First thing in the morning, I come downstairs while the children are still in bed and put on the electric fire in the small living room. We recently had an extension put onto the kitchen at the back of the house, but I've noticed it takes a lot longer to heat up properly with the boiler.
As the children are off to school quickly and I'm often out of the house not long after, I find that putting the electric fire on for 10 or 15 minutes is enough for our morning routine. We just flick it off as we're going out the door. Not putting on the central heating until we're home for several hours in the afternoon and evening is a substantial savings of energy and money. It's partly about thinking about 'what is enough energy?' and choosing not to use more than we really need.