Money saving ideas for every room in the house

The cost of living crisis has the UK in its grip right now, with many struggling to meet household bills. And the signs are that the situation will only get worse when heating is added into the mix later this year.

The Government has pledged to do all it can to help those living in poverty because of the growing cost of living. But there are ways to make small savings on gas and electricity usage.

Here’s our guide to how to do it room-by-room, reports MirrorOnline.

Kitchen

Modern dishwashers use 11-13 litres of water per cycle, but an average sink holds around 20 litres. Don’t rinse plates as that wastes up to 24 litres of water a year.

Always use the eco-setting – it takes longer than a standard wash, but it uses around 20% less water and energy. If you don’t have a dishwasher, fill a bowl instead of letting the tap run, saving yourself around £25 a year.

Reduce the thermostat on your washing machine. Washing at 30 degrees rather than 40 degrees can help reduce your energy usage and save around £10 per year.

Don’t hang wet clothes on radiators to dry as it will reduce their efficiency. Use a clothes horse instead – or hang them outside.

If you need to use a tumble dryer, wring or spin clothes before putting them in. Tumble drying uses a lot of energy, especially if your dryer is inefficient.

Only boil as much water as you need in the kettle. The most energy-saving kettles have a low minimum-fill line, and switch off swiftly after boiling.

Descale your kettle regularly. If it’s full of limescale, you use more energy to boil the same amount of water. Similarly use the smallest saucepan required and put it on the burner that matches the size of its base.

Defrost frozen food in your fridge, reducing the amount of electricity needed. Use a fridge thermometer to ensure it is between 0 and 5°C.

Lower temperatures decrease energy use, but if it’s too warm your food will spoil. Defrost regularly and use a vacuum cleaner to clean the condenser coils at the back or underneath your fridge or freezer as thick dust can reduce their efficiency by up to 25%.

Invest in a slow cooker, which can cost as little as £12, which uses very little electricity.

Living room

Lower your thermostat by 1C – and then keep going to see how low you can go. The average thermostat is set at 22C and reducing it by just one degree helps to cut bills by around 10%.

Set timers for when you most need the heating and turn radiators off in rooms you don’t regularly use. Also, make sure you bleed your radiators a couple of times a year to improve the efficiency of your heating system.

Turn your appliances off standby mode and don’t leave devices on charge unnecessarily, saving on average £30 a year.

Bathroom

Your electric toothbrush, beard trimmer and shavers should hold their charge for several uses. Charge them only when needed.

Every household in the UK uses an average of around 350 litres of water each day. Nearly half of an average annual combined energy bill is from heating the water for showers, baths and hot water from the tap.

This, according to the Energy Saving Trust, costs on average about £228 a year. A typical bath uses around 80-100 litres, whereas the average shower uses 50 litres.

Buying a more efficient shower head can save you as much as £18 per person a year on energy bills, plus more if you have a water meter. Cut a minute off your shower time by installing a timer in the bathroom and if you’re on a meter, saving water will reduce your bill.

Bedroom

Closing your curtains or shutters at dusk will stop heat escaping through your window. To ensure your windows are draft-proof add self-adhesive strips between any gaps.

It is also a good idea to invest in seasonal bedding. While the last thing you want is to be sweltering in summer, by winter a thick eiderdown will make all the difference to keeping you cosy without a costly bill.

If you don’t have carpeted floors, you should be on the lookout for a rug as they are a simple and cost effective means of insulation. They also keep your feet warm and block dreaded drafts.

Loft

Insulate your home. British houses lose approximately 35% of heat through walls and 25% through the roofs without proper insulation. Sixteen million homes in Britain don’t have the recommended 30cm of loft insulation – one of the easiest and most effective ways to keep heat in, responsible for about 25% of escaping warmth.

Rolling out mineral wool or another product in your loft, standard depth of 30cm, which is the length of a school ruler, will last for around 40 years and have a pay back of about one year. Boards on stilts can be added so you can still keep storage space in the roof if needed.