A THRIFTY mum has revealed her £1 trick which saves her hundreds on her gas and electric bills.
Heidi Ondrak, 51, has already started saving money to afford her 2024 energy bills.
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The mum, from Plymouth, shares money saving tips to her thousands of followers on TikTok.
In a recent video, Heidi explained her simple hack for making sure paying the bills is as stress-free as possible.
She revealed how putting just £1 a day away will pay for heating her next year.
Using banking app Monzo, Heidi has made a contingency pot where the money gets transferred to daily.
As we enter the New Year, she will have £365 ready to help pay for ever-rising bills.
She told NeedToKnow.online: “I just woke up and thought I want a heating buffer for next year for when it’s cold.
“It’s the price of a Walkers grab bag of crisps and I don’t notice the £1 leaving my account.
“It has rained for days and even with the dehumidifier, the air felt damp and I thought I wish the heating wasn’t so pricey.
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“The house feels like it needs drying out so I thought I will prepare for next year better.
“I want to be able to pay for heating during freezing weeks like the one we had a few weeks ago.
“It was tolerable but very uncomfortable and frankly quite an ordeal to get through without heating, but I didn’t want my monthly direct debit to be any higher.
“This way I have the money upfront and I can use it here and when I need, paying Eon every time I use the heating by using the smart meter.
“No debt and no increase in direct debit.”
SUPER SAVER
Heidi also explained why it is so important to think ahead when it comes to paying our bills.
She continued: “Planning is key to adapting and it has been really hard to get my bearings in the cost of living crisis with things going up weekly.
“I am planning ahead with contingency pots so I know that, if we have another freezing cold week next year, I have a buffer and I can use the heating and I won’t be retrospectively paying for it.
“I can pay it directly to the supplier that month.”
The tip has been a hit with many of Heidi’s followers.
One user commented: “What a fantastic idea.”
Another person added: “I like this idea, you don’t miss a quid do you.”
A third person said: “I am addicted to watching you now, great idea, thank you for all your ideas.
“I just got a Monzo card myself today all thanks to you.”
One energy expert has revealed you could slash bills just by simply using your boiler correctly.
Uswitch’s Richard Nuedegg explains how the numbers on your boiler can save you money.
He said usually your boiler is set to a default temperature of between 75C and 80C – but this could be driving up the cost of bills.
Richard said: “For combi boilers, the recommended output temperature for the radiators is 75oC and at least 60oC for water.”
