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Christmas may be the most magical time of year, but it's also the most expensive. Thankfully, Martin Lewis has delivered a clever penny-saving hack to help keep costs down.
In his latest newsletter, the money saving expert has warned Brits about one of the biggest, and most expensive, mistakes he sees every Christmas - and you're probably guilty of it.
According to Lewis, it doesn't really make a huge difference to your bank account how long you leave your festive lights on for, but only if you use the right ones.
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"Here’s my rule of thumb based on the new energy price cap,” he said. "LED lights - one pence per 12 hours, per 100 bulbs, incandescents - 12 times as much, so, 12 pence per 12 hours, per 100 bulbs.”
“If you run them for six hours, per 100 bulbs, it’s roughly 15p per month for LED and £1.80 for incandescent. LED are a lot cheaper, but they’re not that expensive to run, so if you want your sparkles you can have them with my blessing this year." That works out at less than 1p per day throughout December if you switch to LEDs.
Obviously, bigger sets of lights with more bulbs will use more energy and in turn, cost more.
To work out how much you're spending, find the wattage on your lights and multiply this by 24.5p (the current average price cap rate for electricity). Then, multiply by the number of hours you plan to have them on for and divide by 1,000 (as there are 1,000 watts in a kilowatt).
So, there you have it. Incandescent lights cost more to run than LED lights, so where can you get your hands on some this Christmas?
Where to buy cheap LED Christmas lights this festive season
If you’re looking to cut costs this year without missing out on the magic, let us point you in the direction of Amazon’s bestselling £24.99 Ollny Christmas Tree Lights. With thousands of five-star reviews, they’re one of the online retailer’s top choice products and can be used in the house or garden.
One review reads: “These lights will be a mesmerising addition to your holiday decorations, creating a magical ambiance that will fill your surroundings with warmth and joy. With a generous length of 20 meters and 200 LED lights, these enchanting string lights will transform your outdoor spaces into a twinkling wonderland.”
We also recently covered the Twinkly Lights, which have been described as ‘the best Christmas lights ever’ by shoppers. The smart lights can be controlled using an app with over 16 million colours to choose from, so you can select the level of festive atmosphere you would like depending on the occasion. They’re currently reduced to £45 too (a massive 40% saving).
What more could you want?
Danielle Fowler