It can be stressful to heat your home as the weather gets colder but with this item, you’ll have an affordable and effective way to stay warm.

Winter is a time of year many Brits dread due to chilly dull conditions and more money spent on bills.

Sam Morris, heating expert at Which?, has shared one of the best ways to stay warm without spending a fortune. He suggests investing in an electric blanket.

Sam says: “One of the cheapest ways we’ve found to keep yourself cosy is to wrap up in an electric blanket. Our tests have found they typically cost between 2p to 6p an hour to run on their highest setting – much cheaper than the average fan heater. 

“This means that if you used an electric blanket for three hours a night, every night, for half the year, the cheapest-to-run options would only cost about £11 in total, versus £33 for the most expensive.”

He adds that you can reduce the cost further by setting the blanket to a lower setting, or turning it off sooner. 

Sam says the blanket will still remain warm for a couple of hours after turning the power off, so you feel the benefit without the cost ticking up.

But this is not the only way you can keep warm for a low cost. A hot water bottle could also be a worthy investment.

Good Housekeeping says when half full, a kettle costs around 2p to bring to the boil, while boiling a full kettle’s worth of water costs just 4p of electricity.

A hot water bottle can last for hours and still feel warm making it a cost-effective solution.

Even if you fill up your hot water bottle regularly, it’s undoubtedly one of the cheaper ways to stay warm in winter, especially if you already have a kettle and a hot water bottle at home.

By using these simple methods, you will be able to ensure your home will stay warm for a fraction of the cost.