How much could you save by being energy conscious? At the Your Energy Savings website, they reckon a household can save $605 over the course of a year just by doing things like installing a water-efficient showerhead and using the clothesline once a week instead of the dryer. Gas heaters could also save you $135 a year over a portable electric heater.
The government’s Energy Made Easy site has five ideas, which include setting your heating system’s thermostat to between 18 and 20 degrees. Apparently, every degree of heat you reduce can save up to 10 percent on your energy use.
Aldi gets all wintry
From 30 May Aldi’s Special Buys include electric blankets, heated throw blankets, heaters, men’s jumpers, socks and PJs – and warm snuggly beds for dogs.
How cheap are they? At $34.99 to $64.99 for electric blankets, they’re on the economical side for sure. (According to CHOICE, electric blankets cost between $50 and $400 depending on features.) And electric blankets are very cost effective (as this graph from The Electric Blanket Institute shows) costing around 4 cents per hour to run – just turn yours off once you’re nice and toasty.
Heated throw rugs (Aldi’s version has some great reviews) can also save you more than $250 during winter, compared to running a 2400 watt heater, says MamaMia. At only is $34.99, it’s also one of the cheapest you can buy, with others costing as much as $99.95 (Beurer Super Cosy from Harvey Norman).
EOFY-ify yourself
The end of the financial year sales have finally kicked off – David Jones is doing its “up to 50% off” Clearance Sale, though if you’re looking for bed linen, not much is actually 50 percent off. Myer’s got its Stocktake Sale on – get 40 percent off quilt covers, quilts and pillows, 50 percent off mattresses and 40 percent off towels.
New childcare rebate – how much do you save?
Under the new childcare subsidies, the former rebate cap of $7500 is now redundant; instead the new Child Care Subsidy will cover up to 85 per cent of childcare costs, with the per-hour subsidy tapering down 1 per cent for each extra $3,000. If you’re on a lower combined income that means you could really save some money. For instance, a family earning $80,000 with two children aged under six in long day care three days a week will be $3,424 better off each year.
Looking for a cheap date?
Choice has listed costs of all the main dating websites in Australia – which is a bonus if you’re looking for love, because the sites often don’t publish how much they cost untill you go to sign up. Eharmony charges from $19.95 to $54.95 per month as an example; RSVP is $14 to $56 per month.
But why pay full price, we say! Dating sites do deals including these eharmony coupons online at Groupon – 67% off standard monthly prices, a potential saving of up to $36 per month.
And these RSVP deals at retailmenot – including a free one-month VIP subscription. They’re always advertising free-messaging weekends and special deals on TV too – keep your eyes (and your heart) open.