With cold weather lingering, beauty and wellness editor Laura Mulley swears by one of these fleecy heated poncho for staying warm when working from home and save on heating bills
As someone who lives in the north of England and works from home 95% of the time, in winter I’m forever hunting for best buys and top tips to stay warm at home without resorting to having the heating on full whack all the time. I’ve tested out dozens of heated blankets and plenty of hooded blankets to find the best ones, and here’s one other cosy item I wouldn’t be without.
Last year I bought a fleecy electric heated poncho – sort of a wearable heated throw with fastenings – and it kept my upper half perfectly warm and cosy at home. While my exact Lakeland one is no longer available to buy, I’ve found some great alternatives, including this £49.99 wearable heated throw from Amazon.
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What I love about these heated ponchos is that they’re slightly more practical than an electric throw. They’re shaped to drape better over your body, and fasten at the front. This means that you can walk around wearing them (unless it’s one that plugs in to the mains), and it frees up your arms for cooking, typing, etc.
Of course, they can also be used like a regular rectangular throw too, over your legs and body, by opening them out. They’re so soft and so warm (even my two cats are obsessed with lying on it, even when it’s switched off).
Perhaps the one major downside to a heated poncho is that, depending on how long it is, it only really covered the top half of your body. To keep your legs warm, I love the Stoov Big Hug XL heated seat pad, £139.99, and the Dreamland Intelliheat Warming Throw, currently £49.99.
In addition to this big blue fleecy heated poncho, I’ve also found this soft zip-up style, priced at £89.99 and available in red or grey. And the cheapest one I’ve found is via this Wowcher deal, bringing this USB Heated Blanket Shawl down from £39.99 to £17.99.
We’ve found loads of other great winter warmers here at the Mirror, including teacher-approved ‘comfy and warm’ boots shoppers are calling ‘much better than Uggs’, Debenhams thermals in the sale, and a Martin Lewis-approved 1p heating trick.