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Mind your Pocket and the Planet: Ten Ways to Cut your Energy Bills

Mind your Pocket and the Planet: Ten Ways to Cut your Energy Bills

Mind your Pocket and the Planet: Ten Ways to Cut your Energy Bills

This Blog has been written and provided by An Post Insurance. #ad

Tips for Reducing Energy Costs | An Post Insurance

With most of us spending more time at home, we’re using more resources than before, whether it’s running the heating for hours or boiling the kettle a dozen times a day. Here, An Post Insurance look at 10 super ways to cut down on our energy bills and be kind to our environment too.

Shut down the standby

Keeping your appliances on standby can cost you more than you think, so it’s worth switching them off when not in use. According to Electric Ireland, appliances left on standby are using 20% of the energy they would use if fully switched on.

Smart socket plugs are a great solution too: these cut power to devices on standby, only turning on (and costing you money!) when you need them.

Shower instead of soaking

Who doesn’t love a good long soak in the bath? A bubble bath might be the height of luxury, but switching to a shower uses a lot less heated water ⎯  SEAI research tells us that a shower typically uses 20% of the energy compared to a full bath. You could also go as far as to shorten your shower time and reduce the pressure to avoid heating more water than needed.

Turn down the heating

By turning your heating down a notch, you could save as much as 10% on your heating bill, according to switcher.ie. 

Another good idea would be to set timers for your heating, so you don’t use more energy than you need. Radiators could keep their heat for some time after they’re switched off, so try setting the timer to come on 30 minutes before you need to warm up the house and set it to turn off 30 minutes before it normally stops.

How to Cut Energy Usage at Home | An Post Insurance

Step away from the fridge

How often do you find yourself staring aimlessly into the fridge trying to decide what to have next? Or perhaps you have a habit of leaving the fridge door open while you’re packing away your groceries after the big shop. This should be avoided as according to SEAI, for every 10-20 seconds you leave the fridge door open it can take as long as 45 minutes for the fridge to cool back down again.

Cook smarter

Simple things like only boiling the water you need for that cuppa or steaming your veggies to avoid boiling excessive water could make a difference. Use the right-sized pan for your hob to save energy escaping and where possible use your microwave instead of the oven as it may use less energy. It all adds up!

Lower your laundry cost

Reducing the temperature on your washing machine, opting for the quick wash cycle and making sure you wait until you have a full load could all help reduce energy waste and could help with saving money when washing your clothes.

Some tumble dryers can use a vast amount of energy as they have to spin and produce heat. Where possible, hanging clothes outside or on a clothes horse can be more energy efficient options. 

Fill the dishwasher

Only turn on your dish washer when it is full. Turning it on when you only have a half load uses the same amount of energy as a full load, so waiting until it’s full could save you money and avoid wasting water and energy. 

Turn off lights

Electric Ireland states that lighting makes up 11% of our electricity bills, so it makes sense to turn off lights in the house when they’re not needed. 

Stop the draughts

Go through your house and check for any areas where cold air might be sneaking in. It might be a good idea to consider investing in a draft excluder. It is very important, however, to make sure that you don’t block any air vents.

Switch to energy saving gadgets

Saveonenergy.com have some great ideas for energy saving gadgets for your home. The most obvious is to switch to LED light bulbs which, according to saveonnerergy.com, use an amazing 75% less energy than traditional bulbs and last up to 25 times longer.

Now that you know how to save on your energy costs, save even more with great value home insurance from An Post Insurance.

One Direct (Ireland) Limited, trading as An Post Insurance is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland. One Direct (Ireland) Limited is a wholly owned subsidiary of An Post.

An Post Insurance Home Insurance is underwritten by Aviva Insurance Ireland DAC.

All the information on this blog is published in good faith and for general information purpose only. While An Post Insurance makes every effort to ensure that the information appearing on this blog is accurate and complete, it does not make any warranties about the completeness, reliability or accuracy of this information, whether express or implied, including but not limited to implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose or non-infringement. Any action you take upon the information you find on this blog is strictly at your own risk. An Post Insurance will not be liable for any direct, indirect or consequential losses and/or damages in connection with the use of, or action taken in reliance on information contained in our blog.

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Plans for Christmas and New Year celebrations go hand in hand, but we don’t often think about where all the new stuff and decorations will go when it’s all over. If creating more space at home is on your resolutions list, or just your wish list, we have a few tips to help you master the art of streamlined living once and for all. Forward Planning How you organise your home in preparation for Christmas can help towards staying organised afterwards. When you’re expecting lots of guests, whether just for a few hours or overnight, it’s a good idea to rearrange your living space. Consider which furniture items you could temporarily move to provide more floor area. Candidates include anything that can’t be a useful table or a seat: Bookcases Floor lamps Pet beds Hobby or fitness gear Decorative items such as vases or family photographs on surfaces Delicate items you want to protect from damage Use the spaces you create by removing photos or ornaments for seasonal decorations like cards, candles, advents, nativity scenes, and your tree. Replace accent lighting from floor lamps by hanging light garlands around the walls. The floor area you create provides room for extra seating such as floor cushions for kids, or extra chairs for adults. Or even just space for everyone to move around. Instead of placing those items into a different room, consider renting a storage room. There are all sizes available in local self storage facilities, so there’s bound to be something suitable. Seasonal Storage All Year Round Going forward into the new year, lots of people operate a rotational storage system to help keep their homes clutter-free and practical. During the winter months, all the summer gear is safely stowed in self storage. This includes garden furnishings and equipment and summer clothing and all the other things we don’t use over winter. Then as the seasons turn, items in store get swapped out for winter items we won’t need for a while. This can extend from snow shovels and winter sports gear to oversized baking and roasting trays used at Christmas. Living in a smaller house has many advantages, but space isn’t one of them. Finding alternative storage for needed items that aren’t being used gives the best of both worlds all year round. Rethinking How You Use Space Maximise space at home with furnishings that double as storage. There is a huge choice in just about every style whether you like traditional or modern. When you’re refreshing things after the Christmas and New Year rush, look out for lift-top coffee tables, end tables with shelves or drawers, storage beds to maximise linen and towel storage, and fitted shelves everywhere. You can also clear a surprising amount of space in bedrooms by organising your closet. Maybe fit an extra rail, add a small craft drawer tower in the base, fix hooks and a rail behind the door, or pop a shoe rack at the bottom. Mornings are a lot less fraught when you can quickly grab the day’s clothes. Spare Rooms and Home Working While it’s true that homes seem to be getting smaller these days, it’s also true that we demand far more of them than we used too. What with working from home and taking up new hobbies to relief day to day stresses, a quiet, creative area is becoming a must for lots of us. Turning spare room into a hobby room or home office is a way to keep tools and equipment out of the rest of the house, reducing clutter and making it easier to find stuff when you need it. If you worry about not having a spare bed for overnight guests, it’s simple to organise the room so you can switch back. You could, for instance have a pop-up work desk you can fold down against the wall, making space for a bed. Guest furnishings not in use all the time can be safely stowed in your local self storage room. Alternatively, and if you have the space, a daybed or sofa bed might be an alternative. People manage to do amazing things with small spaces. The tiny house movement is filled with inspiration for storage at home for all the everyday items, and for larger necessities not in constant use, self storage gives the best of both worlds.

Storage Tips to Reclaim Your Space After Christmas

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