During this winter period, as concerns for the Cost of Living crisis have grown and temperatures have fallen, Money Expert Martin Lewis has been sharing tips to stay warm while keeping energy costs down. Taken from his ITV programme, 'The Martin Lewis Money Show', the Money Expert and his team came up with ways to "heat the human and not the home".
And now, as The Independent reports, recent data suggests that nine out of 10 UK adults say their living costs have increased in the last three months alone due to rising energy bills and food prices. The Money Expert's advice included looking at clothing items and ways to warm the body while sitting on the sofa at home.
He called the research "really depressing" but said that it has been "really useful, not just for people who are in desperate states, but for many who just want to reduce their central heating".
Read more: Martin Lewis' two minute trick that could save you £200 on bills
His advice for small electrical items seemed to have the most impact on members of the public watching at home. His team identified a number of cheap and cost-effective electrical items people could buy to keep warm.
These included heated gloves and handwarmers, insoles and even an electric gilet. Some of these items, Lewis said, cost as little as 1p per hour to run, based on a rate of 34p/kw.
Heated gloves
Heated gloves are powered by a USB function and cost around £5 to buy. The Money Saving Expert said that they could even cost as little as a penny an hour to run.
Wheat bags and hot water bottles
The next piece of advice came as Lewis recommended using hot water bottles, which cost around £5 on average, and microwaveable wheat bags - priced at around £4 - to stay warm. Sharing his own hack on how best to get the most out of them, he advised wrapping up in a sleeping bag with the hot water bottle or wheat bag inside, in order to trap heat and stay warm for longer.
He added that wheat bags cost around 1p per hour to run, while hot water bottles could cost around 7p per hour.
Electrical gilets
While electrical gilets cost around £50, making them some 10 times the price of a hot water bottle or wheat bag, they can actually be cheaper to run than a hot water bottle at around 1p per hour. What's more, they keep the whole body warm, he says.
The 'One degree challenge'
The money guru's final piece of advice was to reduce the household thermostat temperature setting by just one degree, to save money on heating bills. He said it could save around 10% on your heating bill and added: "Don't turn up the temperature when it's colder outside, which is usually the panic reaction - that's the thermostat's job."
You can read more of Martin Lewis' tips and tricks for saving money off of your heating bills in his energy saving checklist.
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