Washing Wisely
WASHING MACHINE
Drum up savings
Never fill the drum? New washing machines can detect half and quarter loads of laundry and fill accordingly, check your instruction manual to see if yours has this technology. If you regularly need half-load washes you could be saving £41 over the year on energy, water and detergent.
DISHWASHER
Spare those hands
A dishwasher uses about 15 litres when washing up 15 place settings, whereas washing by hand wastes 126 litres. Save £46 on your water bill by ditching those marigolds and filling your dishwasher.
Keep it tip top
Clean filter: If you’re getting residue on your dishes after a wash, a clogged filter could be the problem so make sure you regularly wash it – its job is to stop leftover food getting into the pump. Take out bottom tray and lift the cylindrical filter out then wash it in warm water. Job done. Cleaning that filter protects the pump, which could save you £100 for the supply and fit of a new one.
Clean spray arms: Buying new spray arms for your machine is pretty reasonable but why pay anything if you can keep them tiptop by cleaning them every month in warm water? They tend to get blocked with food like rice and sweetcorn. Simply pull low tray out and lift the two spray arms out to clean.
TUMBLE DRYER
Tumble dryers do cost a bit to run but you’ll be saving a substantial amount – £115 a year — in running costs if you pay that bit extra and buy a a heat pump dryer instead of a condenser. Otherwise ensure you use dryer a bit less and combine it with some good old fashioned air drying.
CLEANING UP
Vacuum cleaners are cheap to run which is very welcome news, costing as little as £6 a year which is half the amount they cost a decade ago. However, our experts have even more ingenious ways to cut down on running costs:
Make yours a “shoes off” home, to reduce need to vacuum
Only use “turbo” on your vacuum cleaner when absolutely necessary, which is never on hard floors, as it uses more energy. On cordless models you will drain the battery faster and have to recharge more frequently.
Savings to make you sing in the shower
Be electric
If you’re serious about saving money on your daily showers, electric showers are the way forward, they can save you up to £100 a year compared to a mixer shower connected to an A-rated combi boiler.
5 minute rule
But even if you don’t have an electric shower you can save money by showering a few minutes less each day, in fact just by making sure the members of your household have an efficient 5 minute stint can save over £100 annually. This is the carbon saving equivalent to 312 full loads of washing dried in a 9kg tumble dryer, a water saving equivalent to 30,264 x 500ml bottles of water and a carbon footprint saving equivalent to 517 miles driven in a diesel car.
COOKING CARE
Ovens
With ovens, it’s all about the way you use them and using them right can save a lot of energy and money. If you’re prepared to switch up your cooking routine small habits will decrease those energy bills. Start by planning your meals and embrace batch cooking because warming up meals uses less energy and cooking larger quantities saves energy.
Ensure you take out any accessories that aren’t needed — like trays and grids — that use up heat. This can save up to 20% of the energy
Avoiding preheating the oven can save another 20%, in fact most dishes like roasts and casseroles can be placed in the cold oven, especially a fan-assisted one.
Use your oven tech to your advantage. Thermometers, timers, automatic cooking programmes or sensor-controlled processes all help to control the cooking time and avoid wasted energy, as well as overcooked food.
Preparing several dishes at the same time can save up to 45% of the energy so load your dishes in side by side.
Getting into the habit of checking the food through the glass door, rather than opening it, can save you up to 25% in lost energy.
Being canny with your residual heat saves up to 10% of the energy. For example, for a roast with one hour cooking time, turn off the oven after 50 minutes and use that 10 minutes of free heat!
Embrace your small cooking appliances
Use special appliances such as egg cookers, coffee machines and microwave ovens for small quantities and short cooking times to save money.
Microwaves
It costs just 4p to cook a baked potato in the microwave compared to the 60p in the oven. Combi microwaves with built-in convection ovens are even more versatile. Cooking a roast chicken with one will cost you 48p compared to the 71p you would spend cooking one in the oven.
Slow cookers
These inexpensive appliances are also pretty cheap to run and can make healthy meals from budget-friendly cuts of meat and cheaper varieties of vegetables (hard, good-value roots like carrots, shallots, celeriac, swede) so cut down on your grocery bill. Average cook time is a long 8 hours, however flavours are not lost as nothing really evaporates if you make sure to not lift the lid. It can cost you just 39p a meal.
Kettles
Whipping up pasta for your kids twice a week? Use your kettle to boil the water first, it will cost you £10 over a year on the hob but only £2 a year using your trusty kettle. But remember to descale it regularly, especially if you live in a hard water area, a kettle full of limescale will take longer and use more energy to boil the same amount.
Air fryers
An air fryer can make tasty fried food with less oil and less energy because the space it’s heating up is smaller. Cook fried chicken quickly and healthily, for just 15 minutes, and only consume 0.35kwh, costing just 11p – half the price of using an electric, fan-assisted oven. You can also use it to bake sweet treats like brownies and biscuits.
Hobs
Unlock your savings [hyperlink to page] shows you how induction hobs save you money but here are more tips from our experts to help you save money whatever hob you’re cooking on.
Hob power: It uses less energy than your oven so perhaps prepare small roasts on the hob rather than the oven.
Think small: Cutting food into smaller pieces before cooking could save you energy as it may cook more quickly.
Keep a lid on it! Cooking with lid on saves up to 25 % energy. Glass lidded pans help you supervise without having to lift the lid. Make sure that lid is well fitted.
Waterwise. Being economical with the water used in a pan can save you up 20% energy. It takes a lot to heat up water.
It’s all in a pan. Using the correct size pan for the amount of food you’re cooking can save up to 20 % energy. Ensure you use pans that are made of heat conducting materials; for example steel or enamelled cast-iron pans and pots will heat up more quickly and consume less energy than glass and ceramic cookware.
COOL WAYS TO SAVE
Combat food waste
As a nation we pour £600k of milk down the drain daily. Use your fridge right and you can ensure you don’t waste food and money!
Store food in the allocated areas that new fridge technology provides. For example, lower temperature zones and salad bins with moisture control keep certain foods in the perfect preservation environment and extends the life of those items.
Minimise door opening! The temperature inside a fridge rises significantly each time the door is opened. Make sure you shut the door when you get your milk out to make a cuppa.
Utilise easy access shelves, pull out shelves and folding shelves to ensure no food items are forgotten at the ‘back of the fridge’ and end up in the bin.
Look forward to smart technology that will eventually enable use-by dates to be scanned allowing the fridge to warn their owner to eat up.