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Last week the Government announced that it would be introducing a £200 energy bill loan for all households in the UK. If you’re not sure exactly what this flat rate energy bill discount entails Martin Lewis has explained how it really works in a post on Instagram.
Last week Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced that in October every household in England, Scotland and Wales will be given a £200 discount on their energy bills. However, this £200 isn’t a gifted discount to help save on energy bills, it is actually a loan that will need to be paid back at a rate of £40 per year over five years from 2023 to 2027.
Unsurprisingly, the introduction of the energy bill loan has caused a lot of confusion. Speaking on Instagram, Martin Lewis, the Money Saving Expert founder explained exactly who will receive the energy bill loan, how it works and how it will be paid off.
Image credit: HGL / Contributor / Getty
‘This is going to happen. There is no choice about it. It is not optional and it is going to happen automatically on every single bill,’ said Martin Lewis of the loan on Instagram. Unlike previous financial support offered by the government, individual households will be unable to opt out of the loan.
‘Then from the following April, and for five years after that, you will then have your bill automatically – without choice – increased by £40 a year. That is how it will work,’ the financial expert added.
Martin Lewis addressed the confusion over what happens if an individual moves out of a home where they didn’t pay energy bills when the £200 discount was applied. He explained that even if you didn’t benefit from the £200 loan in October 2022, your energy bills will still be £40 higher if you move into a new home.
Image credit: Lizzie Orme
‘There is no personal loan to an individual. This isn’t about, you borrowed money, you pay it back,’ he says. ‘So if you’re living at home with your parents and you move out in two years’ time, even though you didn’t get the £200, your bill will still be £40 higher – every household will be charged £40 more.’
‘You’ll simply get your energy bill and it will be higher because of this levy and the one this October will be lower,’ says Martin. So if you’re wondering why your energy bill is so high this could be why.
The energy price cap announcement by Ofgem last week revealed that the energy cap would be increased by 54 per cent to almost £700 per household. The new energy bill loan announced by Rishi Sunak has been created to help households with the soaring energy prices.
Image credit: Fiona Walker-Arnott
Rishi Sunak said it was not responsible for energy prices to be kept artificially low by the cap as suppliers were struggling to keep up with rising wholesale costs causing many companies to go bust.
‘It is not sustainable to keep holding the price of energy artificially low. For me to stand here and pretend we don’t have to adjust to paying higher prices would be wrong and dishonest,’ he said. ‘Without government intervention, the increase in the price cap would leave the average household having to find an extra £693.’
So come October 2022 whether you like it or not, expect to see the £200 discount on your energy bill.
The post What is the energy bill loan? Martin Lewis explains how the discount will actually work appeared first on Ideal Home.
If you are searching for the best candle to burn this spring and summer – and even beyond – then we can help. The Ideal Home team have been spending their time trying and testing candles at home, to report on all of the best candles that are worth your money. Oh, and we’ve listed one top pick from each scent group, from ozonic to herbal, floral to fruity and even spicy and woody candles.
Exactly what makes a good candle, you ask? We say that it’s a combination of scent, the candle’s ability to fragrance a room, how clean it burns and also we can’t forget about looks. Because we all know that candles add a design element and a feeling of luxury to our homes, whether placed in the middle of a coffee table or nestled on open shelving.
Burning one of the best home fragrance buys in your home will ensure that your living room, dining area, bedroom or even hallway or kitchen, smells as nice as it looks. Yes, candles are an easy way to mask home smells, whether that be from cooking or a wet dog walk. As well as looking lovely – and luxurious – the majority of candles you buy are also safe to use around pets, just be sure to light them out of reach of children. Otherwise, if you’re searching for something a little safer to emit fragrance, and without the use of a flame, then a reed diffuser is a great alternative.
What are you waiting for? These incredible candles below will turn heads – and take your home from medial to magnificent.
There’s no one-size-fits-all when it comes to home fragrance – especially candles. Choosing the right candle for your own home will depend on two things: fragrance and design. If you want your candle on display, let’s say in the middle of your coffee or dining table, then the latter is important. Otherwise, if you’ll be hiding it in a cupboard when not in use and burning it in an inconspicuous space away from pets and children, then this isn’t as important. We’ve listed the best candles by season and by fragrance family. Here’s a quick low-down of what we’re loving this year.
