I have been a home owner for about 18 months now, and I reckon it took me at least 12 to start living "sensibly" with bills etc (i.e. starting shopping at LIDL etc).
However, apart from food, my biggest outgoings are my bi-monthly bills. I just received my last gas bill (€110 or so) and I was like "OK, not too bad, I wonder what comparable period last year cost?". Went digging through my files and found one for nearly the exact same period. it was €100 more!! So all I can say is, think before you press the button! "Do I actually need to blast the heat? Do I need to have it come on automatically every morning?". Its amazing how much you'll save.