SAVING MONEY ISN'T JUST FOR YOUR LIFE INSURANCE: 6 TIPS TO REDUCE COSTS

After the Energy Show this week, held in RDS Dublin it got us thinking about all the ways you can save money in the home. There were some great inventions at the show from fireplaces that allowed you to get nearly twice the amount of energy from a bag of coal all the way down to being able to turn your heating on and off by phone. All of these were great and guaranteed to save you money but a lot of these products were costly so we have come up of some ways you can save a few bob on your heating and electricity bills without burning a hole in your pocket.

Chimney flues when not in use are practically the same having a giant hole in your living room wall. You can easily stop drafts in your house by either shoving a pillow up there or else creating a cover for in front of the great. This will stop all the heat your central heating creates escaping through the chimney.

Turning down the thermostat on the boiler even by 1 degrees can have a substantial effect. In some cases 1 degree can save up to 4% on a households heating bill. It is suggested as well to service your boiler at least once a year. This way your boiler will be always working efficiently while in use.

Electric heaters are a great way of saving money. If you are working at a desk or just lying down on the couch by keeping the heating off and just pointing an electric heater towards the area you want heated you will save fortune on heating.

A great way of saving energy around the house is by using efficient lighting systems. We all know of the energy saving light bulbs which last for a number of years and also save you a few euros in your energy bill.  L.E.D lights are also a lot more economical than the traditional light bulb and in fact new L.E.D’s might even replace the efficient energy saving light bulb in the near future.

Switch off light bulbs comes down to common sense and bad habits.  We are all guilty of this one, leaving the lights on when nobody is in the room. By just switching the lights off when you aren't using them you will save and bring your bills down, not by a whole lot but you will notice a difference at the end of the month when the bill arrives through the letterbox.

Night rates for electricity are almost half the price at night as they are during the day. Use this to your advantage and run all you appliances during the night just before you go to bed. Dish washer, washing machine and dryer can all be used in this way and use a large amount of electricity to heat water and air. Take advantage of this.

We hope you're enjoying this series and if you have any cost-saving tips yourself, feel free to share them in the comments. As always if you want to get the best quote on your Life Insurance feel free to get in touch.