The best candle for spring – The White Company Blanc
The best candle for summer – H&M Sundried Linen
The best fruity candle – Skandinavisk Fjord
The best floral candle – Skandinavisk Lempi
The best fresh candle – Hotel Collection Lime, Basil & Mandarin
The best herbal candle – The White Company Geranium Leaf
The best woody candle – WoodWick Smoked Walnut & Maple
The best spicy candle – The White Company Winter
The best ozonic candle – The White Company Seychelles
The best citrus candle – Stoneglow Flower & Lemon
The best warm candle – Slab Lab Fog
The best Yankee candle – Yankee Candle Clean Cotton
The best essential oils candle – Botanica Fresh Pineapple & Tunisian Rosemary
The best candle for spring
Image credit: The White Company
A classic scent from The White Company, Blanc is elegant – in looks and scent – and it makes a lovely gift idea since it comes in a white gift box. It’s a great all-rounder but especially fit for burning in spring or summer, due to its crisp and fresh aroma.
Lighting this lux candle could easily trick guests into thinking you’d just deep cleaned your entire house, even if you’ve only run the vacuum and mop around within 5 minutes before their arrival. t’s the perfect combination of fresh and floral, with notes of geranium, juniper and patchouli. A unique blend if we do say so. It burns clean and for a total of 55 hours, plus it should require minimal wick trimming. Treat yourself to a lid for this candle to prevent dusting – and to protect your sides in case of any spills.
This candle boasts two wicks and is hand filled in the UK with high-quality refined mineral wax. Sitting inside a classic The White Company glass vessel, it’s definitely a candle you’ll want to place on display. Let’s say, in your hallway or living room.
The best candle for summer
Image credit: H&M
We’re big fans of everything at H&M Home, and their candles are no exception. This striking scent is nice and simple and perfect for lighting inside any room of your home. Whether that be your bathroom, bedroom, hallway or even your kitchen.
Easily enough, this candle smells exactly like fresh linen. With the addition of subtle apple and cotton, as well as white musk. This scent was created in collaboration with perfumers from the renowned Robertet perfume house and it’s really impressive. It’s nice and fresh so as not to clog the air inside your home, and it’s never ever overpowering meaning that you can light it for hours on end. It’s a paraffin and plant wax blend but rest assured it burns clean. Plus, it has an 80-hour burn time.
Complete with a cork lid, this handle is poured into a glass jar and is large in size to ensure it floods your home with its fragrance.
The best fruity candle
Image credit: Skandinavisk
The perfect combination of floral and fruity, this candle is the perfect burn for spring into summer. It emits a fresh, light fragrance that’s never overpowering yet noticeable to guests.
This Swedish rapeseed wax blend is scented with sweet notes of apple and pear, this candle is balanced well with the addition of orchard fruits, and then redcurrants give it a sour, sharp finish. You’ll have to keep its wick trimmed to prevent it from curling, other than that this candle burns clean and lasts an impressive amount 50 hours.
As with all Skandinavisk candles, Fjord is hand-poured into a glass jar that’s made from 30% recycled materials. It comes with a lid that’s made from FSC-certified beechwood and all packaging is FSC-certified, too, and decorated with natural colour dyes.
The best floral candle
We’re not usually fans of sweet candles as they are often quite overpowering, but this one from Skandinavisk, their Lempi Scented Candle, is lovely and subtle. It comes inside a decorative glass jar, complete with a wooden lid, making it ideal for Skandi-style, boho or modern homes.
This sweet candle has notes of peony and rose, as well as strawberries and mosses. It’s definitely not too sweet, that’s for sure. It’d be a great burn for spring or summer days and evenings.
This vegan-friendly Sweedish candle is made from rapeseed wax while the glass vessel is made from 30 per cent recycled materials. It has a cotton wick, too.
