Carbon monoxide is a silent killer. Every year in the UK it kills around 50 people and sends 4000 to A&E for emergency treatment. Make sure you get all your combustion appliances properly serviced and fit an alarm. Good quality alarms are available from most DIY suppliers and take minutes to fit. It could save your life!

Fitting a new insulating jacket to a bare hot water tank can save over £100 per year. Costing just a few pounds, the investment can pay itself off in a few months.

Using lids on your pans when cooking will save energy and help heat the contents quicker.

Draught excluders are a cheap way of cutting out the chill from poorly fitting doors and windows. Most are also easy to fit, a simple DIY task.

Think before your print. Reducing the amount of material you print has a long list of benefits including saving paper, chemicals and electricity. More and more offices and industries are going paper free, so think about how you can reduce any printing you do.

Make sure you get your boiler properly serviced every year by a competent person. It will keep you warm, safe and make sure it is working efficiently.

If you need to use a tumble drier, make sure you use a full load and keep the lint filter clean. It will keep your machine working more efficiently saving energy while also reducing any risk of fire.

Some vulnerable people need to keep their homes warmer than normal. However, most of us can save money and energy by dressing for the weather and putting on a jumper before turning up the heating.

Properly used, dishwashers use less water and energy than washing dishes by hand. However, make sure you only wash full loads and don’t pre-rinse everything in the sink first unless it really needs it.

When cooking you can often use the residual heat to to save energy if you switch your cooker off just before you finish cooking. However, you still need to make sure that your food is properly cooked through.