'Heating people, not families': Martin Lewis' guide to 'desperate' families

Money-saving expert offers tips on everything from heating pads to layers of clothing in 'tough toll' of cost-of-living crisis
#Heat #human #home #Martin
Britain's most prominent consumer finance journalist, Martin Lewis, expressed his unusual disappointment with his new edition, which had 8.4 million UK subscribers on Wednesday morning, writing: "I wish we didn't have to publish this guide."

Lewis' money-saving experts are known to include many great tips and tricks to help subscribers navigate the complex world of credit, insurance and utility bills and get the best deals on everything from shopping to vacations.

However, this week's issue concerns the cost of living crisis. How to Heat the Human Not the Home sounds more like survival advice than a consumer bible. The grim backdrop for this ingenious and frustrating move is that by 2022 millions of people in the UK will be living in such dire conditions that they won't be able to heat their homes.

"I was saddened when I asked my team to put this together," Lewis tweeted. "But my email inbox is full of desperate people who can't do it...I want to try some help."

If you can't afford to heat your home, this guide is a handy list of options - with energy price caps rising, average annual bills up to £2,000 and millions of households falling into energy poverty, this is for many All are reality. Lewis recently admitted that he's nearly exhausted his traditional money-saving tools when it comes to energy bills.

The guide discusses in detail the cost and relative effectiveness of a range of alternatives to turning on central heating, from heating pads (less than 1p per hour) to thermos (assuming you cook 1.7 litre bottles for 6p per hour). Two per day secondary kettle).

It offers tips on proper clothing, the basics about soles, mid-layers and outer layers and where to get the cheapest clothes, and points out the psychological importance of socks and foot warmers. The floor is the coldest part of the house - so it's a good idea to put your feet on the stool when you sit down.

Some tricks require an investment: for example, a heated vest costs £46 and a fleece outer layer costs £13.

Martin Lewis said he was "sad" to ask his team to write a guide aimed at people struggling to heat their homes. Ken McKay/ITV/REX/

As usual, the primary source of expertise is not Lewis' team of financial experts, but his thousands of subscribers - many of whom apparently have first-hand experience living in a stressful financial environment - who are known for their boldness and stubbornness. Wisdom accepts these recommendations.

"Those days or