5 Easy Ways to Save Money on Energy this Winter

As the days continue to get colder, I have been forced to think of easy ways to save money on energy this winter. I am someone who despises the cold and as soon as the temperate dropped the end of September, I switched my heating on so you can imagine my gas bill in October. I knew this could not continue so I sat down and wrote some easy ways to save money on energy this winter starting with turning off my heating in all the rooms I am not using.

When I lived with my parents over 10 years ago, I didn’t have to worry much about the gas bill. Mum did her due diligence of reminding us daily to unplug, switch off and shut the damn windows. We had to wear warm clothing at home until the heating came on at set times every day, we drunk way too much hot chocolate and snuggled on the sofa way too often. It was how we knew how to save money on heating every winter and it worked for us.

5 Easy Ways to Save Money on Energy this Winter

Looking back, I wish I had paid more attention when I was still at home and learned earlier how to save money on heating every winter. When you own your own place, you want to enjoy all the luxuries that come with being a homeowner until you remember that part of being a homeowner is also being the bill payer of everything in your home. I obviously learned this pretty quickly when I received my first gas bill and readjusted my usage.

The tips I am sharing in this post are those that I have been using over the last couple of months and have helped me during my gas bill considerably. It won’t happen overnight but if you consistently follow through, you will be able to see a difference in your monthly or quarterly billing for your energy bill. I have come to learn that everything is trial and error but sometimes the error come at a biggest cost and its therefore important to learn early on.

Tip #1 Install smart meter and monitor usage

I don’t know why it took me so long to have a smart meter installed at my home because its the way forward. When I used to travel a lot and spent barely a minute at home, I used to be so annoyed that my bill was still the same every month even when I am not using it. Now that I am spending all my time at home and using up much more energy than before, it has made sense for me to track where I am spending the most energy.

Until I installed a smart meter, I didn’t know that my kettle pulls more energy than my stove and washing machine. It surprised me big time because I drink about 8 cups of tea daily which means I boil my kettle 8 or more times a day. This little nugget made me see where I was spending most energy on in my kitchen so now I boil the kettle less often and utilize my flask a lot more than before. I am still drinking my 8+ cups of tea, it’s just now I use my flask more.

Tip #2 Switch to energy-saving LED bulbs

I have a confession to make, I absolutely disliked LED bulbs mostly because they took forever to brighten up but when they did, they were great. But I realised if I wanted to save money on energy I needed to ensure I had energy-saving bulbs in my home. In my house alone, I have 13 bulbs plus 2 outside bulbs which with energy-saving bulbs can be quite costly but looking at the long term and how much I am saving on my electric bill, its definitely work it.

Tip #3 Service your boiler

This at first might not look like it will save you money because if you think about it, servicing a boiler costs a lot of money. But this is something that you need to do to not only save for future months but in the long run. The worst thing that can happen is your boiler breaking down at the height of winter. It is recommended to service your boiler at least once a year – preferably before winter or after winter to give it a clean bill of health.

Tip #4 Don’t leave appliances on standby

Until I installed my smart meter, I did not think much about how many appliances I often leave on standby. Did you know that between 9-16% of the energy consumed in our homes is from appliances that we leave on standby? I certainly didn’t know this and since I am trying to be more energy-efficient and saving the buck, I am making sure every evening before bed there are no appliances left on standby. Because even on standby appliances are still consuming energy aka energy is still being used and your bill is rising.

Tip #5 Insulate your home and deal with draughts

Did you know that half of your heating is lost through the roof, windows, walls and flooring? I definitely knew about the roof but not much else until recently when the heating was on but there was still a draught coming in and I couldn’t pinpoint where the cold air was coming in from. I did some research and found that most of our windows and glass doors have little vents on them and that’s where the cold was coming from. I made a point of shutting one of the two vents on each glass door and windows and now I don’t feel the draughts anymore. I recommend checking your front and back doors and see if there is any air coming in from the bottle or top of the door and cover them as that’s were warm air is being lost.

There are so many easy ways to save money on energy in winter and most can be done months before winter and others during winter. I personally try not to turn the heating on during the day I only turn it on for a couple of hours in the morning and in the evening then outside of these times I use my hot water bottle and wear warm clothing.

These days we are spending more and more time at home so it might be easier to crank the heating up to stay warmer. I recommend also going for a walk as this often warms me up and since its colder outside, your home will always feel warmer without you turning the heating on. How are you saving money on energy this winter?