Insulation

• stop the draught. Stop draughts and retain heat by fitting draught excluders onto the bottom of your doors. Make sure your windows are draught proofed too. A low cost, short-term alternative to double-glazing is to tape polythene across window frames (sounds bonkers but works a treat).

• get a boiler suit. An insulating jacket for your hot water tank costs just a few quid, and will pay for itself within months. Fit a British Standard jacket that's at least 7.5cm thick. It'll cost around a tenner and save you about £10-£15 a year.

• don't forget the pipes. Always pay extra special attention to the pipes between the boiler and hot water cylinder. Insulate them, it'll cost around £1 per metre and you'll save about a fiver a year.

• don't just wallpaper. Insulate your walls too. It's the most cost-effective way to save energy around the home. Up to 33% of the heat in your home is lost through the walls. By shelling out on insulation, you'll be turning those percentages into pounds.

• close your curtains. Curtains should fit windows well and be above or behind radiators.

• radiate. Stick a shelf above your radiator - it'll direct the rising warm air into the room. Also, place a reflective material like foil behind radiators on exterior walls to reduce the heat loss to outside. Pretty smart, eh?