WIN! £100 worth of eco goodies of your choice!

Discover the savings that you could make by living a greener lifestyle - and you could win £100 worth of eco friendly goodies of your choice!*

With the cost of living continues to rise, seemingly by the week, there's never been a better time to take steps to reduce some of your household bills.

By living a smarter, greener lifestyle, you'll not only be doing your bit for the environment and reducing your carbon footprint, you'll also stand to save a small fortune on your household bills at the same time!

We've pulled together 16 simple carbon-cutting ideas that will help you reduce your bills while also slicing a chunk off your carbon footprint. Collectively the tips could save you over £600 per year!

Size Up The Savings for your chance to WIN!

1) On each of the tip pages listed below, you'll see the "Size Up The Savings" piggy bank panel containing details of just how much a typical UK household could save in a year by carrying out that tip.

2) Take a look at each tip and make a note of the money-saving amount listed for each one. Once you've looked at them all, you then need to work out which three of the actions have the biggest money saving potential. (Of course, you could just guess - but we think you may be surprised by the actual answer!)

3) When you've got your top 3 money-savers worked out, click here to complete the Size Up The Savings entry form with the details.

All correct entries will then be entered into our draw to win £100 worth of eco friendly gifts and gadgets of your choice from Ethical Superstore.*

Our 16 "Size Up The Savings" money-saving tips...

	Switch equipment off fully instead of leaving it in standby mode			Choose top-rated energy efficient models when replacing old kitchen appliances
	Install cavity wall insulation to stop heat escaping through walls			Turn down your heating thermostat by a single degree
	Insulate your loft to stop heat escaping through your roof			Foil-back your radiators to reflect heat back into the room
	Wash your laundry at 30oC rather than at higher temperatures			Fit draught-excluders to any breezy doors or windows
	Cut your tumble dryer time by 25% by using dryer balls			Only boil as much water as you need when making a cuppa
	Fit an insulation jacket to your hot water tank to keep your water hotter for longer			Cut out one washing machine load per week by doing fewer, fuller washes
	Ditch chemical cleaning products in favour of natural alternatives			Replace your standard light bulbs with low energy equivalents
	Fit a Savaplug to your fridge to reduce its energy consumption			Improve your car's fuel efficiency by leaving the air conditioning off and keeping windows closed

Click here to complete the Size Up The Savings entry form for your chance to win!

* Terms & conditions apply

Change Your World - 30th June to 5th July

Imagine a world with cleaner air, quieter streets and more space for kids (and big kids) to play.

It's easier to achieve than you think. Amazingly, if we all drove just one less journey a week we'd reduce car traffic by 10%. Fancy giving it a go?

Change Your World is a campaign from Sustrans which runs from 30th June to 5th July. During the week, everyone is encouraged to swap any car trip and walk, cycle, use public transport or car-share instead. Or even better, don't make the trip at all.

If you pledge to make the swap during the Change your World week, you'll be in with a chance of winning a Center Parcs family break and other great prizes.

Make your pledge to swap now at www.changeyourworld.org.uk.

For more tips and ideas on how you can reduce your transport emissions, visit the Big Green Switch.

Get on your bike for the UK's Bike Week!

It's the UK's national Bike Week from 14th to 22nd June and everyone is urged to get out and about on their bikes.

Bike Week is the UK's biggest annual promotion of cycling and all things bike-related and provides a national umbrella for locally organised events and activities up and down the UK and this year.

Its simple main aim is to get people out and about on bikes and to get ‘more people cycling, more often'. Bike Week provides an opportunity to promote cycling as a great way to ‘have fun, get fit, and feel free'.

Whether you're new to cycling or an old hand, there's something for everyone during Bike Week. The official Bike Week website includes details of special events happening across the country plus hints, tips and links to more great cycling resources onlines.

Why not use the week as inspiration to give cycling to work a try? Sustrans estimate that 20 minutes of gentle cycling burns up to 100 calories and that regular cycling can make you as fit as an average person ten years younger than you!

The Sustrans website also offers lots more information about cycling around the UK including searchable and downloadable cycle network maps to help you plan out routes, either for commutting or for pure pleasure.

So dig out your cycle and give pedal power a go this coming week!

Great cycling prizes up for grabs!
We've teamed up with competition website InstantWin4Now to give you the chance to win a selection of great cycles. Click on the links below to visit the InstantWin4Now website for your chance to win!

	Instantly WIN an Apollo Men's Town & Trail Bike Available in 21" or 18" frames, this Men's Town and Trail Bike has an Aluminium frame, 21 speed gears, powerful aluminium V-brakes and Gel saddle for added comfort.
	Instantly WIN a Raleigh Pioneer Ladies Bicycle Perfect for city riding and leisurely cruises along country lanes, this ladies Raleigh cycle is designed to be functional, solid and reliable.
	Instantly WIN an Apollo folding bicycle With a lightweight aluminium frame, this Folding Bicycle has an easy folding mechanism allowing you to go from cyclist to pedestrian in seconds - perfect for green commuting!
	Instantly WIN a super cool Trikke bike! The Trikke is an excellent eco friendly alternative for nipping around town and it even folds up so you can easily carry it through shops, university or on the tube!

National Work from Home Day - Thursday 15th May

This Thursday (May 15) is National Work from Home Day when up to five million workers are expected to work from home across the UK.

The environmental benefits of working from home more regularly can be considerable as you reduce your commuting emissions with each day you do from home. Read more about the green benefits of working from home by clicking here.

Nearly 3.5 million people already work from home in the UK - 12.2 per cent or one-in-eight of the population - an increase of 600,000 since 1997.

The highest proportion of home workers is in the South West with 15.7 per cent, followed by Eastern England with 14.4 per cent. The lowest is in the North East with 9.3 per cent, followed by Scotland with 9.4 per cent.

National Work from Home Day kicks off the start of Work Wise Week, a series of events from Work Wise UK, a not-for-profit organisation which encourages UK businesses to adopt smarter working practices with the aim of turning the country into one of the most progressive economies in the world.

Phil Flaxton, chief executive of Work Wise UK, is keen to extoll the many positives of working from home. Phil said: "Not only does it reduce the amount of commuting people have to do, enhancing their work-life balance, but many are actually more productive.

"Although many organisations practise the age-old philosophy of 'presenteeism', they should open their eyes to the new work ethic spreading across the UK and try out home working: they may well be surprised."

Home working is one of the smarter working practises being promoted through the Work Wise UK campaign, which is entering its third year. Others include flexible working, including condensed hours and nine-day fortnights, mobile and remote working. Work Wise partners include the TUC, CBI, British Chambers of Commerce, BT and Transport for London. It aims to encourage half the working population, some 14 million people, to be offered smarter working by 2011.

Find out more about National Work from Home Day and Work Wise Week at http://www.workwiseuk.org/.

For more tips and ideas for ways to go green in the workplace, visit http://www.biggreenswitch.co.uk/workplace?ito=1714&itc=0.