10 Tips on How to Save Money This Winter on Your Heating Bill
Energy can be expensive, which leaves many looking for ways in which they can save money on their monthly heating bill. Rather than just turning off your heating completely, you should look for ways in which you can reduce your energy usage by using simple, practical tips. Remember that your heat and energy usage pertains to the whole of your house, which means that if you would like to find new ways of saving money on your heating bills, you need to be taking the whole of your home into consideration, at all times of the day. 10 tips that you can utilize to save money during the winter months on your heating bill include;
1 – Find a Comfortable Temperature, As Low As Possible
Find the lowest temperature that keeps your home adequately heated for comfort. A few extra degrees of warmth may be unnecessary, and can certainly add up quickly on your heating bill. By finding the lowest comfortable temperature, you can save a lot of money on a monthly basis.
2 – Conduct Proper Maintenance
Make sure that you are changing the filters to your furnace whenever the manufacturer recommends it so that you can be sure that they are operating at peak capacity and are not wasting energy. This should also encompass the cleaning of baseboard heaters, and heat delivery systems as required for maximum airflow.
3 – Only Heat Rooms In Use
Rather than heating the entirety of your home, try to only heat the areas of your home that you are going to be using. Close bedroom doors if you will not be using the room until bedtime, and section off areas of the home that do not need to be heated.
4 – Check Windows For Escaping Heat
Many homeowners are losing a large amount of the heat produced in their home through their windows and doors and do not even realize it. Feel around the edges of all points of entry to make sure that you do not feel cold air entering the home. Make sure that all surfaces are properly caulked, or use additional edging materials such as weather stripping that can be found at your local hardware store to reduce the amount of heat leaving your home.
5 – Close The Fireplace Flue Damper
You would be surprised how much heat can escape through the flue damper on your fireplace when it is left open. Many homeowners are prone to forgetting this fact, because the wintertime is when their fireplace receives the most use. Like other open areas of your home that allows heat to escape, being diligent about closing your fireplace damper will help to keep costs down.
6 – Check and Repair Insulation
Insulation plays a large part in keeping heating costs down in your home. A home with improperly installed insulation can waste hundreds of dollars per year on heating costs that were avoidable, with only a little bit of effort. You can inspect it yourself, or hire a company to check it out and make repairs to your insulation where necessary. Remember to prepare your roof for winter months as well, to help ensure that heat does not escape.
7 – Replace Windows
If your heating costs are getting out of control, you might want to look into replacing your windows. By installing double pane windows, with a high energy efficiency rating, you can save up to hundreds of dollars per year on energy costs that previously went down the drain – or rather, out the window.
8 – Allow Sunlight To Enter Your Home
When the sun is shining into your windows, don’t close your shades or blinds during the winter season. Use the natural heating power of sunlight to help raise the temperature in your home, free of charge.
9 – Turn Off Heat At Night
You spend most of your time at night, asleep under blankets. If you can avoid it, during this time you should considering turning off your heat completely, or at least turning it down lower than you normally would to save money while you sleep.
10 – Turn The Heat Off When You’re Not Home
Although it might be a bit uncomfortable to come home to a freezing home after a long day at work, you would be surprised how much money you can waste heating up a home while you are not even there!
Guest post is by Ori Tal, a real estate developer from Cocoa Beach Florida who develops residential and commercial properties.
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Category: Saving Money
