Saving money on electricity (Part 1)

December 20, 2008 | Leave a Comment

With rising utility bills and generally tighter budgets for many, it is important to consider how to cut back on the quantities of fuel that we use - especially when securing cheaper prices as a way to save money on electricity is becoming harder to do.

How can I save money on electricity?

Over the coming days, Credit Crunch Helpdesk is going to examine some ways of saving money on electricity that may work for you. Give them a try….its the only way to find out what will work for your home…

One of the most common ways of wasting electricity in most homes is the failure to turn off lights when they are not in use. Turning off unused lights may seem obvious - but, just reflect how many times you walk back into a room after dark to find a light on and nobody using the room. This can be a particular issue with young children leaving lights on everywhere they go. Encouraging new habits will save a lot of money on electricity. The only exception to this would be some light bulbs that have been designed to be more efficient when left on in spaces where people are coming and going a lot. Check your manufacturer’s instructions for details on this.
If you are in the habit of leaving an external light switched on for when you return home, changing this light fitting to a movement sensor will save money on electricity as the bulb will only be switched on when needed.
If using electricity for heating a room, ensuring windows are well covered and draught proofed in winter will help to prevent the cold coming into a room off the glass. This will mean that you save money on electricity by not having your heaters on so high / so long. This technique will also save for other forms of heating as well.
If your hot water is heated by electricity in an immersion tank, heating water on a timer saves money on electricity in comparison to leaving the water heater on all the time. A morning and evening slot for water heating will normally suffice day to day needs and a well insulated tank should hold the heat in the water for several hours.
It is worth contacting your electricity carrier and checking prices for electricity consumption during off-peak hours. There are lots of things you can plan to do at these time such as charging batteries, using the tumbler dryer or washing machine etc. Every little action helps to save money on electrcity.
On a similar theme, you can save a lot of money by hanging your clothes out to dry instead of using the tumble dryer to completely dry them. Just 10 minutes on a timer in the dryer once they are dried through will be enough to soften most items and get superficial creases out.

Posted by Karis Dillon | Filed Under Energy Saving, Reducing Household Bills

Saving Money on Shopping

October 9, 2008 | Leave a Comment

Rising prices of food and the financial squeeze of higher fuel prices and increased interest rates the credit crunch are making the challenge of feeding the family on a budget increasingly challenging. None of us want to increase debt or reduce savings any more than we have to when dealing with the day to day costs of running a home …..so where do we start with meeting this challenge?

Top Tips to Save Money on Shopping

Don’t take the kids with you when doing the daily shop. Chances are they will slip all sorts that you don’t need into the shopping basket or pester you to add unnecessary items costing you more.
Once you have decided what you can afford for that week’s food etc, remove your debit and credit cards from your wallet and take the cash with you instead. It will keep you focussed as you walk around and you can’t spend money you don’t have with you. It is also a good way to raise awareness of how much you are spending each week.
If the store you use has a loyalty card system, make use of it. many of these schemes give you cash back for groceries…giving you a chance to save up vouchers for Christmas or other special occasions.
Evaluate buy one get one free deals. Will you consume all of the items before they expire or go off? The life of some fresh products can be extended by using correct storage in your fridge or Stayfresh Longer Bags. If you can get through all of the items in the deal without wastage, they can be good value for money.
Supermarkets place the most profitable items at eye level to encourage quick sale due to convenience. Train yourself to find the item you need then look down to lower shelves and find the cheaper alternatives. Often these are just as good at a fraction of the price.
Supermarket own brands are often just as good as the famous brand names. Items like baked beans, sweetcorn, tins of tomatoes etc are not discernably better if you buy a well known brand….sometimes the own brand item is even nicer! Try one or two own brand items per week on your family and see if they can tell the difference.

Please post your own observations on ways to save money on shopping and share them with our readers.

Posted by Karis Dillon | Filed Under Household Purchases, Reducing Household Bills, Reducing Weekly Food Bill

Budgeting to Save Money on Household Bills

October 3, 2008 | Leave a Comment

What is budgeting?

Budgeting is simply the art of keeping track of all of your household expenses and making sure that enough money is set aside to cover each of the costs incurred during the time period that you are budgeting for (usually a month or a year or a specific project). If, after looking at necessary expenditure, your income is insufficient, you have three choices:

draw the shortfall from savings;
raise extra funds to cover the additional costs; or
save money on existing costs so as to raise the money needed for other items of expenditure.

So which method is best?

There is no right or wrong answer to this question.

