AD| Times are really hard for a lot of us with the increased cost of living. Along with house-price increases, food, and fuel costs – the increase in energy bills will leave a lot of households struggling for money. Our energy bills have tripled. To see our increase in cost per year was eyewatering. And it’s set to get much worse from October.
So many more of us are looking at ways that we can reduce our energy bills, so here are some home improvements you can do to keep costs down. Making many, small changes can decrease your energy bills in the future, and some may even increase the value of your home.
Install shutter blinds
Shutter blinds are a great way to improve energy efficiency. They stop the draughts from escaping and keep the warmth in, improving heat retention. This means you can rely less on your heating in the colder months. Keeping them closed during heatwaves can also help keep the sun and heat out, meaning you won’t need to use fans or aircon as much.
DIY Shutters offer plenty of easy-to-follow guides and videos to guide you through every step, including measuring up windows, ordering bespoke shutters and tips on installing them themselves. Buying bespoke shutter blinds has never been easier.
They are made from quality materials and there’s an Inspiration Gallery on the website so you can see different shutters in different rooms and colour schemes – you will see something to suit every style with a range of materials and colours. There is also a Technical Gallery which helps you see the components in more detail.
Use Smart Plugs
The average home spends £50-£86 a year on appliances in standby mode. We are guilty of this – especially as plugs for the TV and SkyBox are not in reach. Switching to Smart Plugs means you can turn appliances off from anywhere, saving you money with very little effort. Perfect if you’ve forgotten to switch something off when you’re not at home!
Insulate your loft
About a quarter of all heat is lost through the roof of your house, so investing in insulation for your home is a great way to save on your heating bills. It should cost around £1250 to insulate the loft of the average 5-bedroomed house, meaning it won’t be long before you earn this back on lower energy bills.
Draught proof your windows and doors
You can draft proof your internal and external doors by adding a self-adhesive foam draught excluder to where your windows press together where they open and close. You can also add a brush strip across doors to help prevent heat from escaping through the bottom, and a letterbox cover to help keep the warmth inside.
Install solar panels
Getting solar panels installed in your home costs an average of £6500. So this is a long-term investment and it will take around 14 years for this to pay off. It can also increase the value of your home by about 4.1%. So if you can afford the initial fee – it’s worth the investment.
Bonus money-saving tip:
This is a tip to save you on water. Although it’s not technically energy – it’s still money off your household bills. Switching to a dual-flush toilet can save you on the water each flush. A typical toilet uses 13 litres of water per flush, whereas a dual flush uses only 4-6 litres. Over a year that is a lot of water!
A dual-flush is a toilet at gives you the option to flush a smaller amount of a full tank. Liquid waste doesn’t need as much water as solid waste. Usually, these are the two buttons on top of the toilet.
How are you saving money at the moment?
These are some really great tips to help start saving money on energy. We all need to find ways to make it better for our bank balance. Smart plugs sound like a great idea. I am usually good at switching everything off when I leave but there are certain things on standby. Another tip that is more to save money is this don’t pay a direct debit but only pay for exactly what you have used. It has been in the news and I think it is criminally how the energy companies are treating people.
Thank you for sharing your suggestions.
Lauren x
Great ideas, I don’t own a house at this time but will keep these in mind. Thank you for sharing!
Fab tips, we got our loft re-insulated earlier this year so it’s as good as it can be. I’d love solar panels but the initial outlay is just so much!
Amy x
callmeamy.co.uk
These are good tips to save home bills. I like the first idea. Thank you for sharing.
These are some great home improvement tips!
Candice x
theblogsocial.com
thebeautysociety.co.za
Ooh, love these suggestions! Definitely an investment, but if you own a house I think it’s worth it. I really like the sound of smart plugs, even better for when you aren’t at home 🙂 x
These are some really great suggestions! My family got (heavily discounted) solar panels fitted a few months ago and we’ve already seen such a difference in the bills! I love the sound of the shutters and smart plugs too. Thank you so much for sharing these ideas x
Great suggestions! Our house is a New Build and I’ve noticed it’s really well insulated, which should help us save money on bills. We are having shutters fitted this Friday so hopefully that will help too. Thanks for sharing. Jade MumLifeandMe
These are great tips and things everyone should be thinking about right now. Thanks for sharing. I love the water saving tips.
Solar panels are becoming increasingly popular.; even in the Caribbean. Never knew it could save so much money. I thought shutters were a design feature of a house. Good to know that they help save on energy bills. Thanks for sharing. Your blog post was very informative.
We have a dual flush toilet, which I love. It saves so much water! We need to work on some of the drafts under the doors, for sure. Thank you for sharing these tips!
These are great ways to reduce energy bills! Solar panels are a lot more popular than they used to be (and rightly so!) x
Lucy | http://www.lucymary.co.uk
Thanks for sharing!
Danielle | thereluctantblogger.co.uk
Great tips! Definitely going to check out smart plugs x
When we first moved into our house we did a lot of work trying to insulate it. Not just to stay warm, but to cut costs down too. Luckily my OH’s step dad did the loft insulation for us so we only had to pay for materials. We got cavity wall insulation too! We definitely need to check out smart plugs, we leave so much of our stuff on standby it’s crazy! Thanks for sharing these. They’ll be useful for so many people. Rising costs of EVERYTHING is super scary!
Claire.X
http://www.clairemac.co.uk
These are some really great tips! I’ve been more thoughtful in terms of what I’m doing when it comes to using household items and accidentally leaving lights on etc since the cost of living increased. Love the smart plug idea! x
astoldbykirsty.co.uk