My sister came home today with a large sausage dog-shaped draught excluder to put against the back door so we don't lose any heat now it's getting chilly. To be honest, I think she's thinking more about this whole energy-saving challenge than I am.
Today, the two of us set about emptying out our second freezer. We didn't even need to plug in the monitor to know that it's a waste of electricity having two freezers running, with both of them half empty. We managed to move all the food into the main freezer in the kitchen and we're now going to defrost the one in the utility room and unplug it.
We do most of our food shopping online, so it shouldn't be too difficult to adjust our order to make sure we're just getting in the stuff we need for the week, rather than a load of excess that we then clog up the freezer with or, even worse, end up throwing away.
I also thought about plugging the monitor into the oven, but when I couldn't find a plug I remembered that it's plugged directly into the mains and we only have an on and an off switch. At least that means my sister can carry on cooking her shepherd's pies without me reminding her how much it is costing us.
About the author
Marc is a full-time wheelchair tennis player and Paralympic hopeful. He lives in west London with his sister in a four-bedroomed house. His most guilty energy habits are washing his tennis kit every day and leaving his TV, PlayStation and DVD on standby. EDF Energy is working with athletes such as Marc to turn ParalympicsGB into a truly "green team" ahead of 2012.
