Whichever way you look at it, winter has the potential to be a rather dark and depressing time for the average student. Those lazy days outdoors are long gone and the chances of the Great British elements bringing any kind of respite for several months at least are pretty much zero. Not only this, but it’s only hits home that until now you’ve been getting away with enjoying the luxury of a lovely warm room without having to pay a penny for heating.
Likewise, those days are over.
Depending on the type of accommodation you live in, simply keeping the place warm throughout the winter can be extremely expensive. According to the experts at www.findspace.co.uk, comparatively few students fully take into account winter heating requirements when initially selecting their accommodation, somewhat unaware of just how much their bills can and often will increase.
On the plus side, there are various ways and means by which heating bills can be reduced quite significantly throughout the wintertime, without resorting to extreme measures. Some may seem rather remedial and perhaps even a little silly, but every single one of them works a treat and will contribute to lower bills. And the less you have to fork out for heating, the more you’ll have left over for more important and pleasurable endeavours.
So for those looking to survive the winter without paying more than necessary, here is a quick look at the top five guaranteed ways of minimising heating bills without freezing half to death:
1 – Wrap Up
First and foremost, the single most effective and indeed easy way of staying warm in the wintertime is to wrap up. There’s really nothing in the world more frustrating than an individual shouting and screaming about their elevated energy bills, despite the fact that they spend a pretty much every waking moment in their room wandering about in their underpants. Sad as it may be, this is not the season for skimpy garments and that applies just as much to the indoors as the outdoors. By dressing sensibly, wrapping yourself up and even throwing on a duvet when the weather is really biting, you won’t need to turn up the heat nearly as high or use it for nearly as long.
2 – Go Out
Another great way of staying warm in the winter is to spend as much time away from your cold accommodation as possible and revel in the free heat on offer elsewhere. Think of it this way – everywhere from fast food joints to libraries to pubs and so on offer free wireless Internet, seating and all the warmth you could ever wish for. As such, it seems rather nonsensical to be spending money on your own essential utilities when they are being given away elsewhere for free. And of course, the same also applies to spending time in the rooms and houses of your friends.
3 – Get Sociable
On the subject of being sociable, it’s also worth remembering that the more people you have in your room or your house at any one time, the more they will naturally add to their surroundings. It might sound like a rather silly way of keeping your accommodation warm, but you’d be surprised how enormous the difference can be with just a few extra people hanging around. You might want to take a look at your social calendar therefore and see if you can squeeze in a few more gatherings, here and there.
4 – Candle Power
Candles can be the very best friend of the student, providing a fantastically ambient source of light and doing a brilliant job of heating the room at the same time. Pound for pounds, candles have the potential to represent an extremely efficient and cost-effective way of adding supplementary heat to the room, just as long as you ensure you fully extinguish them after use. You can pick up hundreds of tea lights these days for next to nothing, which over the course of a cold winter could stack up to a serious saving. And of course, the appeal of romantic candlelight speaks for itself.
5 – Switch Suppliers
Last but not least, if you pay your energy suppliers directly – as opposed to via the property owner – you are perfectly within your rights to compare the market and consider switching suppliers. These days, it takes just a few seconds to hammer your details into an independent comparison site and find out instantly if you would be better off elsewhere. And if it turns out you can save money, switching to a new supplier can again be as easy as making a few clicks online. Even if the savings aren’t enormous, every little helps!