1. Open all blinds and curtains
'Make sure all curtains and blinds are fully open so that the light projected by the sun can help to heat up different rooms within the house.' This can be particularly effective if your home, or at least parts of it, are south-facing, so make sure you don't keep those window treatments closed.
2. Manage draughty spots
In a similar vein, snuffing out and patching up any draughty spots around your doors and windows is another way to avoid losing valuable heat in your home. 'It may sound simple, but any areas exposed to draughts can bring in cold air and let warm air out,' James explains. 'With this in mind, make sure all doors have a draught excluder at the bottom of them, and don’t forget about pet flaps and letter boxes. 'In fact, if you can, fixing your letter box so that any drafts can’t enter the home will have a big impact.'
3. Take advantage of extra heat
Many of us will use appliances that generate heat or hot water regularly throughout the day – and one of the keys to keeping your home as warm as possible without using the heating is utilising these as much as possible. For example, James says, 'When taking a hot shower, you’ll often find the bathroom becomes filled with steam which in turn produces heat. 'Before taking a shower, leave the bathroom door open so that some of the steam and heat warms the surrounding areas of the home, which will hopefully leave you feeling warmer for longer.'
4. Place your furniture in the correct spots
This is a well-used trick, but it's an important one to bear in mind if you can only turn your heating on sparingly. 'It’s unlikely you’ll be able to last all of the autumn and winter months without putting the heat on, so to use as little energy as possible, make sure there are no items of furniture such as a sofa in front of the radiator, as this will soak up the majority of the heat,' James says. 'Instead, leave the radiators exposed in order for them to heat the whole room.' It can also be wise to ensure you don't have too many big pieces of furniture blocking any natural light that may be entering the room because, as mentioned, this can heat up your home quite nicely on a sunny day.
5. Close internal doors
Heat will escape through all of the doors and windows in your home, so try to keep as much in as possible by closing the doors to all and any rooms you aren't using. Perhaps you often congregate in just the living room in the evenings? If so, conserve any heat created by closing all of your other internal doors downstairs. This will keep the warmer air concentrated in the room you're in, and not the rooms that aren't currently in use.