As Blue Monday approaches, many of us will still be struggling financially after the Christmas period.
It's still cold, and many will be looking for ways they can save money on their energy bills, especially as the energy crisis of recent months continues.
In the final months of 2021, gas prices skyrocketed to record-breaking levels, causing many energy companies to go bust.
If you're struggling, or just looking for some ways of cutting back on costs, you'll be glad to hear that one mum has shared a clever trick that helped her save money off her gas bill.
She shared the trick, which involved checking your flow settings on your boiler, on Mumsnet so that "it can help others".
Explaining how it helped her, she wrote: "Mine was set to 80 degrees by default which meant I was spending huge amounts on heating up water that then has to be cooled down with cold water.
"In the case of heating it just takes a little longer to warm up."
The advice she shared came from OctupusEnergy, who recommend combi boiler users set the flow temperature to 50C for hot water, and 55C for heating.
Keep in mind it will take a little longer to heat up than normal, but according to Octopus, "the gas and CO2 savings make it more than worthwhile".
Meanwhile, if you have a boiler and hot water cylinder, it recommends setting the flow temperature on your boiler to a few degrees over 60C for heating and hot water, and setting your hot water cylinder to 60C.
According to the forum user, she has saved £95 since the beginning of December 2021, just by making that small change.
She continued: "I assumed everyone knew about this except me but my sister hadn't heard of it and she's very hot on money saving so I thought there must be others out there.
"Seems worth a try since we're all crippled with ridiculous energy bills at the moment."
If you've got any more money saving tips, let us know in the comments below.
Other ways to save money on energy bills
If you're looking for even more hacks to keep your energy bills this winter, you can check our handy list of 10 essential hacks.
For example, if you're more efficient in households tasks you could save time and money.
Wait until your dishwasher is full before using it – this goes for washing too.
Simply put, the fewer washes you do, the less energy you use, and this will lower your bills.
Also, try to take shorter showers. This means water doesn't need to be heated for such a long time.
Colder showers could also save you money – and be beneficial to your health.
