One of the reasons I love this Small Wins series is because every week’s task is so gentle. Nothing overwhelming, nothing drastic — just tiny little habits that take minutes but can make a real difference over time.
January and February can feel like long months, so simple, realistic wins are the way forward if you ask me. 😀
This week’s small win is one of the quickest of them all. If you haven’t already tried it, turn your thermostat down by just one degree.
Just one.
Most people don’t feel the difference, especially if you’re already cosy enough with blankets, socks and keeping doors closed. But that tiny change can make a surprisingly big difference to your bills. Energy experts usually estimate that turning your thermostat down by 1°C can save around £80 to £100 a year for an average UK home, sometimes more depending on how warm you normally keep it.
Now, I’m absolutely not one of those extreme money-savers who refuses to put the heating on. I’m not sitting here in five layers, fingerless gloves and a woolly hat just to save a couple of pounds. If I’m cold, I put the heating on. Every single time. 😀
And if anyone in the house says they’re cold, the heating goes up straight away too — although nine times out of ten it’s only cold because we’ve just come in and the house hasn’t warmed through yet, or we’ve had the door open and let the cold rush in. Once the house has warmed up, it goes back down again and again, no-one notices.
When it’s just me and my partner in the house, we do have the temperature lower than we would when any of the kids are with us. We did an experiment last week and turned the heating down by two degrees which meant we had the thermostat on 18 degrees rather than the usual 20 when it’s just us and 22 when we have anyone else in the house.
The house still felt the same, we were both still comfortable, and absolutely nothing about our day-to-day changed… except that we were saving money quietly in the background.
That’s exactly what this small win is about — gentle experimenting.
Nudge your thermostat down slightly, see how it feels, and if it’s still comfortable, brilliant. If not, turn it back up. There’s no pressure, no discomfort, no “cold house for the sake of saving money” rules. It’s simply finding the warm-but-sensible balance that works in your home.
Little habits help too, like closing doors, using draught stoppers and heating the rooms you actually use. They all make that one-degree drop feel even more unnoticeable.
I’d definitely recommend giving it a go as so many people who I’ve talked about this with before have said that when they did this, they didn’t notice the temperature change at all — just the savings. 😀
Join me next week for the next Small Win in the series, which is another tiny, easy habit that can save you some money!
I’d love you follow me on Twitter and it would be amazing to see you over on my Facebook page and on Instagram. If you’re interested, you can find out more about me here and while I’ve got your attention, if you’re wondering why some of my posts lately are a little bit less frugal then have a read of this post. 😉
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