Christmas has been and gone and a New Year has started, but that doesn’t mean we can dig out our flip flops and coast our way to spring. In previous years our coldest months are December, January and February, when the temperature is usually between 3 and 6°C. Keeping in the heat and making best use of what you have are essential if you are to make the most of your central heating until springtime.
1 Fill In Those Gaps
Make sure that all your doors are free from drafts and there’s no sneaky cold air vents feeding into your home, you would be …‘blown away’ by the number of draughts that can be found in the average home.
Make sure you put a hat on, loft insulation is the best way to keep the warmth in. The savings to be made with cavity wall insulation vary greatly dependent upon what kind of house you live in (between £90 and £275), but let’s face it savings are savings no matter how big your wallet is and the warmer your house stays the less you’ll use your heating.
2 Change the temperatures in each room
Not the easiest thing to remember or even do, setting radiators at different temperatures is useful.
Let’s say, like most of us, you’re ‘chilling’ out in the living room in the evening, but you’ll want a bit of heat in the bedroom for when you decide to hit the hay.
You should keep the heating on at a low temperature upstairs because this will save you money on your heating and help you to not freeze in bed.
Also see our Smart thermostats post on ways to heat different rooms.
3 Unplug Electricals
Turn electricals off when not being used or put them on stand by mode. The amount of appliance wastage we have in our homes now has tripled over the last 15 years. This again will save you money on your energy bills.
4 Free Up Your Radiators
By this we don’t mean unscrew your rads from the wall so they can make a dash for it when our bad is turned. We simply mean, as we have said many times before – keep stuff away from your radiators.
Ensuring that furniture and clothes horses and other obstructions have been moved will allow heat to circulate more freely around your room.
You wouldn’t try and get a better picture on your TV by moving the cupboard in front of it? Give it room to spread the heat.
5 Get Your Boiler Serviced
Regular servicing not only protects the life of your boiler and keeps it running efficiently, it also protects your family’s safety.
A neglected boiler can be a source of leaks and carbon monoxide poisoning which kills one person in the UK every week and leaves four more seriously ill.
Read more about getting your boiler serviced
6 Swap To LED Lights
Are you putting Christmas lights up this year? Well, it wouldn’t be Christmas without lights would it? However, how much of a strain does this put on your electricity bill the next month? Alot! If you switch to LED lights, not only will you be using batteries, you won’t be using your electricity supply. Another great way to save money during this time of year is take them down when Christmas is over.