Cut your heating costs in the winter months by making sure your
windows are shut and locked tight. When your windows are shut and locked this is
one of your first best defenses in keeping the winter cold air out.
Hang heavy drapes, layers of curtains over your winters. The
heavier window treatments that you use to keep the cold drafts out of your rooms
will help cut your heating costs. If you don’t have the money to buy heavy
drapes or curtains, check out the local thrift second hand stores. You can
usually find racks of curtains and drapes that are lined and in great shape to
use on your windows for a very low cost. If you don’t have any other
alternatives, use a heavy blanket and tack it up to the window. Keeping the
drafts out of your home cuts costs.
Keep all the doors shut tightly in your home. If your attic door
lets a draft through, hang a blanket on the backside of the door where no one
can see it. This gives you additional insulation against the cold air. Use a
towel or draft blocker at the bottoms of the doors to keep cold air from
entering your living spaces. These come in great colors and textures or you can
make your own. Fabric that is long and puffy like a pillow but it fits the space
at the bottom of a door to keep the drafts out.
On doors that you don’t use often at all like the back door, the
second basement door or the other exterior doors where your find cool drafts
coming in around the doors, you can plastic them shut using a roll of plastic
and a stapler or tacks. You can also use plastic over your windows that are
leaking large amounts of air. Some people also plastic the porch or the
mud rooms in the front of their homes so that when the door is opened, the air
has less of a chance of coming into the house as fast.
Cook more often when your home is cold. Cooking large meals,
cookies, breads, and other goodies in your kitchen will warm your house and keep
your heating costs lower while giving you a great meal at the same time!
Adding a bit of moisture to the home will help the warmth stay in
the living areas. Boiling a pan of water on your stove adds moisture and heat to
your home and helps with your health during the dry air months of winter. Leave
the bathroom door open when you take a hot shower to allow the heat and steam
into your home cutting your heating costs.
Wear socks at all times in your home, you won’t feel as cold, and
you won’t be as likely to turn the heat up more. Wearing sweaters and using
blankets while watching television or sitting and reading a book will keep you
warm instead of turning the thermostat up. Saving money means keeping yourself
warm without having to turn the heat up passed the normal levels.
Turn your heat down by two or four degrees when you are not going
to be home for long periods of time, like when you go to work for six or eight
hours. The house will still be kept warm from freezing, but you will save a few
dollars a week on your heating costs.
