Top energy saving measures

You can cut as much as £250 off your annual energy bill and reduce your household's carbon dioxide emissions by around two tonnes.

Here's how you do it.

Brush up on energy saving

Eliminate draughts and wasted heat by installing a cheap, easy-to-fix brush or PVC seal on your exterior doors. Letterboxes and keyholes should be covered too.

You can install draught proofing your self

Draught dodgers

Draughts also get in through gaps in floorboards and skirting boards, which also allow heat to escape in winter. Stop this waste by filling these gaps with newspaper, beading or sealant.

Find out more about draft proofing

Stop draughts by filling gaps with newspaper, beading or sealant

Use energy saving light bulbs

Switch to energy saving light bulbs. They last around 10 times longer than ordinary light bulbs, and each bulb you fit could save up to £60 on electricity over the bulb's lifetime. They come in a whole range of styles.

Find out more about energy saving lighting

Energy saving bulbs last up to 10 times longer

Jazz up your tank with a jacket

Insulate your hot water tank with a jacket - it only costs a few pounds and, with all the heat it traps in, it pays for itself within months. Fit one that's at least 75mm (3") thick and you could save around £20 a year. If every UK household that could fitted an adequate tank-jacket tomorrow, we'd save over £89 million of energy every year!

Find out more about hot water tank insulation

Fit a hot water jacket that's at least 75mm (3") thick and you could save around £20 a year

Lofty ambitions

Insulating your loft is one of the simplest ways to save energy - you can even install it yourself. Insulate your loft today and in a year you could save around £110.

Find out more about loft insulation

Loft insulation can save you around £110 a year

Insulate wall cavities

Around 33% of the heat lost in an uninsulated house is through the walls. You could save around £90 on energy bills each year by insulating your wall cavities. It also creates an even temperature in your home. If we all filled our wall cavities, we'd save about £720 million of energy a year.

Find out more about cavity wall insulation

Typical brick formation for cavity walls

Switch to high-efficiency boilers

If your boiler is over 15 years old it's probably time to replace it. By law, new gas boilers in England and Wales must now be of the high efficiency condensing type, which can help you save up to a third on your heating bills and even more if you upgrade to modern controls as well.

Find out more about boilers

Save up to a third on your heating bills with a high efficiency condensing boiler

Look for the logo

When purchasing new appliances, always look for the Energy Saving Recommended logo. Energy Saving Recommended appliances are the most efficient in their category and could save you up to £37 a year.

Find out more about Energy Saving Recommended products

Always look for the Energy Saving Recommended logo

Keep twice as warm with double glazing

Double glazing cuts heat loss through windows by 50% and could cut your heating bill by around £90 a year.

Find out more about glazing

Cut your heating bills around £90 a year

Air conditioning

On a hot night, when you're tempted to use air-conditioning, switch off electrical appliances such as TVs, stereos and DVDs. They generate heat and will add to your discomfort. A cool quick shower before bedtime will also help you to sleep.

Washing machines

Be economical when washing and only wash your clothes when you have a full load. Today's washing powders are just as effective on low temperature programmes - saving energy and money. If you've got economy 7, use a timer to wash at night when electricity is cheaper.

Freezing cold

Make sure your freezer is energy efficient, by checking the door seals are working and not leaving the freezer open for long periods of time. Defrost regularly and make sure it's positioned away from any hot appliances in your home. Replacing your old freezer with an energy efficient one could save you money on your bills.

Showers

Have a refreshing shower instead of a bath. Although, a power shower can use more water than a bath! A five minute shower uses 35 litres of water, compared to a bath that uses 80 litres - this can save over 300 litres of water a week. Fit a flow restrictor to the shower and restrict flow to six litres a minute for optimum flow and water saving. Suitable for mains or power showers.

Toilets

The humble toilet accounts for a third of total domestic water consumption, we are literally flushing money down the pan every time we flush. To cut consumption, reduce the number of times you flush. A number of water-saving items can be ordered through the Thames water website.

Fitting a save-a-flush (a bag of harmless crystals) in your toilet cistern can save up to one litre per flush giving a saving of nearly 2,000 litres per person per year. Installing a hippo (designed to work in toilet cisterns with a nine litre flush or greater) can save up to three litres a flush - amounting to 5,000 litres per person per year.

With increasing water prices and declining rainfall, if you are about to renovate your bathroom, you might consider installing a water-saving loo. Find out more about eco-friendly products and where you can buy them.

Watering the garden

A drought could still be upon us! So water your garden with a watering can. A watering can uses nine litres of water whereas a sprinkler uses 540 litres per hour. To conserve water, use a mulch such as bark to cover the bare soil between plants, this will reduce evaporation as will watering early morning and towards dusk. For more information on saving water in the garden, visit BBC Gardening website.

Insulate yourself against rising bills

Insulating your roof is not the most exciting of ideas, but with gas bills on the rise (up to 15 per cent increase announced early August) it makes sense to get your roof space ready for the heating season.

Grants are available for roof insulation, and if you're in receipt of benefits you may be eligible for a 100 per cent grant. Go to http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/homes/housekeeping/wastenot_index.shtml/ext/_auto/-/http://www.markgroup.co.uk/ for further information.

Shopping

One of the biggest areas of household waste is food. Every person in the UK wastes £400 worth of perfectly good food a year. Do what your granny did and plan a weekly menu - and stick to it when you shop! Granny knew the art of housekeeping and made sure every penny spent on food went as far as possible. Follow her lead and watch your shopping bills drop and your dustbin grow lean.

Grow your own

There is a renaissance in allotment keeping. For a small rental, you can have your own plot and grow fresh food. By sharing the work with friends or family, you lighten the load and taking holidays is not so risky. Contact your local authority to find out your nearest site. The national society of allotment and leisure gardeners http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/homes/housekeeping/wastenot_index.shtml/ext/_auto/-/http://www.nsalg.org.uk/ also has great advice on getting started