As energy providers prepare to hike their prices up even further, controlling your finances is becoming more difficult than ever before. It is the same old injustice that the cost of living continues to rise as our salaries stay the same that is holding many of us back. But, fear not, there are ways you can react positively to this distressing news and still save yourself some money.
The first thing you should do is compare electricity prices online. Recent surveys have found that customers can save hundreds just by switching energy suppliers. Loyalty, unfortunately, is not as rewarding as perhaps it should be these days, so it pays to shop around.
The next step you can and should take is cutting back in the house itself. You can get the whole family in on this one – savings can be made in each and every room. Let’s take the kitchen, for instance. Things like preheating your oven for half the usual time, turning all your appliances off at the wall when you’re finished and only boiling an adequate amount of water will go a long way over the course of the year.
Turning things off is a house-wide money saver. Wherever you’ve got a television, make sure it’s not just sitting on standby when it’s not being used. Whenever a room is empty and the lights are on, turn them off. Most light bulbs, as you probably know by now, are specially designed energy saving bulbs, which means that they’ll save you money even when they’re on.
If you have children who love a bit of a video game, then ask them likewise to turn it off when they’re done playing with it (if, of course, they’re ever done playing with it). At bath or shower time, see if you can get away with using less water or, indeed, time in the shower.
If you like to read in bed at night, rather than using the bedside lamp – which, incidentally, doesn’t use up that much energy anyway – perhaps you could read by candlelight for a few nights a week? When it comes to heating, too, it’s a good idea to turn your thermostat down even just one degree. You’d be amazed at how much this can actually save you over the course of the year!