Managing your finances: The credit crunch and rising prices

Unfortunately for those of us currently at University and wanting to live out, there are massive changes taking place in the world which are going to have a huge impact on how much we pay for all consumer goods and, in particular, our utility bills.

EON, one energy company, have just announced rises of up to 25% on their energy bills and other companies are set to follow suit. You will probably find, for this reason, that changing supplier is unlikely to benefit you in the long term and doing so often causes lots of unnecessary complications anyway.

There are ways of keeping your bills down, however:

TURN OFF LIGHTS AND ELECTRICAL DEVICES/APPLIANCES WHEN YOU’RE NOT USING THEM!

It may seem really sensible to leave your computer on downloading something all night or to have your external harddrive on permanently, but it’ll start to become a real drain on your household. Will your housemates all be happy to pay for your extravagance? You may have to compromise on some personal conveniences which you currently take for granted. Also – don’t leave TV’s or stereo systems on standby unless you need to! If you have a lot of these sort of devices, it really adds up…..

ONLY USE AS MUCH HOT WATER AND HEATING AS YOU NEED TO!

Make sure the heating is OFF when you’re not using it and only set the hot water to come on when you really need it. If you’re cold then put a jumper on before you decide to turn to heating the house! In Winter time of course you’ll need heating. But don’t use it unless you need to!!

ASK YOUR LANDLORD IF YOU CAN REPLACE ANY 60 WATT LIGHTBULBS WITH ENERGY EFFICIENT ONES!

This is a really quick and easy way to reduce your energy use. Energy-saving bulbs use, in many cases, less than a quarter of the energy a 60 Watt bulbs use and they’re just as good. Always ask your landlord before doing this…some will get arsy about it. If you have any halogen spot bulbs in your house, try to use them as rarely as possible. They really are a massive drain on energy!

LITTLE THINGS BUILD UP!

Try to cook altogether in your house if you can, to avoid prolonged oven usage. If you have a tumble dryer, use an airer unless you REALLY need your clothes quickly. Only iron stuff if you need to!

For many of you this will seem like a royal pain in the arse. However, if you can make some basic changes to the way you live and how you use the energy in your house then it will pay dividends in the future!

If you want any more advice or some signposting towards various energy companies, give me a call! My details are on the Livers Out Homepage.