"If you asked me to score my quality of life from one to 10, I would definitely say 12 plus.
"I
am a pensioner, at home and with the computer on most of the time, who
pays well under £100 for my annual, total, combined gas and electricity
bills. I have worked out gradually how to do this, and now find it so
easy it is automatic.
"Although I am very lucky in my housing and
neighbourhood, at least some of my savings could be made by anyone. A
few ideas are fairly costly to set up, but they could be paid for many
times over in savings on later annual bills – especially given that
carbon fuel prices are only going to keep rising.
"Three
years ago I moved house, and chose an end-of-terrace home with a south-
and west-facing living room, and no nearby tall trees or buildings. The
living room has patio doors and even in deepest winter, on sunny days,
it heats up to more than 20C. If you have any blank walls that face east
or west, but preferably south, could you possibly put in a
double-glazed window? The larger the better. Patio doors heat up rooms
much more than ordinary windows do.
"Insulated cavity walls
and roof increase the winter warmth. I have carpets here – much cosier
than the laminate floors in my last home – and cream 'blackout' curtains
which give excellent insulation.
"I do not use central heating.
Instead, I use the warm living room almost all the time in winter. Okay,
the other rooms are chilly. But does that matter as long as you only
need to use them briefly during the day, and you have one really warm
room, or two for larger families?
"My main heating is a
wood-burner, and for that you have to have a chimney or some kind of
wall outlet. My burner, with installation by a plumber, cost about £500.
Even a large room is fine with a small burner, and they last forever.
"The
other expenses are logs – about £200 a year. So that does bring my fuel
bills up to nearly £300, and you do need somewhere to store the logs
without having to carry them far. There is very little ash, which only
needs clearing out into a small bag about once a month. The annual
chimney sweep costs about half the price of checking the gas boiler.
"You
can get burners with in-built boilers, which heat radiators and water
tanks. Instead, I always keep a filled kettle on my burner, and add that
hot water to pans or to an electric kettle whenever I need boiling
water. I slow-cook stews on the burner, after heating them on a hob, and
you can hang clothes around for very quick drying.
"My
glass-fronted burner is a beautiful companion. Throughout the year, I
collect twigs and lumps of fallen wood in nearby parks to use for
kindling and to start a quick blaze in the morning.
"For
unheated bedrooms you can use one or two – or three – hot water bottles
(from the burner kettle) and lots of warm covers. It can be more
pleasant to sleep in a warm bed in a cold winter room than in a hot
summer bedroom where you cannot control the temperature.
"Maybe
you are thinking about the misery of cold kitchens and bathrooms. During
winter I prepare food, and the hot water for cooking and washing up, in
the living room – so need to spend little time in the kitchen. Jackets
and jerseys are handy for longer spells in the kitchen. Living in inner
London I have shops near by. I use them as my main larder, so I can do
without a freezer, and I turn on my fridge only briefly to cool white
wine, or occasionally for the grandchildren's ice-cream. Food keeps well
in cool kitchens.
"I buy milk every other day, and keep the
carton in a jug of cold water. Shopping every day or two ensures that
food is fresh and varied. Another advantage is not having a fridge full
of stuff near its end-of-shelf life, which helps to reduce overeating
and throwing away stale food.
"The bathroom is the other
great energy consumer. Older people will remember how in the 1940s-1950s
we tended to have a bath once or twice a week. Advertisers have lately
persuaded us that it is unhealthy and disgusting to shower less than at
least once a day. Yet a quick wash, with water from a kettle, is fine
for most days – or a leisurely wash in front of the burner. Baby wipes
are a great invention, and I can guarantee no one will guess if you
haven't had a shower for five days.
"Maybe you are thinking that
a good quality of life demands several warm though hardly used rooms,
plenty of hot water on tap, and lots of electric equipment on standby.
But think about all the things you could buy instead of burning money on
fuel bills."
Posts
"Those of us in possession of a Woodburner have been stoking them into life since autumn, and as long as the wintry nights continue and the mercury tumbles, we won't be stopping anytime soon.