The best fresh candle
Image credit: Aldi
This Aldi candle is one of their best, and it’s undeniably a brilliant choice for lighting inside your home year-round. Thanks to its cheap price, you can get away with buying a good few of these and popping one inside every room. Thanks to its luxe look, you won’t even mind it being on display, either.
Scented to smell like a blend of lime, basil and mandarin, this fresh-scented candle is surprisingly great at flooding a room. Without being too overpowering, that is. You can light it anywhere from a bathroom to a kitchen, bedroom or a hallway – this is one of the main reasons why we love this smell so much. It’s versatile.
Though this candle is less than £4, it certainly doesn’t look it. With a total of two wicks and a metal lid to keep dust away, which also doubles as a stand to protect your surfaces, this Hotel Collection candle ticks all our boxes. It actually burns evenly, although you might need to trim your wicks quite frequently.
Buy now: Hotel Collection No.1 Lime, Basil & Mandarin Glass Candle, £3.49 each, Aldi
The best herbal candle
This Geranium Leaf Candle is a herbal option if you are searching for something uplifting. We suggest popping this candle in a living room or hallway – just make sure it’s an airy or large space as it’s is quite powerful. It’s poured inside a ceramic vessel and comes with a matching lid – to stop the candle from getting dusty when it’s not lit.
With initial notes of geranium, peppermint and Sicilian orange, the immediate scent we get from this candle, before and after lighting, is peppermint with a hint of lavender. There’s no doubt that it’s uplifting, which is why we suggest popping it in a living room if this room is used a lot by you and the kids. Or, in a hallway to flood all of your rooms with scent.
This candle has a burn time of 40 hours – impressive! – and it’s filled in the UK using high-quality wax for a long, clean and even burn.
Image credit: WoodWick
This WoodWick candle is our favourite to burn in autumn and winter. Why? It’s sumptuously woody and boasts a delightful Pluswick – to imitate the sound of a crackling fire as the wax burns and emits fragrance.
Talking of fragrance, this candle has notes of smoked woods and toasted nuts – basically, autumn in a nutshell (see what we did there?). It’s definitely one for lighting on a cold day or during a chilly evening, whilst it starts releasing fragrance pretty fast. Just be aware: it also burns fast, so you might want to buy a larger jar.
Housed inside a thick glass jar and complete with a wood style lid to prevent dusting, this candle looks and smells the part. We say to place it on show, perhaps in the middle of a coffee table or atop a mantlepiece.
The best spicy candle
Image credit: The White Company
The White Company never disappoints when it comes to home fragrance – especially around Christmas time. If you are searching for a spicy candle to light on a cold evening, then the Winter Signature Candle should be it. It’s the perfect warming concoction, plus it looks like luxury, too.
With notes of cinnamon, clove and orange, this warming candle is both spicy and fresh, and never too overpowering. It essentially smells like Christmas in candle form, and we love it. It’s also impressively scented so as to reach each and every corner of a room, no matter its size.
Housed inside a classic The White company glass vessel, this candle is made of high-quality mineral wax and it boasts a long, even burn. It arrives cocooned inside a gorgeous gift box, making it ready to gift.
The best ozonic candle
This bestselling candle from The White Company is our top pick if you want an ozonic candle to burn in a bathroom. Whether that be for your en-suite, a downstairs bathroom or a family bathroom, that is. Its subtle smell will banish any odours, while it’s never too overpowering – even if placed inside a windowless bathroom.
With ozonic notes of bergamot, fresh coconut, green jasmine, amber and warm vanilla, this candle has a soothing effect. It has a clean scent that will not only make your bathroom smell fresh, but it’s also a lovely scent to burn in a bedroom or hallway. We would perhaps steer clear of popping it in a living room, as it works best in smaller spaces.
This candle comes inside a lovely white box, making it ready to gift if need be. It’s made using high-quality mineral wax and filled in the UK, while it sits inside a classic, elegant The White Company glass vessel.
The best citrus candle
If you are a citrus fan, then this Stoneglow candle is made for you. It’d be lovely in a kitchen due to its fresh scent, and it’s poured inside a frosted glass vessel that features a stand-out floral design. Essentially, it smells as good as it looks.
