12 Things to Keep Cosy this winter and 21 Products to keep bills to a minimum!
As the evenings shorten and you will inevitably be spending more time at home over the coming months. Keeping warm will be to the forefront of your thinking and of course keeping the bills to a minimum. Below take a practical yet humorous look at having nice cosy winter which keeping your costs to a minimum.
1: We all love a bit of heat and comfort during the winter months but none of us like paying energy providers for the privilege. Eco Panel Heaters use just 400W per hour, adding only about 8 cent per hour to your energy bill. They can also be used in conjunction with Plug in timers so that you can control them to automatically switch on an hour before you come in from work in the evenings.
2: Blocking off your chimney flue has caused much consternation in many the Irish household particularly in the run up to Christmas when the eminent arrival of man in red with a great white beard is to the forefront of the minds of all the younger members of the household. Therefore be sure install your Chimney Balloons inside unused chimney flues late at night when these household individuals are asleep in their beds. It will stop cold draughts from entering your home and help to prevent heat loss from the room. Put a note on the chimney pot telling the man in red to use the back door!
3: “Sure there is no heat off that fireplace at all…” is the type of sentence you likely to hear in quite a few Irish households in the coming months. Sometimes it is not the fireplace at all but what you are burning in it. If you are burning damp wood it will not heat your home properly. These Firewood Moisture Meters are designed to measure the dampness level of each individual log. If it shows a reading of 22% or higher let it dry out further by saving it for another day.
4: We would all love to drive 162 registration cars, go on 5 star sun destination holidays and to have the latest triple glaze window in our homes. Unfortunately it is not always financially possible but this Window Glazing Film will help insulate your home and make rooms significantly more cosy.
5: If you are using your stove sure you might is well get the maximum effect out of it. By attaching a Smart Fan to your stove, the heat produced will circulate quickly to every corner of the room meaning the room will heat up faster and you will need to use less fuel this winter. The Radiator Booster works in a similar fashion on your radiators.
6: Did you turn off the immersion? Ensure that you don’t have to turn it on or off as often anymore with these new Foil Cylinder Jackets. Tests prove that the foil cylinder jacket will keep your water hotter for longer than standard traditional cylinder jackets.
7: So it is the bank holiday weekend and around 8pm on a Saturday night and the heating mysteriously stops working. Could you really be out of oil again already? Tuesday is a long time away. If you have learned this lesson the hard was invest in an Oil Tank Gauge so you can very clearly see when you are running low at all times.
8: How the hell is that electricity bill so high? She must have that tumble dryer going day and night and we got to put an end to that young lad in the electric shower for 30 minutes twice a day. Every light on in the house and it bright outside. To find out the true culprits install a Smart Energy Monitor and get a real time feed on how much electricity is costing you per hour. To measure individual appliances only use a Plug in Electricity monitor
9: So the last heating bill comes in and you vow to go the rest of the winter without any heating at all. Hot water bottles are the order of the day until you spill the boiling water on your hand whilst filling it or the cap comes undone and the young lads leg gets scalded. These Electric Hot Water Bottles are simple and save to use. Just plug in charger, attach bottle for 15 minutes and you will be nice and cosy for the rest of the night.
10: The price of timber, coal and turf (if your allowed cut it at all!) is not going to be getting any cheaper anytime soon. Indeed neither is the price of the Sunday Newspapers despite the advent of the Interent age. These Paper Logmakers allow you to easily recycle your paper waste and produce great logs with a one hour burn time in the process.
11: Back in the 1980s at least when you forgot to close the door after you when you asked the an bhfuil cead agam ag dul amach… ceist” you generally heard the words “were you born in a field?” in your slipstream. A door spring will do the job for you. But sometimes even if the door is closed draught issues can remain. Under door draught excluders or a door seal can be very effective in prevention heat loss on floors and brush strips should be the order of the day on carpets. The letterbox can also be guilty of increasing your heating costs so ensure you install a letterbox draught excluder.
12: Ensure your radiators are getting fully hot by bleeding regularly with a Radiator Key or use these Automatic Bleeding Valves to do it for you. To save on energy use reflective foil behind your rads so that heat reflects back into the room instead of being lost through the walls.