Martin Lewis shared a clever hack for keeping your home warm and heating bills to a minimum this winter. The Money Saving Expert founder regularly shares tips on how Britons can make their household budgets go further, offering sage advice amid a variety of cost-of-living-related financial pressures.
These include the punishing cost of heating your home due to soaring energy bills, but Mr Lewis says one small change could help you stay toasty over the festive period. The personal finance guru shared the tip on his ITV show a few years back, but following the recent Ofgem October price cap hike and bills remaining high, it remains useful advice.
On his Money Saving Expert website, Mr Lewis’ team experts note that the segment of the show in which the hack appears was filmed in November 2022 but “the tips still work.”
Speaking at the time, he recommended using “tactical curtains” referring to energy-saving curtains designed to manage heat, as reported by The Mirror. These are typically thermal, lined curtains.
“When the sun is shining, it is letting light and heat into the house, so you want the curtains open,” Mr Lewis said. “When it gets dark, it’s not, so you want to keep the heat in by closing the curtains.
“I know we all know that, but doing it rigorously can help insulate, especially if you line it with a fleece. There are lots of tips online on how to do that, and really cheaply—do it yourself.”
Today, November 17, the sun will set between around 3.30pm and 4pm across the country, as per the website Time and Date. It will occur shortly after 4pm across various major cities in England, but areas further north in parts of Scotland, will experience it earlier.
Therefore, it may be a good idea to close curtains at 4pm or shortly before so you can keep as much warmth inside your home as you can, which may mean you don’t have to turn on the heat as early in the day.
The days will continue to get shorter as we head towards the winter solstice, so you may need to adjust the timings slightly as the next few weeks progress.
Mr Lewis says investing in a new set of thicker curtains can be a good investment if you can afford them. But for families on a budget he recommends lining existing curtains yourself using cheap fleece blankets, which trap layers of insulating air, aiding in reducing heat transfer and limiting cooling drafts.
However, he warns that you need to make sure the fleece is fire-resistant.
This tip was included among various other energy-saving ideas, you can find out more on the Money Saving Expert website.