I know it’s the back end of summer at the moment, but before you know it we’ll be keeping ourselves warm for the winter. For many households, winter can be the most expensive time of the year, with boiler breakdowns, car repairs and Christmas combining to put a real strain on budgets. For this reason, it’s essential to look at every way possible of saving a bit of money â“ and there are a number of things you can try.
As strange as it may sound, one of the best ways to save money could be to spend it more wisely and potentially devote more of your budget to certain things. For example, insulating your home or getting boiler insurance may require an initial outlay, but you’re like to see the savings in the coming months and years. Here’s a guide to how these things could, help along with a few other top tips for good measure.
Insulation
Quite simply, the more you insulate, the more efficient your home will be. So look at lofts and cavity walls â“ these are among the places where the biggest savings will be seen. Then also consider insulating your pipes and water tanks â“ this will come in especially useful when the temperatures go sub-zero. In many cases, you’ll recoup your outlay within a few months or years.
Arrange boiler insurance
Each passing winter seems to break the record for the lowest temperatures ever recorded. So it’s no surprise that the nation’s boilers have taken a battering in recent years, with record numbers of breakdowns recorded by home emergency specialists. With boiler cover in place, you can rest assured that you’ll be able to call on a fully qualified Gas Safe Register approved engineer to carry out the work â“ and the cost is only likely to be your excess, rather than a repair bill running into hundreds of pounds.
Repair windows and doors
If your outside doors have seen better days and you’ve got small chips or cracks in your windows, then it’s best to get these fixed before winter sets in. Not only could the adverse weather damage them further, but could also make your property increasingly inefficient.
Don’t ignore your garden
If you’ve been tending to your plants and lawn in recent weeks and months, don’t let the harsh winter weather undo all your hard work. Protect particularly vulnerable plants by moving them into containers and putting them in the shed or conservatory. Cover anything that’s vulnerable but can’t come out of the ground with sheeting. And if you keep fish in a pond, put a tennis ball in the water which can be removed to let oxygen circulate when the pond freezes over.
Putting in a little time and effort ahead of the winter could really help you reap the rewards â“ so don’t delay and get cracking as soon as possible.
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