Making your home more eco-friendly not only helps the planet, but it also helps to save you money. So, as we head into Winter and energy prices are getting higher, now is the perfect time to make a few adjustments to your home and day to day life! These things don’t all cost a fortune, but can make a big difference in your home.
Cook Intelligently
The first thing you can do to make your home more eco-friendly is to cook intelligently. When you cook using the oven, microwave and hob all at the same time every night, you will be using a significant amount of energy. So, one way to easily cut down is to make one-pot or one-tray meals.
One pot meals are cooked on the hob and include things like curries, casseroles, stews, bolognaise, chilli, pastas and even rice dishes. One tray meals can be cooked in the oven, things like pies, chicken tray bakes, potato dishes, enchiladas, fish dishes and no-stir pastas. Not to mention all of the amazing salads and non-cook at all dishes you can make! Cutting down slightly on the amount of appliances you are making can make a huge difference when it comes to your energy consumption.
Wash Your Clothes Less
When you wash your clothes less, you will be using less energy. Plus, washing your clothes causes general wear and tear, so washing your clothes less will mean they last longer and won’t need to be replaced as often, which is also amazing for the environment. This will save you money and energy in the short-term, as well as helping the environment in the long-run!
Things like jeans, jumpers and coats don’t need to be washed after every one or two wears. Jeans especially can be worn many times before being washed, with the only real reason to wash them being if they are dirty. The same goes with coats and jumpers.
Install Custom Blinds
A slightly larger investment when it comes to making your home more eco-friendly is having custom blinds fitted. Made to measure blinds offer a seamless fit, meaning it is much more difficult for cold air to enter your home and for warm air to leave. In the summer, this also helps to keep your home cooler.
Plus, they look amazing in your home and add such a wonderful combination of traditional and modern to any space. Whilst custom blinds can be costly, they last for around a decade and will save you a significant amount of money over that time in saved energy costs! Plus, if you did go on to sell your home, they add a significant amount of value.
Take Less Bath’s and More Showers!
Generally showers use much less water than baths, although this of course depends on the length of the shower. A bath on average uses 50 gallons of water, whereas a ten minute shower uses half of that, at 25 gallons. So, although we all love a bath, if you want to save energy and money, try to limit your baths to a minimum and stick to showers.
If you want to make your shower even more eco-friendly, you can invest in a low-flow shower head, which reduces the amount of water flow without making the shower feel much different at all. This can save around 30 litres per shower so is definitely worth the change.
Install A Smart Meter
One of the most effective things you can do to save energy in your home (aside from investing in an eco-friendly boiler) is to have a smart meter. They are replacements for traditional meters that give you more detailed information about the energy usage in your home and they send accurate readings straight to your energy supplier without you having to manually read the meter. When this is combined with the rest of the changes above, you will save money and have an accurate recording of the less energy you are using.
Final Thoughts
Making changes to your home to make it more eco-friendly is key to helping the environment and saving money. Whether you want to do something small like wash your clothes less or swap baths for showers, or something bigger like a smart meter or installing blinds, any change is a positive one.