This refreshing candle has immediate notes of citrus – lemon and patchouli to be exact – which is why we consider it to be just right for a kitchen. It has floral base notes of jasmine and lavender, as well as spicy nutmeg. The base is quite woody, but overall, from the first whiff of this candle, you will smell citrus with a hint of something floral.
With a burn time of 35 hours, this Stoneglow candle is an affordable alternative to others they sell. Rest assured what it lacks in price it does not lack in scent. It’s also made right here, in the UK.
The best luxurious candle
A unique blend of fragrance, this Slab Lab candle is made using coconut and rapeseed wax, while we think it’s the perfect burn for last summer, early autumn. For when the evenings begin to get chilly and you choose to retreat inside.
Boasting a strong scent even before being lit, this candle boasts notes of chamomile, clover honey and bergamot, mixed with English lavender and freesia. Topped with fragrant vanilla and tonka bean. It’s sweet yet warm and definitely unique.
Hand-poured into a grey glass vessel, with plain white labelling, this rapeseed wax candle is GMO-free and plant-based. It also has a long burn time of 40-45 hours, while the lack of tunnelling is impressive, to say the least.
Buy now: Slab Lab Fog Scented Candle, £25, Trouva
The best Yankee candle
Image credit: Yankee Candle
This Yankee Candle is loved by Amazon reviewers – nearly 30,000 of them, to be exact – and it’s easy to understand why. It has room-filling capabilities, so rest assured it will flood your home with scent.
It has top notes of sun-dried cotton, combined with green notes of white flowers and a hint of lemon. It’s safe to say that this freshly scented candle isn’t too overpowering, so if you tend to steer clear of headache-inducing scents, this one is nice and subtle. Although it is made using paraffin wax, like all other Yankee candles are, it does give off a powerful, fresh scent that you’d love to smell in any room of your home. From your kitchen to your bathroom, bedroom or even hallway.
Poured inside a large jar with a burn time of a whopping 150 hours, this 623g candle is also a bargain. It comes with a lid, to keep dust away from the wick, and the wick itself is a 100% natural fibre cotton wick, for a clean burn.
The best essential oils candle
Part of AirWick’s Botanica range, this candle is infused with natural essential oils. It’s well-scented to fragrance a small room, and it’s impressively odour-reducing so makes a great addition to a hallway or a kitchen.
With 5 scents to choose from, Fresh Pineapple & Tunisian Rosemary is our favourite with citrusy yet herbal notes.
This candle comes inside a jar complete with a lid, and it has an impressive burn time of up to 40 hours. Although its packaging isn’t as luxurious as we would hope, it is recyclable. Also, Botanica by Air Wick is partnering with WWF for the restoration of wildflower habitats in the UK.
Candles, as well as smelling lovely, also have the ability to create a calm atmosphere. They also look great on display. Choosing a candle over a reed diffuser or room spray is all down to personal preference. A candle will take longer than a reed diffuser to release scent, and it needs to be lit and blown out by you in order to work. Whilst a reed diffuser sits there and does the work itself, with only the need to occasionally flip the reeds. You can’t control how much scent is released with a candle, but you can with reed diffusers and room sprays.
Unfortunately, it’s not as easy as just lighting your candle, blowing it out, lighting it again and so on. In fact, to ensure that your candle burns to perfection, there are some things you will need to watch out for – and a few items that you will need to buy. Get yourself a candle care kit if you’re burning candles that are high-quality.
You’ll want to use a wick trimmer to trim your wick when it gets too long – the average wick length should be a quarter of an inch.
Using a candle snubber to extinguish your candle will ensure you don’t blow any wax out of the jar, or inside and around the jar, to ensure a clean burn from start to finish.
Lighting your candle until the melted wax reaches the corner of your jar should ensure your candle doesn’t tunnel. Never light a candle for 10 minutes and blow it out.
Use some tweezers – or a candle dipper – to delicately move your wick if it starts leaning to one side. If you don’t do this, your wick could end up underneath the wax making it more or less impossible to light your candle ever again.
The post Best scented candles – 11 fragrant buys for SS22 appeared first on Ideal Home.
