Draughproofing

It's cheap, it's easy, and it saves a lot of money if you have an old or draughty house.
One wag told me that draughtproofing my letterbox would cut my bills because they wouldn't be able to be delivered through the smaller opening!

A draughty letterbox sealed with six inches of foam-backed tape.

A DIY job on a door was not very pretty, but is invisible when the door is shut-

A  little used door is now much less draughty... 

My front door is beginning to warp and let in air; quite common in damp Devon, but instead of getting an expensive job on the door, I put a wooden batten on the frame-

DIY perfectionists might not like it , but it works!

To see the Energy Saving Trust experts' view go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=110&v=XOuCzuL2qeU

How much do different electrical appliances consume?

There are two very useful devices that I use to measure how much electricity I am using. The one pictured above is an Owl monitor. It measures the total amount of electricity used in a house. You clamp a sensor on to the main cable going into your meter, which sends a wireless signal to the Owl monitor.

It tells you the instantaneous power consumption in kilowatts, and will also tell you how many units you have used over time. You can even plug it into your computer and look at graphs of consumption by the day, hour or even minute over the previous month.

This one is a plug in device that tells you how much electricity a particular appliance is using, also instantaneous and over time.

I was surprised to learn that there was a big difference between a new and an old freezer I had. The old one used about 50 watts on average, the new one only 14!

I lent mine to a neighbour who is busily looking at how much his appliances use.

Both of these are readily available online, just search "Owl monitor" or "plug in electricity monitor".