Autumn is here, and Halloween is over, which means that winter is right around the corner. Once this time of year is here a lot of people, crank their thermostats up as high as possible to keep their houses warm, which not only costs a lot but is also wholly unnecessary. If you want to keep your home cosy this winter, but don’t want to pay an arm and a leg to do it, then follow these simple tips.

Light Candles

Candles give a room a lovely, cozy glow, similar to fairy lights, which is perfect for an autumn or winter night on the sofa watching your favorite box set or Netflix. As well as this, they can also emit a decent amount of heat, so it makes sense to utilize them. Just make sure that you don’t fall asleep with any candles lit, don’t let the kids have candles in their rooms or be left alone with them, only light candles in the rooms you are in and never, under any circumstances leave them unattended.

Change Your Curtains

The curtains, blinds, shutters and window fashions that you used during the summer are unlikely to be very suitable during the winter when your windows need a lot more insulation with which to keep in the heat. For this reason, you may want to change your window fashions to thicker, insulating curtains or blinds. You can even leave the shades up and put curtains in place. This way, at night, you can have a double layer of insulation.

Buy Some Blankets

Having a blanket or throw in your living room or on your bed will mean that you don’t have to have your heating on as high during the evening when most people are sitting still at home, feeling cold, and cranking up the heat. Throws will also keep your back warm during the day, if you have a leather sofa, and look great too.

Every member of our family has a blanket, and we still call them blankies! If one of us is chilly, the first thing we say is to grab your blankie. This is also a great solution to the age-old problem of everyone in the home running at a different temperature.

Draught Stoppers

Closing your interior doors in your home means that it’s much easier to heat up single rooms, as less heat is lost to other parts of the house. To ensure as little heat is being lost as possible, you should also use draught stoppers at the bottom of the doors. Luckily, there are plenty of cute ones on the market from which for you can choose.

Use Your Oven

Once you’ve finished cooking and have turned off your oven in the evening, leave your oven door open, instead of closing it as you usually would. This means that any heat that would usually be lost to your extractor fan is instead being spread throughout your kitchen and is heating up your home. Just remember to only do this after you have been cooking and turned the oven off. An unattended stove left on with the door open is a disaster waiting to happen.

For the same reason, never use your stove top for heating.

Use Your Bath

You can do a similar thing with your bath water; Instead of emptying your water as soon as you’re finished in the bath, leave it to cool down completely, and then drain it. This means that the heat from your water will be used to heat the room, instead of random pipes. Again, think safety and don’t do this with smaller kids in the house. It only takes a second for a little one to go investigating and be in danger.

Wear A Sweater

The clothing you wear is also important for the general coziness of your home. After all, there’s no point in wearing a t-shirt and shorts in the winter, if it means that you’re spending ridiculous amounts of money on heating your house.

Hopefully, these tips will help you to keep your home cosy this winter and reduce the amount of money you spend on gas.