winters a comin'... early
Summer can't last forever and this year it is ending early, this august we have seen a very quick change from glorious sunshine to average great British grey-wet-melancholy-horrid-stuff.
Summer can't last forever and this year it is ending early, this august we have seen a very quick change from glorious sunshine to average great British grey-wet-melancholy-horrid-stuff.
So how can we prepare for the upcoming barrage of winter blizzards?
for those of you who can't stand the cold (not me I'm a regular ice-man) during the winter you inevitably turn those thermostat's up, so how do you stop that precious heat from leaking out of your walls.
double glazing is the first thing that comes to my mind, they say that 30% of heat in your house is lost through the walls and windows. Now, double glazing is expensive and the price varies depending on your house and types of window, the prices can range from £2000 to £20,000 so is it worth while? Using my amazing mathematical skills it would take over an average of 15 years to get back what you spent on savings, so I would say double glazing, not the most officiant way to save your hard earned wonga.
Instead of getting WHOLE new windows what might me cheaper and more officiant is sealing your windows and doors, I I mean that its is easier for heat to leak out of the crack in your windows and doors rather that through them. insulating your doors and windows can cost £200 to £500, which, boys and girls is a'lot less than double glazing.
If think back to secondary school science heat rises, if you ware a hat your will feel warmer eventually, so why should it be different for your house? Good loft and wall insulation seems the best-for-value heat keeping method, only costing about £500 including installation each (I'm a fan of D.I.Y. but when it comes so something like this I would get a pro). Insulation for both walls and roof saves you about £200 a year and here are my amazing maths skills again - paying its self off on only about 5 years. On top of that is you have any insulation material left you could wrap it around you water boiler to save that little bit extra.
all this all very economical but what about the people saying "okay that's great, but right now I don't have £500 to chuck around on insulation, what can I do right now?"
don't worry I heard 'ya stop bugging me.
So what can you do right NOW to save cash? Well, first turn down your thermostat and put a jumper on. if you are lucky enough to have a boyfriend/girlfriend or are unlucky enough to be married you can always snuggle up to your partner, and who know it might lead to more... heat making ;). On the other hand, if you like me are single, get comfy with a hot water bottle and a hot cup of tea.
Turning down the thermostat saves you £30 a year per degree so in the money saving frame of mind it makes sense to have it as low as you can handle. You don't necessarily need be watching TV and literately freezing your arse off, but there are times in the day where you can turn it down, or off.
Most modern digital thermostat will have timer settings so you can control when the heating turns on and off, lets say you work nine to six most people will set the heating to turn on at five, you wouldn't give it much more thought, now unless your radiators are dud -in which case I would advise its time to bleed them- an average size house does not take too long to get comfortably warm, I would say set the timer to half five, keep doing that every day all those extra pennies saved add up after a while.
When you go do bed your body keeps its self warm under the covers so why keep the heating down? Not that I'm saying turn it off entirely, just down, maybe by half of what you have it normally.
So in summary:
- insulating your walls and roof together will save you about £200 a year
- double glazing is too expensive and there are better ways to be economical.
- the best way to save money is proper management of your heating system.
useful links
1 comments:
I am a real scrooge when it comes to heating (every penny is a prisoner, as they say!) and the more money that I save on heating, I can spend on reduced food at the supermarket!!! I've taken up doing Zumba fitness in my front room and that certainly increases my body temperature whilst improving my waist line (after eating all of the reduced food that I have bought at the supermarket - I need it!). I would suggest that we need to move about more so we can turn down our heating and therefore reduce our bills. An alternative is to invite yourself around other people's houses, thus eliminating the need to heat your house at all!
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