These Unusual Tricks Could Save You £100s On Your Energy Bills

There’s plenty of ways to cut costs here and there around the house. But, when you’ve done all the straight-forward and obvious choices, what do you do to up your energy-saving game? That’s where these ideas come in. A little bit weird, maybe. Good for saving you money? Definitely. Give them a go!

Take a “Navy shower”

So named because it was originally practised by sailors trying to conserve fresh water supplies while out at sea, a “Navy shower” is showering with only 3 minutes’ worth of hot water. Hop in, run the water for a minute, then switch it off. Lather up with your shampoo and soap of choice, turn the shower back on to rinse, and turn it off again. If you need to use conditioner as well, pop that on, have another minute under the hot water to rinse it off, and you’re done. How much you can save really depends on how long you’d normally spend in the shower and whether you have an electric or gas heated shower. But, according to this table from Sust-it, which considers the average shower 10 minutes long, limiting yourself to 3 minutes in the shower could save you anything from £56-£80 a year!

Cling film your windows

OK, you don’t have to be as extreme as using cling film for this. But, covering your windows and any glass-panelled doors you have at home with clear plastic film – like cling film or acetate – adds another layer of insulation between you and the outdoors, keeping more heat in. Budget supermarket Lidl reckon that their “thermal window foil” can bring a single-glazed window up to the insulation levels of a double-glazed window, and take a double to the levels of a triple, bringing a potential saving of over £100. Not to be sniffed at, if it works!

Put a sponge in it

Heat likes to creep out of our homes everywhere it can, so to be more energy efficient it’s important to block up all the possible places heat could be sneaking out, as long as it’s safe to do so without blocking up any ventilation needed for a fireplace or prevent damp. One draughty spot that it can be a bit tricky to block up is your letterbox. The brushes on most letterboxes help, for sure, but heat can still get out between the bristles and you can bet cold air’s getting in, too. Wedging a sponge in the gap can cut the draught off, keeping your heat in and the cold air out. Just make sure you let your postie know and arrange another spot for them to leave your mail!

The budget brew

Lots of us already only fill our kettle with the amount we need for a cuppa so it boils more quickly and so uses less energy. If you always fill the kettle to the brim before you boil it, then cutting back to only boiling what you need could save you £19 over a year! But, if you fancy taking your brew habits to an extreme, try boiling a full kettle in the morning, then pouring the water into a thermos, which should keep it warm all day. How much it saves you depends on how much of a brew fiend you are. But if, as Npower reckon, it costs 2.5p every time you boil a full kettle, cutting down from three boils to one a day could save you £18.25 a year!

Line the walls behind your radiators with foil

The idea behind this one is grounded in some pretty solid science. Foil reflects heat, so placing it on the walls behind your radiators reflects heat back into the room, meaning your rooms are heated more effectively, you maybe need your heating less, and so can cut your energy bills. But does it work?

Only on radiators that are on external walls, according to experts from the Energy Saving Trust. Heat always tries to travel from warm places to cold, so it’s always drawn outside. Placing a specialist radiator foil behind the radiators that are on your external walls bounces the heat back into the room and stops it from sneaking off outside. These specialist radiator foils are available pretty cheaply, and the experts say they can save you £10 a year on your energy bills. Not exactly life-changing, but it all helps.

‘But who needs “specialist” foil?’ we hear you cry. ‘Can’t you just use regular tin foil?’ Well, yes, you could, but nobody’s tested it to see if it’s as effective as the specialist stuff! So it might do the trick, but the jury’s still out on that one.

Need to go back to basics before you try these tricks? Check out 8 other ways to save £300+ on your energy bills!