With everyone busying up on the home front and the festive season in full swing, it’s only natural to feel a little overwhelmed – especially if you’re juggling socialising with cost-saving measures.

“When it comes to entertaining around the festive period, what I do to alleviate any kind of stress, when you’re preparing to have family, in-laws or friends over – I write a plan of the day,” says professional organiser Nicola Lewis, founder of This Girl Can Organise (@thisgirlcanorganise).

“So what I’m going to be doing in the kitchen, basically, I will do a plan,” says Lewis.

“Do I have to rush out and grab some bits and pieces first thing in the morning? Or are there certain things I need to prep?

Lewis has made a name for herself on her social media site, and currently has 191K followers. It’s all thanks to her organisational and decluttering tips, reuse hacks and home advice.

“I kind of do it like a timeline but this piece of paper is so helpful because when you’re cooking, or listening to music, we get interrupted all the time.

“It’s not like the Eighties or Nineties, where you just happily had a cookbook and sang along to the radio – there are loads of interactions these days.”

Fun and chatty, Lewis says this method can be applied to dinner parties, Christmas Day and pretty much any sort of entertaining.

Here, the organising expert who says she’s “fully charged for Christmas,” shares her top tips, with money-saving ideas along the way…

Use an air fryer

“So, within the kitchen, for me, saving money is paramount this year,” says Lewis, who’s excited about the air-fryer mode in her oven. With no need to preheat, you can put your food directly into a cold oven and start cooking.

A great way to save money and energy, but if you don’t have that option, then a countertop air fryer will work just as well.

And with so many things to prep, Lewis says one of the things she likes to do in advance are the roast potatoes. “So I par boil them, drain them, soak them in cold water with ice, and then I freeze them.”

So then all you have to do is defrost them, throw them in the air fryer with a little spray of oil or goose fat, and that’s it, says Lewis. “It’s one job you don’t have to worry about because potatoes are a pain in the bum, aren’t they!”

Do a stocktake

“Every Sunday I prep, I do like a bit of an inventory inside my cupboards and the fridge freezer – I think this is something that’s so important,” she stresses.

A lot of people really don’t pay enough attention to that, says Lewis, who hates food waste.

“So spend some time just having a little look, checking the expiry dates and prioritising, giving this area the respect it deserves,” she says.

“You’ve spent, invested the money, so make sure you incorporate them in your planning and food menu over the next few days. Or see if there’s something you can pull out, chop, blitz and freeze for later down the line,” she adds.

Don’t feel the pressure to fill up on the food shop

“This is another thing around Christmas, the supermarkets are so enticing, aren’t they? You go in there, it’s delicacies and really rich, gorgeous, yummy foods we haven’t really seen until this time of year,” highlights Lewis.

“And a lot of them are quite expensive. So part of me says ‘could you consider trying to make them yourself,’ instead of spending money on all those canapés.”

She suggests keeping it simple, choosing two favourites such as smoked salmon blinis and puff pastry and making them yourself, rather than spending a fortune on loads of different starters, heating them and complicating things.

Invest in a large flask

To help save energy with the kettle, Lewis says to get a big flask, boil the water and pour it in. “Basically that’s piping hot water all day.

“So you can use that without having to keep turning your kettle on, because we all know a kettle is the biggest energy sucker.”

Turn off your sockets at night

Apart from the fridge-freezer, Lewis turns the sockets off in the kitchen. “It’s like putting everything to bed – it’s energy we don’t need.”

Use LEDs

Let’s face it, LED lighting uses less power than traditional bulbs and as Lewis puts it: “We do love a kitchen disco.”

So at the weekend, she says it’s something to look forward to. “The LEDs lift the mood, make you want to dance, and I always have music on during the day when I’m cooking,” she adds.

Draw the curtains when darkness falls

Lewis says draw the curtains as soon as it gets dark: “It gives me permission to stop. I pull the blinds down, the curtains across, and that conserves loads of heat in the home.”

“That’s the first thing I do, and then I put some twinkly LED candles on to set the scene.

“Also on Netflix, they have a Fireplace mode, and there’s one on YouTube.” She continues. “You type in ‘fireplace’ and it gives off that feeling of warmth, cosiness and just looking forward to the evening.”

Appliance brand Hisense, has teamed up with Nicola Lewis (This Girl Can Organise) as part of its Home Hacks campaign, to support consumers in getting the most out of their appliances and saving money along the way.