We tend not to garden as much in the winter, but if you have bushes or trees blocking the sunlight from getting in, keep them pruned in the colder months to let in as much natural heat as possible.
10. Efficient Cooking
If you’re cooking up a delicious casserole or hearty roast dinner, cook savvy to use as little energy as possible. Instead of using 3 hob rings to cook the veg, buy a tiered steamer to stack your greens up, using the heat from the bottom to cook everything through. Also, if there’s something you can heat in the microwave in 10 minutes rather than placing in the oven for up to an hour, go with the microwave – it’s much more energy efficient and will slice the cost of home cooking.
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