As soon as the fall comes our heating and electricity bill start reversing, and we get a much higher gas bill and lower electricity bill. Since our heating is gas; which I understand is actually the cheaper way to heat your home, yet it’s quite a strain on our pockets during winter months. And, I hear this year’s winter is going to be even colder owing to really hot summer.
Here are some of the tips and tricks that help us save on heating bills in winter, by making the best utilization of what you already have at home.
- Keep blankets handy: I put out blankets in each room, near couch, rocking chair n all. We all feel more cold by the end of the day, and it’s almost the same time you are tired and like to cozy up on your couch or chair. Put on the blankets and you won’t have to turn up the furnace. When we lived in midwest, electric blankets were our best friends after the sun went down.
- Use your oven to heat your home: Winter is about time when you bake the most, no grilling and all the festivals call for way more baking than summers. Trick is to just let your oven open after baking, it’ll warm up your kitchen. Most of the ovens use blowers or fans to push hot air out and cool off the oven quickly so you’ll also save on electricity since that fan will not go off.
- Cozy up in the mornings: Most people get up with or before the sun and it’s really cold around then. Another easy and simple trick like blankets is to get those hats and flannel jackets out for the mornings, they warm you up quicker and cheaper than raising your thermostat temps in the morning. Keep them at your bedside, I say.
- Use your south facing windows wisely: It’s simple. When it’s warm or sunny outside, open the blinds and curtains and let the sun come in. Especially the south facing windows, because they are the ones which practically get sunlight throughout the day. We actually have sun blazing through our front door throughout winter, so we keep the wooden door open and glass door closed 4-6 hrs a day during winter.
- Put up thick curtains and shut blinds: Contrary to the tip above, put up heavy and thick curtains around the home, and keep your blinds shut. This helps to keep the windows covered which is one of the most permissive part of your house to let cold in.
- Keep vents open and unobstructed: Keep all the vents in the house open and unobstructed by the furniture so as the furnace doesn’t have to work so hard to warm up your home. If not; the open and unobstructed vents have to warm up the areas with the closed ones and the furnace has to run longer to do so.
- Check your fireplace for an air draft: If you have a leaky fireplace, it’s like keeping a window open year round. When we moved into our new house we always felt colder in the living room than the rest of the area, we hadn’t put on the fireplace yet. Once I opened the vent to ignite it, I felt a very strong gush of cold air. Apparently, our fireplace had quite a large opening for it’s vent. It’s permanent solution was to put up a chimney balloon, but at the time we didn’t have money or priority for that. So, instead we kept the pilot on for the fireplace which let a little fire on, and the air in the fireplace was hotter than the air outside, and since hotter air travels up it prevented the cold air to come down, it worked and stopped the cold air draft. Wasn’t the most energy efficient or cost effective method, but it took care of the problem.
- Run your fans in reverse: This one is; if your fans have this option. I realize not all fans have this option. But, if yours do, make sure you use it, it pushes the hotter air trapped near the sealing to come down. I always wondered why did our fan have this option since it does not throw cool air at all. Lot of standard fans also have a switch between blades on the motor. Check all the fans in your home, this one truly helps. A pic below shoes where to look for this switch.
- Seal cracks and openings in doors & windows: Weatherstrip your doors to make sure no air passes through the cracks from the opening. It’s very simple, as easy as putting tape and not very expensive either. Plus, it also save cold air from escaping out during summer.
- Use room heaters: They don’t cost much but are very useful, because especially in the evening we all sit in one room, so it does not seem wise to warm the rest 5 rooms to achieve a favorable temp in the room we are using. Room heaters come in very handy and so much more effective than you can imagine.
I hope these tips and tricks work as well for ya’ll as they work for us. If you have some more or better tips up your sleeves make sure to unroll them and leave a comment down below.
Until next time!
-Kay
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