A family has turned to wearing headlights at home after enforcing a "no electricity at home" policy in a bid to save money on their bills.
Chavdar Todorov, 53, was desperate for his family to cut back on their energy usage after discovering their bill had more than doubled to £320 a month. The dad came up with the idea of using head torches to avoid switching on the lights in the house.
Now he, his wife, Moda, 49, and their children Teo, 14, and Nicole, 20, hope they can save a small fortune on their electric costs by keeping usage to an absolute minimum against an annual bill of £3,800. To also cut down on bills, the family is only turning their heating on once a week while keeping warm by wrapping up in coats and blankets.
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Moda, a yoga teacher, said: "We’re trying to think positive but it’s hard. I don’t put the heating on if I’m home alone and just keep my jacket on.
"My husband came up with the funny idea of using head torches. We keep the lights off and use our head torches but it’s scary and I don’t feel as safe.
“There have been a lot of burglaries in our area. We light candles and try and make it romantic.” She added: "We used to pay £140 a month and in June it shot up to £320," she said.
“We don’t know yet what it’s gone up to again but we’re trying to do everything we can to keep it down. We wrap up in blankets and coats and only put the heating on about once a week just to get some heat through the house.
“Our back door isn’t very insulating and you can really feel the cold and wind.” Chavdar, who works as a banker and decorator, came up with the idea of using £8.48 on smart headlights instead of switching on the lights.
They respond to movement and are very handy,” Moda said. "We use them at night to go to the toilet instead of putting the light on.
“I hope it’s not something we’ll keep having to do.”
Chavdar said: "It's like we're back in the 18th century. We don't know what the bill is going to be like at the end of the month so we're doing everything we can.
"I can now wear the headtorch and get around without switching on the lights. We're reducing our TV watching and only having it on sometimes.
"We can only do everything we can."
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