Heating is the biggest winter bill in most homes, and turning the thermostat up is the most expensive way to feel warm. The rooms that stay cosy on a small bill do a few simple things instead: they stop the heat escaping, they heat the person before the room, and they only warm the rooms they actually use.
1. Stop the draughts first
Heat escapes through gaps around doors and windows faster than any heater can replace it. Draught excluders and a roll of self-adhesive foam tape cost very little and pay for themselves in the first cold week.
2. Close the curtains at dusk, open them at dawn
Curtains keep the night cold out and the day sun in. Open them on sunny windows in the morning, close them as soon as it gets dark — it is free insulation, twice a day.
3. Heat the room you are in, not the whole house
Close the doors of rooms you are not using and turn their radiators down. Heating one lived-in room properly costs far less than heating five empty ones badly.
4. Put a shelf or foil behind the radiator
A radiator against an outside wall loses heat into the wall. A sheet of foil behind it bounces the warmth back into the room instead.
5. Layer up before you turn the thermostat up
A warm jumper, thick socks and a blanket cost nothing to run. One degree lower on the thermostat, with a layer on, is a saving you will feel in the bill, not in the cold.
6. Use the oven and the kettle wisely
Cooking warms the kitchen for free — bake in the evening and let the heat linger. And only boil the water you need: a full kettle boiled four times a day is heat and money poured away.
7. Bleed the radiators once
A radiator that is cold at the top has air trapped in it, and it heats half as well. A radiator key and five minutes per radiator fixes it — do it once at the start of winter.
A warm home in winter is not about a bigger heater — it is about keeping the heat you already paid for. Stop the draughts, close the curtains, heat one room at a time, and the same house feels warmer on a smaller bill.