Drawing money from savings to meet growing household bills is the short-term solution that many are making during the financial pressures of the credit crunch. However, it is only short term as eventually savings will run out and then what options are left to you?
Selling unneeded household items will also only provide a short-term solution as above. What happens when all that remains in the house is needed and there is still a shortfall in the budget for household bills?
Gaining extra income from additional employment may be an option for some….if opportunities are available during a time of recession when jobs may be harder to come by. However, additional costs incurred to do that job need to be taken into account: commuting costs, childcare costs, time costs for resting and re-charging if over working….
Undoubtably all of us should be looking at ways of saving money on household bills. This approach is simply good old fashioned thriftiness…looked down on by many during the times of easy and cheap credit as the short term solution to household budget shortfalls. Now, as we experience the financial pinch of a lack of easy credit, high interest rates and negative equity on real estate, thriftiness is going to be coming back into fashion with a vengeance. Most of us can make significant savings on a wide range of household bills.

“So what household bills could I save money on?”

Clearly during these times of financial crisis and lack of cheap credit, mortgages, taxes and community charges are not going to be easily negotiated downwards.
Choosing to have less of the luxuries of life can release a lot of money to re-direct to essential bills.
In the coming weeks Credit Crunch Helpdesk will be looking in depth at how money can be saved on the full range of household bills. Undoubtably as many companies start to feel the pinch of the looming recession there will be a lot of good deals out there to be had as they try to keep your custom. This gives you stronger bargaining power instead of having to tolerate rising prices.

Please feel free to comment on the areas of household spending that you need most help with and we will aim to bring you the best advice to reduce these costs.

Posted by Karis Dillon | Filed Under Budgeting Tricks, Financial Advice, Reducing Household Bills

Saving money on water costs in the house and garden

September 30, 2008 | Leave a Comment

Ways of Saving Money on Water

We have already examined some ways to reduce water bills in the kitchen, reducing water bills in the kitchen but what about in the rest of the house and even the garden?

Hot tips for saving money on water bills in the house and garden

(1) Placing a brick inside each toilet cistern in the house will reduce the amount of water used with each flush…potentially saving up to 10% of water used for flushing toilets per day.

(2) Taking a shower instead of a bath will only use a fraction of the water as well as a fraction of the energy needed to heat that water making savings in two ways.

(3) How many of us leave the tap running whilst brushing our teeth once the toothbrush has been wet? Its an old habit and such a pointless waste of water. Definately one to think about for that couple of minutes of brushing….how many gallons of water does that mount up to for each person per year?

(4) Instead of draining all the water away from your bath or shower, leave the plug in then use the water remaining to water plants and pots in the garden. A bit of an effort, I know, but certainly a good use of resources…..just think of the exercise benefits too!

(3) Investing in a water butt for the garden will enable you to catch rain for watering plans therefore saving your paid for water resources for other uses.

Most of these water savings take minor efforts but will have a significant impact of up to at least 10% reduction on annual water usage. During the financial restrictions upon many of us following the credit crunch this may free up financial resources for for fun expenditure.

Please post any further water saving ideas you may have for the benefit of all of our readers.

Posted by Karis Dillon | Filed Under Energy Saving, Money Saving Tips, Reducing Household Bills

Saving money on water bills in the kitchen

September 28, 2008 | Leave a Comment

If you are paying for your water by usage there are many ways that you can save on your water rates. Even if you pay a flat monthly rate for water usage, then there are environmental benefits to more cautious use of water resources as well.

Top Money Saving Tips for Water in the Kitchen

Here are some tips to help you to reduce your water consumption in the kitchen and so reduce your bills during the constraints of the credit crunch as well as being more environmentally aware:

When going to the tap for a glass of water, most people run the tap for a while to get it nice and cold first. Placing a jug or bottle of water in the fridge will prevent the water wastage that happens when each glass of water is fetched from the kitchen.
Keeping water used in kettles and saucepans to a minimum reduced the amount thrown away as well as the energy used to bring it to the boil. An added benefit of steaming vegetables is, of course, less of the nutrients get destroyed in the cooking process making this small change a winner all round.
Washing fruit and vegetables in a bowl of water rather than under a running tap then using the leftover water for watering houseplants will make significant savings.
Instead of rinsing soap off dishes under a running hot water tap, place the washed dishes on the drainer then, at the end of washing up, gently pour a jug of hot water over them to rinse off soap suds. Not only will this save water but the energy to heat the water too.
Newer energy efficient clothes washing machines and dishwashers both use less water in them. Not only does this make significant savings on water bills during the year but also reduces the energy used to heat that water too bringing savings on two major household bills.

Although these may seem like modest savings they really do mount up and we would love to hear any more tips that you might have to save water in the kitchen.

In the next post in this series we will examing ways to save water in the house and garden.