Homemakers Monday: Keeping the Heat Bill Under Controll

The cold weather seems to be making a return in my area. The heat bill has not been too bad this year and that is the way I like it. If you would like to tame your bill here are some tips you can use as well.

• Turn your thermostat down. You probably hear this all the time but what exactly does it mean? What you want to do is adjust your thermostat so that you heat waits to comes on at a higher temperature. Test it out by adjusting your thermostat a few degrees lower. If you find yourself a bit chilled (not overly cold) blankets, sweaters, and hot tea are great warmers. I can remember staying at my mother in laws learning that if I got too cold to just hang on that the old stove was soon to kick on. Now I use those same temps to keep heating cost at low at my house.


• Close off vents in rooms where there is not much use. Do you have a guest room not currently in use or a home office that is not used that often? Close off the vents to that room so that the heat is then not wasted on warming that room. I have found that even shutting the bathroom door but keeping an electric heater in the room for baths etc... would help a bit as well because the room was not being heated constantly and only when in use.


• Check your windows and doors for cracks. Use weatherstripping and caulking to fill in the gaps you may find. Use a low cost draft stopper for doors. Hubby told me today that he can see a few more places that need to be caulked and he will do that soon. Keeping up on where the heat escapes helps out alot


• Purchase insulated or thermal curtains. Designed to contain the heat in your home by reducing the amount of heat lost through windows and sliding doors thermal curtains are a great way to conserve energy. On sunny days open them up to allow the sun to heat your home. Another idea here is to use aluminum foil to seal the windows allows the heat to insulate and not escape


• Want to lower the bills without lowering your comfort level? Consider purchases that will result in long term savings such as investing in a wood burning fireplace insert. Have a fireplace in your home? Turn it into an efficient money saving heating source! The beautiful thing about wood burning fireplace inserts is they can act as a furnace utilizing either radiant heat or forced air or both! I do not have a wood burner at this time but I can tell you that I love them not only the warmth they give off but they just seem to make the home comfortable


• Have your furnace serviced. Don’t wait until the middle of a snow storm and your heater breaks down. Get it taken care of early. It’s much cheaper to figure in an annual checkup for your furnace than to deal with a breakdown that could have been avoided. Always a good idea becaue service before the problem will allow to stay warm in winter without worry of problems.