It will be Christmas Eve soon and shoppers have a limited amount of time to get in all your last minute essentials before the big day.
03.12.2023 - 16:21 / dailyrecord.co.uk
The festive season is upon us, meaning many people will be choosing to decorate their homes with Christmas trees adorned in sparkling lights.
But due to the ongoing cost of living crisis, some may be concerned about how the festive decorations may be adding to energy bills - which are already high for a lot of households.
Some kinds of lights are more energy-efficient than others, but some - such as rope-style lights in the shape of Christmas characters - could be piling on as much as £510 to your energy bill if put up on December 1 and taken down on December 31.
To help households identify how much they can expect to pay for their lights during the festive season, experts at CreditFix have created a handy tool that helps you work out the cost of each piece of decor.
Wales Online reports that you can budget your entire festive setup, with options to choose from such as fairy lights, LED motifs and inflatables.
An average set of indoor mains-powered fairy lights would cost just 12p to run for six hours a day, from December 1 until January 5. And a LED inflatable, such as an inflatable Santa, would cost £3.67 to run for the same period.
The tool also lets you enter a start and end date that you intend to have the decorations up for, which aims to give you a more accurate figure.
By doing this you can see how much you'll save by holding off for a couple of days or even a week. And according to the pros, you can slash your bills in half simply by waiting a little closer to Christmas to get decorating.
Layla Johnson, regional manager at Creditfix said: "We all know this Christmas will be more difficult this year. Rising energy costs only add to the growing pressure that other seasonal spending such as bigger food shops and presents
It will be Christmas Eve soon and shoppers have a limited amount of time to get in all your last minute essentials before the big day.
No matter how perfectly cooked your Christmas turkey is, it can always be improved with a good helping of hearty gravy.
Sir Rod Stewart is known for his blonde barnet, love for Scotland and his wacky wardrobe and his most recent social media post definitely combines all three.
Laura Anderson and her ex-partner Gary Lucy reunited to make special memories with their daughter with a trip to see Santa.
Everyone has a favourite Christmas film but at the top for a lot of people's list is the classic tale Elf. The film, starring Will Ferrell, James Caan and Zooey Deschanel, follows the naïve, oversized elf Buddy, a human raised by elves in the North Pole, as he journeys to New York City to find his long-lost biological father.
Aldi is helping shoppers to keep costs low during an expensive month by announcing even more price cuts across nearly 40 popular items.
A Scots toddler has gone viral after a trip to Glasgow's Christmas markets. Justene Farrell and her three-year-old daughter, Grace, took a trip to the central belt from Ayrshire this week.
A celeb chef has shared one important step for cooking a "juicy, gorgeous" turkey this Christmas
Baileys is a popular drink enjoyed by many every Christmas, but fans are being warned not to do one thing with their beverage that experts claim could "wreak havoc" during the holiday.
Eva Mendes is reminiscing. The Cuban-American actress shared a photo on her Instgram, showing her as a child enjoying Christmas, surrounded by dolls and a Christmas tree. In the caption, Mendes shared some stories of her youth and the magic of the holidays.
People in Scotland may wake up to snow on Christmas morning and the run-up to the big day, according to data from weather forecasters.
The Met Office has delivered its verdict on a so-called 'snow bomb' that has previously been predicted to grip the UK in the run-up to Christmas.
People have been warned to look out for an early warning symptom of dementia which can appear when walking up or down a set of stairs.
A seven-year-old boy had been killed in a hit and run with police searching for a driver who left the scene before emergency services arrived.
If you've ever cooked Christmas dinner, you'll know that it's not just always about the turkey - having the right starters and sides is essential if you want to impress your guests.
Two Scottish streets have been named as the best in the UK for independent shops ahead of the festive shopping season.
A woman decorating her home for Christmas has shared a video on social media that the ultimate hack to keeping your festive decorations in place.
A live event hosted by Fortnite has added two more shows due to long queue times. The Big Bang event was scheduled on Saturday night but players were met with long queue times that saw them missing out.
A couple who faced tearing down their £3,000 Christmas lights after complaints from neighbours have won a battle to save their festive display.
A woman has told how her neighbours hate her extravagant Christmas lights and that she adds more every time they complain.