Already worrying about winter heating costs

[QuestionableMouse]

I live in a flat that's exterior walls on three sides. It's over a stairwell too so gets no benefit from communal heating. I barely managed to afford the heating last winter, and that was with the help!

Genuinely worried about the costs and wondering what I can start putting in place now to help. Unfortunately just heating me doesn't help - once I'm cold i start feeling very unwell due to a chronic illness (and I have young family whi visit so it needs to be warm for them!)

I'm already in credit with Octopus. Did door curtains/thick curtians/bubble wrap on the windows/closing off rooms I don't use (not so useful in a five room flat!)

I've been looking at insulating wallpaper - has anyone tried it, and did it make a difference?

https://octopus.energy/blog/energy-helpers/#:~:text=Customers%20don't%20need%20to,your%20area%20in%20the%20future.

You could ask Octopus to send over one of their energy helpers to take a look at the flat and advise?

Electric blankets, socks, gilets much cheaper to run than heating a whole flat. Would think buying those would make more difference than wallpaper

I don't think the wallpaper will make much difference. We only made an impact by cutting usage. We also live in a ground floor maisonette so outside walls. We cut heating down to 3hours a day at 18c and cut electric down.
Our most expensive winter bill was £75 for gas and Electric.
Heating has been off since April. Our bills have been roughly £37 now for both.

I have stuff to wear but once i get cold I really struggle to get warm again. Genuinely don't think i can cut my usage any more - i didn't have the heating on for more than a couple of hours a day last winter and it was still costing me £100+ a month (for gas and electricity!)

A weighted blanket and a hot water bottle, toasty

Yes I am currently on £5 a day really hoping that I can keep heating of till mid Oct!

I honestly would get an advisor in, hopefully they can point out areas to insulate. I totally understand about needing the room to be warm not just your body. And in real life we can’t all just sit under a heated blanket all day.

Do you have hard flooring or carpet?

What kind of heating do you have?

If you have radiators on external walls, put reflective film / reflective bubble wrap behind them so that the heat is bounced back into the room and not lost to the outside.

If your floor is hard or you have thin carpets, get some old cheap rugs from charity shops.

Check if you could get a cheaper tariff by switching.