SAVVY mum Stephanie Tucker from Manchester has become “obsessed” with trying to save money by using household appliances as efficiently as possible.
The 34 year-old PhD researcher in child psychology says that before this year’s energy price hikes her bills were around £50 a month.
They have already more than doubled to £136 and are set to rise further.
Stephanie can’t avoid using her laptop all the time because she needs it for her work, so she tries to make cutbacks elsewhere.
She has to run the washing machine more than she would like because her baby Zavian, 21 months, is a “messy puppy” and can never gets more than one wear out of his clothes before they go into the laundry basket.
She says: “I thought I was already quite careful, but since I’ve had a smart meter installed I do watch it a lot and worry about costs.
“When you switch on an appliance that uses a lot of electricity like the oven or the hairdryer you can see the meter flashes red.
“I recently bought an airfryer and haven’t used the oven since so hopefully that will help.
“Now I let my hair dry naturally to save costs.
“I turn all my appliances off at the wall when I'm not using them.
“I try to listen to music rather than have the TV on at all, which goes hand in hand with limiting screen time for the little one too.
“I measure out the exact amount of water for the kettle and limit myself now to three cups of tea or coffee a day.
“I've stopped washing my own clothes as often and try to get extra wear out of them.
“I’ll often work from the cafes at Morrisons and Sainsbury’s or head to the public library, where I can cheekily charge my phone, laptop and dictaphone.
“I used to shower once or twice a day but I now try to wash in the sink and have a shower every two or three days.
“When I do shower, I time it so it's as quick as possible."
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