How will you make savings to pay for energy bills.

Chardy

Has anyone else noticed that a lot of the energy-saving 'suggestions' on TV (and other media) are things that many of us do anyway? Maybe we're environmentally-friendly or just reduced our extravagance when we retired?

Yes.

Our house seems to retain heat quite well.
It's rare that we have the heat on all day; it goes off at 9.30 am and comes on again at 4.30 pm but we do have a conservatory where we can go if we're at home in the afternoon. Despite the cold windy weather today, the sun shone and it was 25C in there this afternoon.

We'd definitely invest in solar panels if we were younger but the outlay is considerable and the payback period would not be cost-effective for us.

Chardy

Has anyone else noticed that a lot of the energy-saving 'suggestions' on TV (and other media) are things that many of us do anyway? Maybe we're environmentally-friendly or just reduced our extravagance when we retired?

Chardy
We lived off grid for 20 years. Our power came from wind generators and solar panels. We didn’t go without anything.
There’s nothing anybody can tell me about saving power.

Has anyone else noticed that a lot of the energy-saving 'suggestions' on TV (and other media) are things that many of us do anyway? Maybe we're environmentally-friendly or just reduced our extravagance when we retired?

I was listening to Radio 4 this morning and the presenter said that any items that become 'warm', cost. He recommended unplugging phone/mower/drill etc battery chargers.

I only boil my kettle once a day and fill the flask, anyone else do this?

I will definitely get a TV for the bedroom next winter. I downsized last year after DH died and resisted the temptation because I thought it would be the slippery slope and I’d be spending far too much time in bed.

Having just spent winter evenings huddled under a fleecy throw with Peggy leaping on my lap every time I reached for the ‘on’ switch of the electric heat pad, I’ve decided to embrace the slippery slope in future. ?

Chestnut

NotTooOld I guess there will be lots of advice on how to save money, and that might not be a bad thing. Many younger people have no idea how to economise and probably spend on luxuries thinking they are essentials. Their very first priority should be to feed and clothe their children, so I get very angry when I hear of children being sent to school hungry with no breakfast, that is pure laziness. It costs next to nothing to fill your child up with a bowl of porridge and that should be more important than anything.

Very judgemental. As a teacher who has worked in deprived areas, I can say categorically, that children who are hungry don't have parents frittering money away. They're existing hand to mouth on universal credit, in areas where industry was decimated in the 1980s. A lot of their food comes from food banks and clothes from charity shops or second hand school uniform. They frequently live in homes we would regard as uninhabitable, with problems such as damp and vermin infestations, which the landlord doesn't rectify, often even when it's local authority housing (which is often unavailable due to council property being sold off) and the level of demand.

Making inflammatory statements like that either show ignorance of the poverty many families live in today, or is a deliberate wind up.

I am just grateful that I have savings that I can use to pay the new enormous bills, though I never expected to be in this position.

I have just cut tonight’s potatoes smaller than usual, so they’ll cook more quickly.

We’re not putting the heating on until much later - 3 pm+ - and turning it off a bit earlier, around 9.30 instead of 10 pm+. Given an extra warm jumper or gilet and my lovely sheepskin house boots (several years old now) TBH I barely notice the difference.

We don’t eat out much and have takeaways/ready meals once in a blue moon, so no difference there. We very rarely buy coffees when out, either.
I may well be making more of my signature ? ‘dustbin’ soups, always very cheap and filling. Just as well dh really likes them.

I heard the other day that if you have a combination boiler you can reduce the flow to 60 percent without any loss of comfort. There's information on the web about how to do it, saving 6 - 8 percent. Most boilers have the factory setting of 80 percent. Only with a combi boiler.

I have taken the Central heating off the timer and now only put it on manually if it gets really cold - which it has this week.

Same here. I don't know what else I can cut back on. I'm sitting under a blanket as I type this.

Dh and i cannot not make anymore changes,we just have to deal with this.
We have nothing more to cut back on.

My D’s all have sash windows in their Victorian houses and have had them replaced with wooden framed, double glazed (hand made to fit) sash windows at eye watering prices.
There are times when I am quite glad I live in a naff 70’s house with conventional UPVC double glazing!

Haha Pecs I have sash windows and they are certainly draughty I was sticking cardboard in the gaps last night when it was a bitter gale

We both have a plug in blanket which we use when we are sitting. Keeps us both very warm and no need for central heating on.

I have invested in another fleece throw for the sofa & we are having the last double glazed windows installed. Sad to see the original sash windows go but they are to draughty. Need to work on DH re blocking up the fireplace in the back room.

I’ve reprogrammed my CH/boiler clock to come on an hour later morning and evening.
If I am at home and it is on, and I don’t feel it is necessary (unlike yesterday and today!) I switch the boiler off using the manual override.
I have solar panels and run my washing machine and dishwasher either overnight (Economy 7) or when the system is generating.
I have always done that thing of rushing round the house shutting all the curtains as soon as it starts to get dark, don’t know if it helps but it FEELS as if it does!!

It's not just energy bills though, is it? My council tax has risen by 4%, petrol has gone up, food bills have risen and my internet and phone bills have also risen. I'm on a fixed pension from my employer and it's not rising. I'm not entitled to have the state pension for two years. I'm cutting down on the heating. I use a dishwasher and it's cheaper than doing dishes by hand so that'll stay. I won't use the tumble dryer as much. All washing goes outside now. I'll switch off everything that is on standby at night to save some. Where I'll definitely save is on luxuries. Less impulsive buying. Fewer clothes, wine, expensive coffee, eating out and fewer trips to the cinema and theatre. So life will become more humdrum. So be it.

I don’t have central heating but my daughter has turned hers off completely and relying on hot water bottles and blankets

NotTooOld I guess there will be lots of advice on how to save money, and that might not be a bad thing. Many younger people have no idea how to economise and probably spend on luxuries thinking they are essentials. Their very first priority should be to feed and clothe their children, so I get very angry when I hear of children being sent to school hungry with no breakfast, that is pure laziness. It costs next to nothing to fill your child up with a bowl of porridge and that should be more important than anything.

Isn't this a shame? I'm guessing most of us are as frugal as possible and making extra savings will be very difficult. I feel very sorry for those already on stretched incomes who are dreading their next energy bills. Life is getting worse, not better.

I'm only shopping for necessities. No new clothes unless replacing something that is needed. Cooking from scratch. More veg less meat. Less eating and drinking out. More TV less cinema, theatre......I could go on!!!!

I pretty much do all those things anyway. I would always have a full wash load. I wrap up cosy when watching TV. I don't always use the oven. I only have two lights on in the evening. I've just turned the heating down half a degree.

For a lot of people, they are already making all the savings they can. It is impossible to use less. Everyone I know never uses the oven unless they fill it up, uses the washing machine as sparingly as they can, doesn't use a tumble drier, only fills the kettle just enough for what is needed etc etc.

We all wear sensible warm clothing inside as well as out. Further savings are virtually impossible.