Free And Low Cost Ways To Cuts Your Bills And Be Green

There are many other ways that you can reduce the cost of your gas and electricity bills permanently, reduce your carbon footprint and be green at the same time. With the ever increasing cost of heating and lighting our homes any changes that you make now will continue to save you more and more cash each year.

If you are like me you don't want to have to make changes to your lifestyle or daily routines in order to save money on your bills. Energy saving should be as a result of something that you do now and it continues to save you money for the long term. Of course the best things in life are free but there are also low cost things that you can do now that will also more than repay your initial investment. I think that most people would agree that if they spent a pound today and save two tomorrow than most people would spend that pound.

Insulating your home

The government have been encouraging us to keep our homes warmer in winter by installing insulation. You may not know but almost everyone can get free or heavily subsidised cavity wall and loft insulation for their homes. Nearly two thirds of all the heat lost in an un-insulated house is through the roof and walls so getting them insulated can save money on your heating bills forever. Over 6 million homes have already been insulated.

I had my home insulated last year with loft insulation and cavity wall insulation and I got it done at a lower cost than it would have cost me to buy the materials myself. The loft insulation took no time at all and they also draught proofed the loft hatch. The cavity wall insulation took about half a day. They drilled small holes in the mortar on the outside walls at equal distances and then pumped in the insulation. The drilling was noisy but thankfully didn't last long.

If you haven't already gotten your home insulated it is either a free or very low cost investment that will save you money on your heating bills. I'd also suggest you get your parents or grandparents homes insulated as they will get it done for free. You can use the form below to apply to get it done.

Use energy saving light bulbs

Energy saving light bulbs are a low cost way to save money on your electricity bills. Energy saving bulbs perform much better than they did when they first came out where you had to wait for them to warm up. The newer ones come on straight away at full brightness. If possible I would avoid the very cheap no brand bulbs as they tend to not be as good as the newer branded ones.

Being a geek when it comes to being green I was one of the first people in the country to use energy saving light bulbs. I had to order it online as they were not available in the shops in the UK, suffice to say it was very expensive back then. Since then I have used and tested many different types of bulb including the latest LED bulbs that are even more efficient and contain no mercury which unfortunately the current CFL energy bulbs do.

You can get direct replacements for any sized bulb in your house and you can even get ones that work with dimmers. The best purchase I ever made was a full spectrum daylight bulb (the same type as used for seasonal affective disorder or SAD). It produces the same type of light as the sun and so mimics daylight. These are great for reading, working on computers or doing and sort of art or craft.

According to the energy savings trust you will save £2.50 a year for every light bulb that you replace. An energy saving light bulb will last up to 15,000 hours depending on the type compared to 1,000 hours for a traditional bulb.