Cosy Homes: IKEA Live Lagom (Not sponsored, but hey, feel free to sponsor me, IKEA)

Most people spend about 45% of their time at home, and lockdown put a much stronger focus on home life.  With the sudden and drastic increase in energy prices, what are some things we can do at home to save money on energy bills?  

Image Description:  A white table and sewing supplies in the foreground; in the background, a wall-mounted monitor says, "Cosy Living Workshop" with the image of a lightbulb.  A blonde female sits on a folding chair.

My adventures as an IKEA Lagommer continue -- this time, with the Cosy Living workshop, where we talked about ways to save money with simple changes around the house, made draught excluders, ate snacks, and got some free swag.  I consider myself pretty savvy at saving money and not being wasteful, so it was cool to add a few more tricks to my sustainability repertoire.  

Image Description:  A single LED lightbulb in a black lamp fitting on a white table in a white room.  The bulb is lit and looks like it is full of fairy lights.  Image slurped from:  https://www.ikea.com/gb/en/p/vinterljus-led-bulb-e27-20-lumen-gold-colour-70411593/

Switching to all LED lights will save you about £30/year.  I remember in engineering school, one of the professors said it wouldn't be long until they invented white LEDs and how they would save so much electricity.  I always hated incandescent bulbs because they were like lightbulb roulette -- would they pop and burn out when you turned them on?  Fluorescent bulbs were better because they lasted a lot longer, but they are bad for the environment because they contain mercury and phosphorus.  Halogen bulbs were so bright, but apparently are quite the fire hazard.  I switched to LED as soon as I could!  I immediately started saving money after switching to LEDs just because they last so much longer.  The lowered electricity bills were just a bonus!  And LEDs are not as pricey now as when they first appeared on the market.  Good thing, too, because it looks like the sale and production of other bulbs are being phased out.

Image description:  Two white plug-in 24-hour wall socket timers.  Image slurped from:  https://www.ikea.com/gb/en/p/taenda-timer-24-hours-indoor-earthed-white-10445765/

Switching off things on standby or switching to timers can save you about £35/year.  I am embarrassed to say, I never took the "standby" issue seriously.  I secretly giggled at how a family member switched their TV off at the wall, but now I am eating humble pie because of how much electricity is saved by switching off things on standby!  I've switched off my Instant Pot and the kitchen radio, I stopped leaving fully charged devices plugged in, and I'm putting my laptop on a timer -- it doesn't need to charge at night when it is closed and not in use.

Image description:  A white front-loading washing machine.  Image slurped from:  
https://www.ikea.com/gb/en/p/tvaettad-integrated-washing-machine-white-20488981/

Doing one less wash per week in each appliance saves £16/year.  Obviously, there's not much practicality in just skipping a wash load for no reason, but there are other ways to use your appliances less.  Waiting until the dishwasher and washing machine are full and not running half loads is practical.  It's also worth considering washing your clothes less -- daily washing is a non-negotiable for me when it comes to dish rags and tea towels, but I don't feel the need to wash every item of clothing after wearing it just once (jeans, hoodies, etc.).  There are 7 of us in this household and I cloth diaper, so there is always a LOT of laundry, and I am happy to not wash more than necessary.  (I don't have a dishwasher, so I already save there.)

Image Description:  A laundry pulley full of laundry hanging from the kitchen ceiling.

Using a drying rack instead of a dryer saves £81/year.  I don't have a dryer.  We used to rent a place right by the sea and it was so damp, nothing would dry unless we either used the tumble dryers or radiators, so I do understand that they can be necessary, but our new place is not a crazy mould-infested damp home by the sea, even though it still rains all the time.  I do laundry basically every day, so I save way more than £81/year.  I don't use drying racks, though -- I use a laundry pulley!  It is the coolest thing, and I don't know why they aren't still popular outside of the greater Glasgow area, because they are so handy and space-saving.  I also dry outside whenever possible, but we're in the middle of rainy season, so not too many opportunities this time of year.

Image Description:  A person sitting on a white couch holding a grey cup.  A grey blanket lays across their lap.  Image slurped from:  https://www.ikea.com/gb/en/p/evali-throw-dark-grey-60426255/

Using duvets and throws instead of turning up the heat saves £55/year.  Okay, this seems SO obvious now that they mentioned it, but I hadn't tried this one either!  Everybody has heard people say, "wear a sweater and turn down the thermostat," so many times (to the point where it almost sounds condescending, because we know; and also, you can only put on so many layers without feeling like Ralphy's little brother in A Christmas Story.  "I can't put my arms down!"), but I never considered cuddling under a cosy blanket!  To be honest, I am on my feet most of the day and don't watch TV (it's just a habit I fell out of, I'm not protesting or anything), but I do read in the mornings.  It IS a lot more cosy under a blanket and I can stay warm and delay turning on the heat for a bit longer.  Also, where is Martha Stewart?  Let's bring back the poncho!  Maybe just for around the house, since they are not always practical when going out.

