As the colder months approach, you’ll find yourself switching the lights on earlier and wanting to turn the heating on more often. It’s not fun feeling the chilliness of Autumn and Winter entering our homes now that the Summer is over.
But this isn’t going to be easy to do without breaking the bank. With the rising cost of living and most people having a family to feed, our bills are definitely going to feel the effects of the weather dropping below the double digits.
Keeping yourself and your family warm, fed, and clothed is important, so we’ve compiled some of the best tips to help you save money this winter.
Cook in bulk
Cooking individual meals multiple times a day can cause your energy bill to be higher than it needs to be. The constant use of the stove and oven all day means that more money is being spent on your gas and electricity unnecessarily, especially if you have a larger number of people in your home.
To combat this high amount of energy use, cooking your meals in bulk can save you a lot, leading to less energy use over time without forcing you to choose between heat or a warm meal. Cooking one big meal on the stove or in the oven for the family will keep everyone well-fed without fear of raising the energy bills any higher than it has to be.
Another thing you can do is put more things into the oven at once rather than one after the other to use the oven heat more efficiently.
Bonus tip – when you’re boiling water for your potatoes, use the steam to cook your vegetables on top. Using a steamer here instead of using a second hob on the stove to steam your vegetables will save you from unnecessarily using up more energy.
Bonus tip #2 – Switch off the oven 5 minutes early. The residual heat will keep cooking the food. This might seem like a short amount of time but it can actually make a huge difference. Considering how often we use our ovens, this will save you a lot in the future.
Keep an eye on your thermostat
Turning your thermostat down just one degree can lead to a huge savings. Your house will still be warm and your bill could be lower by potentially one hundred pounds.
Bonus tip – Don’t leave your heater on low all day.
It’s best to turn on the heat in short bursts when you need it. If you keep the heating on all day, you’ll also be losing energy all day through the walls of your home. So, to save on your bills, it’s best to only switch it on when you need to.
Heat what you need
English tea is pretty much a staple in most British households. Everyone loves to turn the kettle on for a warm drink to start their day, accompany their lunch, or settle into the evening. So it’s not surprising that heating up the kettle daily makes up a good part of your energy bill.
When you’re making your cup of tea, try only heating up the amount needed to fill your cup. By doing this, your water will heat quicker and conserve more energy, lowering your energy bill.
Replace the old with the new - LED bulbs
This might seem a little more expensive from the initial cost of buying these new LED bulbs, but in the long term, this will bring you HUGE savings in your energy bills. These new bulbs don’t consume as much energy and their lifespan is drastically longer, meaning that you won’t have to replace the bulbs as quickly as the non-LED ones.
Whilst you save on your bills, you can save the planet too as LED bulbs are more environmentally friendly!
Get cosy on the colder nights
When it starts to get colder, you might be tempted to put the heating on. After all, no one likes the biting chill of winter. But instead of doing this, there are other things you can do to stay warm without using up energy through the heater. One of these is popping on some hoodies and warm blankets whilst using the cold weather as an excuse to get cosy with the family. Warm up some mugs of tea or hot chocolate and have a night in spending time with the family or with yourself.
Break out the board games or put on a movie you’ve been wanting to watch for a while. Have a catch-up on everyone’s day or relax in silence with yourself and take some ‘you’ time. Stocking up on hoodies and blankets are a great investment in the colder months, but where can you find some of these warmer clothes for the winter months? Check out our next tip.
Check out the local charity shops
Charity shops can be gold mines for those looking for warm clothes in the winter. There’s something for everyone in the family, and you’ll find it at the cheapest prices. Stock up on cosy blankets, hoodies, socks, winter coats and any thermal garments you can find. These will keep you warm for the rest of the season without forcing you to break the bank to keep yourself and the family warm.
You can find these stores everywhere. Check out your local high-street or shopping centre to see where you can start your search for good clothing at the lowest prices.
Use your appliances efficiently
Some appliances can be more efficient to use than sticking to the oven to cook all your meals. Depending on the brand, air fryers, microwaves and slow cookers can be great alternatives to reduce the amount of energy used when cooking.
Although you might think that, due to the longer cooking times, a slow cooker would be the last thing you want to use, it’s actually one of the most energy efficient appliances you can use in the kitchen! It uses much less energy than an oven would to cook the same meal for less time.
Air fryers and microwaves are also more efficient appliances because they are able to cook food quicker than an oven usually will. Both of these appliances use less energy and emit less energy waste.
There are many brands of air fryers and slow cookers out there that you can purchase for cheap prices. It’s a great investment that will save you a lot in the long run.
Bonus tip – Another appliance you can use more efficiently is your washing machine! Try to do the washing only when the machine is at full capacity and at a lower temperature (between 30C-40C)
Saving by removing standby
Most don’t realise how much energy is being used by appliances that have been left plugged in and forgotten about. Laptops, computers, chargers, and anything else that uses a plug can be wasting energy unnecessarily without you even noticing.
Although it’s not the biggest money saver on this list, it can save you a lot in the long run.
Go around checking your socket switches and forgotten appliances that could possibly be taking up a part of your energy bill and switch them off until they are needed.
Bonus tip – Remember to turn off the lights in any room that you are not currently in. This might seem like an obvious tip but it’s pretty easy to develop a habit of leaving the lights on around your home.
Crafting for christmas
The festive season is right around the corner! But while it’s a time known for happiness and coming together with the family, it can also be pretty stressful trying to buy presents for everybody without breaking the bank.
Try out some crafts – create a jar full of sticks with affirmations on them or things you love about the person! Create a collage of pictures in a book with all the times you’ve spent with them. Do some cooking/baking – make some cookies and wrap them in a clear cello wrap or create a hot chocolate mix. Get creative and layer the dry ingredients on top of each other in a jar.
There’s so much you can do whilst spending very little money.
Share some of your tips to save money this winter on our forum and social media! Let us know how you keep the bills down without breaking the bank.
