28 May Cost of living crisis – how can we save money and help our planet

During these uncertain times when the cost of living is rising dramatically we want to give you easy tips and quick switches for your energy to help you save money and help our planet at the same time. 

As the government announces help for all households across the UK this autumn, here are some extra steps that we can all take to keep our bills and usage down too. 

• Turn off lights and switches – make yourself or your family reminders in each room, use post it notes or a note on the fridge to remind every to check and turn off lights.
• Only wash when you need to – Take a second to look at whether your clothes NEED washing – it’s a habit to just throw clothes in the wash basket but could you get an extra wear out of them? This could reduce the amount of washloads you do in a week.
• Fill your washing machine to it’s load capacity to reduce the amount of times you need to put your machine on in the week.
• Turn your temperature down  – When you do wash your clothes, wash at 30 degrees
• Peg out your washing to dry – look out for those sunny or windy days to do your washing
• Use a flask – do you work from home and flick the kettle on many times in the day? Why not boil a few cups worth in a morning and pop it in a flask to make your brews from during the day?
• Take a shower instead of a bath and keep your showers to 3 minutes
• Wash up just once a day and fill the bowl half or if you have one, use the dishwasher and fill to it’s capacity.
• Turn off your heating during the spring and summer months and if you do need the heating on, turning it down just a few degrees can make a big difference to your bills.
• Keep curtains and blinds open when the sun is shining to heat your home naturally
• Turn technology off standby on a night – this can help reduce your bills in the year
• Limit TV time – this can not only be good for the health and wellbeing of your whole family but can help you reduce your bills too – perhaps have a set time each day where you turn off the TV and go for a walk, read a book or encourage children to play with their toys.
• Choose a journey each week that you can walk instead of drive – reducing just one journey a week in your car can reduce your fuel consumption.
• Plan your meals – meal planning a the start of each week can help reduce food wastage and reduce shopping bills
• Planning a meal or two each week which doesn’t need to use the oven or cooker – a nice summer salad or leftovers from a previous meal.

Many of us just use energy and don’t monitor our usage closely – keeping a track of your bills and how much you are using can help you reduce how much you are using. Look at how much energy you used last month and write it down. Make some switches then check your usage the following month.