In much of the world, winter time means it is time to start up your heating system to keep things inside at a livable temperature. Of course, keeping a home heated is not a cheap proposition. However, if you are clever and willing to work, there are several ways to reduce your energy costs even in the heart of the cold season. Here are some of the most effective ways to lower your energy bills in colder months.
Check Your Windows
A huge portion of the heat loss of a given home occurs through the seals on the windows. Any join, or place where two or more parts connect, in a house’s construction is a potential site for exposure to the outside air, and window joins are notoriously hard to perfect. If you feel a draft when standing by a window, the odds are good that you have a leak along the edges. Use a combination of caulking and weather stripping to stop up the gaps to find your utility bills plunging along with the temperature.
Maintain Humidity Level
Air temperature is only part of the overall comfort equation, however. Overly dry air feels colder than humidified air for a variety of reasons. But the relatively dry air outside in the winter season leads to the leaching of air moisture through gaps and cracks in your house, drying out the air inside. Moreover, any air pulled in through your heating, ventilating, and air conditioning (or HVAC) system will be as dry as the air outside. If you find yourself feeling dry inside your house, you will want to consider buying a humidifier system for the entire house, keeping things properly humid inside.
Bundle Up
One way to cope with the lowered temperatures in the cold season is to simply add more layers of clothes. Having some spare sets of sweatpants and sweaters for around the house lets you keep the heater on low for much longer than you otherwise would. Of course, not every member of your household may be as enthusiastic about wearing more clothing. Your pets in particular are not really able to throw on warmer gear just because the temperature has dropped.
Maintain Your Furnace
The core of your home’s heat generating ability is the furnace, where your HVAC system warms the air that it then distributes throughout the rest of the house. This is great when it is functioning well; unfortunately, the complicated HVAC system has a lot of parts that can break down if improperly maintained, leading to increased utility bills and eventual system failure. Thankfully, some basic maintenance tasks like replacing old furnace filters and cleaning the air vents can keep your furnace humming long into the life of your home. But be sure to book a professional for a maintenance visit in the months running up to winter to make sure more complex parts are in working order.
High energy costs and a good internal temperature don’t need to go hand in hand. If you keep an eye on your house’s heating system, you can keep things on an even keel without dropping a fortune.
Really interesting post, and this are some really good ways to save money on energy bills xo
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Thank you for these tips. Winter bills cost a fortune!
Very good information I will be sharing.
These are great ways to save energy! Thanks for the tips!
Some really good advice here, we all need to keep on it! I do for sure. Thanks for sharing x
very nice tips. i should recommend this to my relatives who lives in cold country!
great ideas! this will be surley a big help on the next cold season! gonna prepare it before cold weathers approach us!
We keep our heating at 66F and bundle up to lower our costs. Adding an extra blanket at night to sleep keeps us nice and warm!
It’s always nice to be able to save energy especially during the winter and the summer. I love these tips! They’re so useful.
A great post with some wonderful tips. Big help to lots of folks.
Putting on an extra layer of clothing in the winter really makes a difference. And we always curl up on the sofa under a blanket. Cant wait for summer though- I’ve had enough of the cold!
Great tips these. We recently had new insulation put in our house and it’s make a big difference to our energy bills.
We don’t have winter here ( but I always thought it would be cool to have winter – I’d give anything to live in a place where there’s winter ) so this has been very informative for me. Didn’t realize about the extra costs so your tips would definitely be helpful.