Heat yourself not the house – heated vests

Our dual fuel energy bill is eye-wateringly high so we don’t have our heating on as much as last year. Instead we use things like mini oil heaters and blankets……but one thing I discovered and really like is a heated vest, which keeps your core warm and runs off a portable phone charger.

Heated vests offer something that layers of ordinary clothing can’t offer. They keep your body toasty, so you can stay focused, which is crucial when trying to live in a cold house.

They are simple to use. Once you receive your heated vest, you need to check the battery. In some cases, your battery will come partially charged, but you’d want to bring it to a full charge before putting your vest on.

Wear your heated vest like you’d wear a regular vest. You put the battery to the pouch and connect it to the wire in your vest, and then switch on the power button. You can also change the heat setting if your vest comes with one.

It should take a couple of minutes before your body has warmed up, even if you’re on the lowest heat setting. Once the battery is fully charged, a good heated vest can provide continuous heat for about 10 hours. Of course, this depends on the quality of the battery and the heat setting you choose. If you choose a lower heat setting, the vest will stay warm for a little longer.

The better heated vests have three temperature settings, water proof and machine washable, though ours is worn in side or if outside under a coat. When buing one check the sizing as we had to go up a size…

On average, it’s estimated the cost per hour of using a heated gilet, USB gloves and USB handwarmers could be as little as 1p.

We bought one for our very slim son a few weeks ago, and there are loads of choices on Amazon.