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Saving money on bills starts with being mindful of how you are using your energy, with certain habits quietly guzzling your electricity and water supply. The Duchess of Thrift (@DuchessofThrift) is a mum who shared her "energy and money saving tips" on TikTok to an audience of 22.3k followers.

She revealed some simple changes she put in place around her home which have so far proved to be successful in lowers her monthly energy spend.

In TikTok video, the self-proclaimed "thrifty mum" said: "I've managed to close the gap in my rise in energy bill since it all started by following these hacks."

The Duchess of Thrift identifies key areas such as heating, clothes washing and cooking, which could be driving your bills upwards.

With winter approaching, perhaps the biggest concern for Britons is staying warm.

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The mum shared how she boosts the temperature in her home for free. She explained: "When it's sunny make sure the blinds are fully open and up in each room because you will get the room warm by the sun, and seal any drafts around your windows and doors."

You can also trap any existing heat in rooms by closing the door. In the TikTok video, she explained: "Shut the door of the room that you're in, so if you're watching TV or you're cooking, shut the door where all of the people are gathered or where you are doing stuff because you will trap the heat in there and you will have a nice warm room."

If you can afford to invest in an electric blanket, however, the Duchess of Thrift says this could be worthwhile.

She said: "Invest in electric blankets. In the winter we only had the heating on for an hour in the evenings. The kids when they have had their tea, they go and sit in their rooms so we put electric blankets in their beds and they just sit there, they play [games consoles] in their beds, they play on their phones and do whatever kids do.

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"If you work at home during the day invest in a heated blanket to avoid heating the whole house in winter during the day."

When it comes to washing your clothes, she says it is better to use the washing machine less frequently and at certain times of the day. She explained: "Wear things a couple of times before you wash them.

"Particularly jeans; they don't need washing unless you do a job where you get really really mucky which I understand you need to wash all of the time. If you don't need to wash them just don't wash them every single wear."

The mum added: "Put the washing machine on at night when the electricity prices are cheaper."

While the tumble dryer can dry your laundry at a faster speed, air drying is the ultimate money saver.

The Duchess of Thrift said: "Ditch the tumble dryer and use air dryers.

"If you can afford or buy a heated air dryer then you can double up and use that in the room you are sat in because you get ambient heat from it and it makes the room smell nice as well."

When cooking, the Duchess says air fryers are one of her "biggest" energy saving appliances.

She explained: "A cold oven takes about half an hour to heat up, you are much better off using an air fryer because they heat up straight away and they cook in less than half the time of the conventional oven.

"So you save loads on your electricity by using these appliances."

Of course, it's easy to be aware of appliances using energy while you're using them, but Britons should also turn their attention to so-called vampire appliances. Everything from laptops to your TV can drive up your bills by sitting on standby.

The mum added "Turn your appliances off standby at night."

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