From using tin foil to prevent heat loss in your home to adjusting your boiler settings, here are some simple tips that could help you save money on your energy bills this winter
Temperatures have plunged for lots of us across the UK in recent days. So it’s no surprise that many of us are looking for the cheapest ways possible to heat our home and keep ourself safe and well during winter.
In response to the recent cold weather, we’ve rounded up a series of tips from savvy social media users to help reduce the price of energy bills, grocery bills and more.
We’ve rounded up some of the most helpful hacks that could save you money – including using tin foil to prevent heat loss in your home when you turn radiators on, swaps to make in your food shop and adjustments to make to your boiler and washing machine settings.
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Tin foil trick
According to DIY expert, Kyle Mattison, there are a few easy tricks you can try that will help boost your radiators and keep you feeling snug and toasty while at home.
Kyle, 29, who posts on TikTok under the name ThatPropertyGuy, has gone viral on the platform after sharing his top property tips. His first piece of advice uses a common household item, tin foil, – so it most likely won’t cost you anything to give it a go.
In one viral video, he reveals: “Give your radiators a boost this winter. Radiator reflector foil is one way to keep your house warm, it reflects radiator heat back into the room.
“It’s really simple to install behind radiators, a good idea to do it on radiators on external walls.”
He continues by saying that you can purchase it from DIY shops, but if you’re unable to visit one you can get comparable results using tin foil, which costs far less.
Kyle also suggests bleeding your radiators to maintain peak performance, keeping the oven door ajar after cooking to maximise the warmth and ensuring blinds and curtains remain shut.
The specialist also recommends maintaining some space between your radiator and settee to help heat flow throughout the room.
Tweak your boiler controls
A parent on Mumsnet revealed a brilliant tip from her energy supplier concerning the temperature setting on your combi boiler.
The anonymous mother claimed that examining the flow controls and lowering it to 50C for hot water and 55C for heating could cut your bills.
“Mine was set to 80 degrees by default which meant I was spending huge amounts on heating up water that then has to be cooled down with cold water,” she detailed.
“In the case of heating it just takes a little longer to warm up.”
Whilst you might need to wait slightly longer than usual with these configurations, specialists say “the gas and CO2 savings make it more than worthwhile”. For those with a boiler and hot water cylinder, it’s recommended to adjust their flow temperature to slightly above 60C for heating and 60C for the hot water cylinder.
In addition, Lynne Beattie, who runs the Mrs Mummypenny money blog, suggests turning down your thermostat for heating. She claims she saved £80 a year on bills by reducing it from 21C to 20C in her home.
This simple tip could potentially save you around 10% on your energy bill, and you’re unlikely to notice much of a difference. The ideal temperature range for a thermostat is between 18 and 21 degrees.
Ditch branded items
On another note, one woman has claimed she halved her food shopping bill simply by paying more attention to packaging in the supermarket.
Maneet Kaur, who posts on social media as @minsmeals, gained popularity on TikTok after researching supply chains for supermarkets.
She found that some of the cheaper options in store have the same batch and supplier codes as more expensive brands – indicating they were supplied by the same company.
In her video, she compared a 500g packet of penne pasta from Tesco which cost 53p to a 29p packet by Hearty Food Co – also owned by Tesco – and demonstrated how they appeared to have identical supplier codes.
She suggests that this indicates the products are from the same source and that shoppers are spending more for the packaging alone.
“Buying branded is not always the best option and we need to be more conscious about the tricks supermarkets use,” she said.
According to Maneet, the pricier branded food is ‘most likely’ to be placed at eye-level on supermarket shelves, while the more affordable items will either be on the top or bottom.
Swap your ingredients
Chef Miguel Barclay, renowned for his £1 meals, has also shared his best advice for budget-friendly grocery shopping – including opting for “normal ordinary ingredients” over more exotic ones.
He suggests browsing in the world food aisle as well, stating: “If you’re going to buy spices, you can go to the spice aisle and you can buy a lovely little glass jar with cumin in it. Or you can go to the world aisle and get like a massive bag with cumin. It’s not packaged as fancy, but it’s a lot better value for money. Same goes for stuff like rice.”
Cook multiple meals at once
Miguel Barclay has also imparted numerous other cost-saving cooking tips to The Mirror, one of which will help cut down your energy consumption.
The chef clarified that only cooking one thing in the oven at a time is a mistake and instead we should prepare several meals simultaneously to save money and energy.
“If you’re going to turn the oven on or just cook one thing, cook two or three things at the same time,” he advised. “Like if you’re gonna have a quiche tomorrow and you’re cooking a pie today, then why not cook the quiche and the pie at the same time and you don’t have to turn the oven on again.
“And then you could maybe do three times. So imagine you’re doing a Cornish Pasty for your lunchbox tomorrow, and the quiche and the pie put them all in there at the same time. The Cornish Pasty you’re going to eat cold anyway, the quiche you’re going to eat cold, so do it that way.”
Nevertheless, when it comes to brewing cups of tea, specialists have cautioned that the identical principle doesn’t apply and you shouldn’t heat more water than required at one time.
Heating the precise amount you need to brew tea is more economical than heating several cups worth.
Adjust your washing machine settings
Altering the settings you use to clean your garments can make a substantial difference to your energy usage.
Lowering the wash to 30 degrees is believed to consume around 40% less energy than higher configurations.
This is because the washing machine doesn’t have to work as intensively to heat the water to a hotter temperature.
You can also utilise shorter washing cycles for your laundry, to consume less energy and less water.
Add a towel
The tumble dryer is considered to be one of the most costly appliances to operate in the home, so many people will likely be seeking ways to avoid using it – drying their laundry on a washing line, or clothes horse.
If you need assistance drying washing this way, some people suggest using a dehumidifier in the room where you’ve hung up the garments to help accelerate the process – but these aren’t always affordable to obtain. However, for those who are fond of using the tumble dryer, a woman has shared a clever trick to reduce its running time, potentially saving you some money – all you need is a towel.
Writing on makemoneywithoutajob.com, the anonymous blogger revealed: “This clever little tumble dryer hack is to put a dry towel into your tumble dryer with your wet washing.
“The towel will absorb moisture in your washing and help it dry faster – reducing the amount of time you need to run your dryer and saving you cash!”.
“There is a debate as to whether you need to remove the towel after 15-30 minutes. I have found that my drying time is reduced without needing to remove the towel, but if this hack isn’t working for you then try removing the towel after 15-30 minutes.”