Image description:  Light from a window peeks through a gap between layers of pale and dark blue curtains.  Image slurped from:  https://www.ikea.com/gb/en/ideas/hilleborg-finnstarr-slattum-puderviva-recc9yzlpb1

Draught-proofing with textiles, like doubling up on blinds and curtains, saves £25/year.  I have been thinking about draught-proofing my front door for ages and just hadn't gotten around to it.  It is really draughty and the gaps between the door and the door frame are pretty wide.  I have since bought a draught-excluding strip for the bottom of the front door and a draught-excluding seal for around the door frame.  What a difference it makes!  It adds a bit of sound-proofing, too:  we are in a tenement flat and the close is bustling with people, their pets, and deliveries!  
I've also been meaning to finish making all the curtains for the house.  Buying curtains is not a great option, as our Victorian tenement flat ceilings are so high, even the longest store-bought curtains are too short.  I made curtains for my husband's office last year.  I have the material for the other rooms, and I need to get cracking!  I have a toddler, so curtains are not an easy thing to do, since curtain making involves laying large swathes of fabric on the floor, but I am going to try to get two sets done this winter.  Watch this space.

(Just as an aside, I know people use hot water bottles so stay cosy and warm without turning the heat up, but I got a hot water burn from one that leaked (the rubber disintegrated in a place that was hard to notice!).  I have given birth 5 times, had a camera and catheter inserted when I had a UTI, had a year of chronic pelvic pain, and more, but this was BY FAR the worst pain I've ever been in.  I have a weird scar in the shape of Kentucky under my right arm from it.)

Image Description:  This year's IKEA Lagommers making draught excluders in a white room with beech flooring.  People are in various stages of the construction process:  sewing, stuffing, selecting fabrics, etc.  A pile of crumpled fabric is on the floor.

And then we all made draught excluders from IKEA textiles that would otherwise have gone to waste!  We even stuffed them with leftover textiles -- I think stuffing with leftover textiles is a really great idea.  Sure, you don't want to sit on a cushion stuffed with big lumpy pieces of fabric, but that's less of an issue with draught excluders (and I find cutting fabric into roughly equal sized smaller pieces is a helpful trick).  You can also stuff them with old pillows or duvets that would otherwise get thrown out (although my old duvets get turned into quilts).  I made mine out of grey linen (linen is my faaaaaavourite).

Image Description:  A white table and sewing supplies in the foreground; in the background, a wall-mounted monitor says, "FIKA TIME!" with the image of a teapot and cup.  A masked female sits on a folding chair.

Image description:  The white snack table, with circular brass trays of pastries, against a white wall with a fern-patterned fabric wall panel.

Image:  Espresso in a white cup

In my last blog I talked about snacks and free swag, so here we go again:  There were a few platters with some beautifully arranged pastries, tiny cakes, and biscuits, including some gluten-free vegan oaty ones (the same ones I mentioned last post).  We got our drinks from the employee cafeteria, which is so cool, and a nice employee perk.  And we were sent home with a holiday tin of heart-shaped spiced ginger biscuits (suitable for vegans, yay!) and a festive piece of cork in the shape of a horse.  ...That's not the best description.  Uh...horse-shaped cork holiday decoration?  It was cute, though!  My kids weren't sure if it was supposed to be a horse or a dog.  And my kids joked that there were biscuits in the sewing tin!  I'm an aspiring minimalist, but I still love swag like I am a little kid.  The festive quadruped has a place of honour in my entrance hall and I will dutifully fill the biscuit tin with sewing supplies once we've eaten all the biscuits.

Image:  A red tin of heart-shaped ginger biscuits

You've made it to the end!  So here's a little story for you:  I'm getting my bedroom floor redone and needed to move everything out of the room.  And, wow, moving everything out of my bedroom has made me reevaluate my whole life!  WHERE DID ALL THIS STUFF COME FROM?!  I am going to get donate the wardrobe (it's from the 1930s and lovely, but the rest of my furniture is Victorian or Georgian (thank you BHF Furniture and Electrical) and the wardrobe turned into a big black hole for my clothes) and will replace it with a simple garment rail.  I am also getting rid of a fair portion of my clothes and my mending pile.  My clothes will be donated, and the tattered clothes will turn to rags -- so many of my children's clothes are far too threadbare to be worth repairing, plus we have received so many lovely hand-me-downs, I don't need to hang on to them just in case.  I also found a box of junk from our previous flat that I thought I had long since thrown away!  I thought my bedroom was fairly tidy, but packing and moving everything made me feel like I was on an episode of Hoarders!  Somebody call Matt Paxton, Extreme Clean Specialist!!