Make Your Home Energy Efficient
It is in the news and it is a very good idea. Spend a little to save a lot. Making sure that your insulation is adequate can prevent your house losing a lot of heat and reduce your energy bills. In my first house, which was a brand new house, by insulating the loft correctly the following winter the household energy bills were literally half of what they had been before I added the loft insulation.
You can also replace old style light bulbs with the energy efficient variety as they fail. If you are experiencing the new style energy efficient lightbulbs failing a lot it is likely that the brand you are using is too cheap. Buy just one or two quality bulbs and see how they last. I have some energy savers that have been in regular use for over 16 years without failing!
Shop Around
Do not just accept the first price that you are offered. Shop around elsewhere. When your insurance policies are due for renewal get a few internet quotes for cheaper policies of the same standard. When buying expensive household items, look at the prices in a few shops.
The same applies to energy providers. Not all offer the same prices so see what they have on offer. There are plenty of sites to do this with. Shopping around for cheaper groceries can be time consuming and difficult, but with a lot of your main shopping you could compare prices online and look for special offers and deals as they become available.
Buy Cheaper Products
Do not always just stick to the popular brand name products that you usually buy in the supermarket. Buy buying the branded goods you might be paying a lot more for a product. By instead buying the shop’s own brand, it is possible that the product will be as good quality, but a lot lighter on the wallet. OK, the shop’s own brands are not always of equal quality, but you can quickly learn which items are as good and which are not. It is just snobbery that prevents most people from buying the cheaper brands and in some cases that I have looked at, the shop’s own brand is actually a lot better for you, containing less salt and other nasties.
Educate The Family
Back to the green theme here, but educate your family and make sure that they are switching off electrical devices that are not really needed. Leaving the television on standby, the computer running and lights on in rooms that are not occupied can eat up a lot of electricity. I am always charging around complaining about lights and computer screens that are switched on when there is no one about. Getting into the habit of turning these off can drastically cut down the electricity bill, and also saves the environment.