With the cost of living rising, people all around the country are worrying over the price of energy bills each month.
Being a student is an expensive time, and loans unfortunately often cannot cover everything. While some people are able to choose their own home appliances based on how efficient they are, when you’re a student your house is equipped with whatever the landlord chose. This means that sometimes, your appliances might not be the best at saving energy. However, all is not lost. There are some things that you and your housemates can do to reduce your energy bills each month.
Hang your clothes out to dry
Tumble dryers are notorious for using up energy. Instead of leaving your clothes in the dryer, hang them out on a clothes drying rack. Although this will take longer for them to dry, it will be saving you money. Older dryers in particular use a lot of energy so be mindful when putting your clothes in for a spin.
Avoid electric heaters
Electric heaters are the most expensive way to heat your home. While they may be a nice way to keep you toasty at night, they will cost you a fortune in electricity. It can get pretty cold in student houses, so make sure to wrap up warm or turn on the main heating for an hour or so when it gets particularly chilly.
Close doors to stop heat escaping
To stop heat escaping, make sure to keep your doors closed. Heaters work by creating a convection current in a room. Hot air rises, moves across the room, then cools and sinks before travelling back to the heater to be reheated again.
Money Saving Expert explains: ‘Closing doors makes sure this current remains within the designated space, and stops cold air entering.’
Turn off lights and electric outlets when not in use
This might sound obvious, but it is easy to forget to turn off light switches every so often. In order to save electricity, make sure to be on the ball when it comes to turning lights off when you leave a room. Money Saving Expert advises that you do not leave devices such as televisions on standby and instead turn them off at the wall to save energy.
Be smart with your washing machine
Using your washing machine efficiently can reduce energy costs. Firstly, make sure to only put a wash on when you have enough clothes to fill up the machine. There is no point turning the machine on and using energy just to wash a couple of items- instead wait until your laundry hamper is full.
The temperature at which you wash your clothes can also make a big difference. The Energy Saving Trust conducted research which shows that having your washing machine at 30°C rather than 40°C reduces your energy consumption by 60% per cycle.
