Honestly all the conflicting advice out there at the moment has left me totally confused.com

Almost all the cost of living advice involves blocking up draughts as the main way to avoid heat loss in your home and spend less on heating.

And almost all the mould and damp advice says to ensure you have not blocked any vents and keep all ventilation holes open for air flow.

Except that the giant ventilation holes in my house are pretty bloody draughty. Cos they are literally huge holes in the walls of every room. Sucking all my lovely heat straight out and letting all the cold damp air straight in.

(Other people tell me they have ventilation vents under the floorboards or in hidden places you can’t see, but ours are in the walls directly over the beds, where the cold air blows directly onto you while you sleep…)

So do I block them up to save money on my heating or keep them open to avoid more mould? There doesn’t seem to be any clear advice out there on how to tackle both of these problems at once (trust me I’ve been googling for weeks and I’m none the wiser for it).

I’ve currently got a plan to install an uber-fancy extractor fan in the bathroom that will run all the time to try and reduce the humidity, and am looking at installing some sort of high-tech airex vents that open and close based on the humidity and temperature. But who knows if that will solve the problem.

I also can’t work out if I’m being the most energy-efficient with my heating. I’ve been warming it up a little in the morning (up to 17 degrees) and then keeping it off all day, and have the evening heating set to 19 degrees. However at the moment the house is dropping temperature quite a lot during the day, down to 16 or 15, so in the evening when it kicks in, it takes FOREVER to come back up to 19 degrees. So I’m wondering if it’s using more energy letting the house cool down during the day as it takes so long to come back up to temp, or would it be better to keep the temp hotter in the day so it comes on little and often rather than for hours in the evening? Anyone know what would save me the most money?

And while I’m facing this conundrum here is another one….

The eco-settings on my washing machine all seem to be ridiculously long cycles that wash at cooler temperatures for hours and hours, (literally 3-4 hours for the eco washes). But surely it’s costing a hell of a lot more money/electricity to run the machine for so bloody long? I really want to be eco friendly but am currently running the shortest cycles possible to keep costs down. Is there some sort of trade off or balance to be had between the environment and the cost of living?

All these things seems to be either/or options.

Answers on a postcard please!