How to keep your house warm

When scrimping and saving it's easy to forget about mounting heating bills and we can end up taking advantage of heating appliances in the home. Struggling to pay the quarterly bill or filling the meter every week isn't fun.

Below are some handy tips to keeping your house warm, even if you can't afford to put the heating on at all.

• Keep all the doors shut in the house at all times. Even when moving from room to room, shutting the doors will help to keep any heat in each room.

•  Use thick curtains on all the windows in each room of the house and even on the front door. This really helps to stop any drafts. Pull the curtains as soon as it starts getting dark, open them in the day just in case we are lucky enough for some sun!

• Use old trousers to make draft excluders. Cut off a leg near to the crotch, stitch it up at one end and fill it with old sheets, towels or any old clothing quite tightly. Tie it with ribbon at the other end and place on the floor in front of the doors.

• Put foil behind radiators (shiny side facing the radiator), it will help to bounce the heat back into the room if you use them. Turn the thermostat down by one degree, it will make a difference in your energy bills. Double up your clothing so you don't need to use the gas or electric so often. Turn the heating off while you are out of the house - there's no point in heating an empty house!

How to Keep Yourself Warm 

Here's a few tips I use to keep myself extra warm during the winter, especially as I work outside in all weathers!

• Double up! Wear 2 jumpers, 2 pairs of socks, leggings under jeans, 2 T-shirts if needed. Wear a scarf indoors. Wear slippers, especially if you have laminate flooring or tiles. Tuck you T-shirt into your trousers or jeans, and tuck the bottom of your trousers into your socks - easy draft excluders! These will all help to keep in your body heat.

• Sit on your pyjamas for a few minutes before putting them on, it'll warm them up before you get changed. You WILL appreciate this.

• Move your beds and seating furniture away from windows or doors. Use a throw or blanket in the evening when sitting to cover yourself to keep warm.

• Make sure you have a thick duvet or plenty of heavy duty blankets on your bed. If you still get cold then wear socks to bed (who cares!), thick pyjama bottoms/leggings and a fleece with a hood. Put the hood up while you sleep to help keep you warm.

• Turn all heaters off except for the room you use the most.

•  Cuddle! Your other half, kids, dog or cat - share the body heat for extra warmth.

Stylish Paper Hearts

I saw this being made on super scrimper savers special the other night but it didn't give very detailed instructions so I thought I'd write it up here!

Stylish Christmas Paper Hearts Decorations

You will need:

Old book or magazine
Scissors
Stapler
String
Ruler


Method:

First you need to cut out 6 strips at the following lengths; 2 strips @ 14cmx2cm, 2 strips @ 12cmx2cm and 2 strips @ 10cmx2cm. Cut your self a piece of string to the desired length that your paper heart will hang from...

Next you need to layer the different strips in the correct order, 14cm, 12cm and 10cm on top of each other. The second pile in this image is to show exactly the order the strips should be layered...

Now, turn over the first pile of strips so the shortest is underneath (all pieces in this pic are lined up with all 3 edges at the top). Place your string down the middle of the strips starting from the top edge...

Now you need to place your second layer of strips on top of the string, but this time the shortest layer will be on the top, so in order from the bottom you should have; 10cm strip, 12cm strip, 14cm strip, string, 14cm strip, 12cm strip, 10cm strip...

Now staple the layers together (taking care NOT to staple your finger as this hurts, a lot) at the top which will produce this...

Now, turn on it's side and pull over the two shortest strips and hold together...

Do the same with the middle length strips, still holding it together...

And finally bring round the 2 longest lengths of strips and you will now see the heart shape taking place...

Now you simply staple all 6 ends together...

And there you have it, a simple but effective Christmas decoration. I have hung them around my living room by pining string to the ceiling and tying the paper hearts at intervals all the way along. Any spare hearts I have used to hang from the fireplace or Christmas tree.

Quick and Easy Shortbread

No matter how skint we are everyone loves to munch on something sweet now and again. When times get hard there's generally no money for treats but this easy to make shortbread recipe ticks all the right boxes when you have that sweet tooth!

Quick and Easy Shortbread

Ingredients:

250g (8oz) grams butter
110g (4oz) caster sugar
360g (12oz) plain flour

Method:

Leave the butter out of the fridge so it softens a little, throw it in a bowl, add the caster sugar and beat the hell out of it with a whisk until it has a smooth texture (free muscle work out too!). 

Add the flour a little at a time and mix it in well, you should end up with a smooth paste like consistency. Put the mixture in the fridge to chill for 10/15 minutes - this makes it easier for the next stage.

Remove from the fridge and roll out so it's around 1cm thick. Cut into desired shapes (oblong is usually best) and stab it with a fork gently to make it look real (if you really want to, it's not needed)!

Place on a greased piece of baking paper inside a baking tray. Cook for around 15 minutes at 190c or until a golden brown colour. It may seem gooey still but the biscuits will harden as they cool. Leave out to cool and enjoy!

   
 

Cheap and Tasty Couscous with Roasted Vegetables

Couscous is amazingly cheap and extremely easy to make, you can keep a spare pack of uncooked couscous in the cupboard ready for those days when you are stone broke!

Couscous with Roasted Vegetables

Ingredients:

1 cup Couscous
1 + half cups water
1 red onion
1 sweet potato
2 carrots
2 small parsnips
1 clove garlic
Salt and Pepper
1 vegetable stock cube
1tbs oil

Method:

Dice the sweet potato, carrots and parsnips into small pieces, around 1 to 2 cm squared and cut the red onion into strips. Crush the garlic and throw it into a big bowl with the diced potato, carrots and parsnip. Add a small amount of salt and pepper, 1 tbs of oil and mix so everything gets coated in oil. Pour contents into a big baking tray and roast for around 20 minutes, turning half way through - add as much time as you need so that the vegetables turn a nice golden brown colour.

While your vegetables are roasting you can prepare the couscous. The general rule of thumb is 1 part couscous to 1 and half parts water. 

Add the water to your saucepan and throw in a vegetable stock cube (can use a chicken stock cube if you prefer) or half depending on how much you are making. Add your dry couscous, and bring to the boil, stirring occasionally. When the liquid is boiling turn the hob down so that it simmers, put the lid on and leave simmering for 5 minutes. Take off the heat, leave the lid on and put it to one side for 5 minutes - no peaking!

When you have waited 5 minutes remove the lid and fluff up the couscous with a fork, you can add a small amount of butter for taste. Throw in your roasted vegetables, give it a quick stir and enjoy!

I am slightly addicted to this recipe, it's tasty, really easy to make and relatively cheap. To make sure you don't waste any fresh veg by it going out of date a good idea is to dice and roast it for half the time, let it cool and put it into freezer bags/boxes and freeze. When needed you can either defrost and heat in the microwave or roast it for half the amount of time. Couscous is best made fresh, do not freeze couscous. You can however refrigerate couscous and it's delicious eaten cold the next day.