The cold weather brings winter chills, but that doesn’t mean it has to bring high heating bills too.
Brrrr! Baby, it’s cold outside, but that doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy the luxurious warmth of your new home, while still saving big on heating bills this season. Striking a more moderate balance between winter’s chill and your heater’s sovereign warmth can be healthy and even save you big bucks on your electricity bill.
Relying on your heater less and still achieving optimal warmth is a two-pronged approach. For best results you will need to equip your house, and yourself, to fend off the cold. Consider these simple changes for a warm (and cheap!) winter.
House Warming
Maintain Your Heater
It’s probably the easiest thing you can do to keep warm, but sometimes this simple task is neglected: maintain your heater. Since you’ve just moved in, your heater is working optimally. To keep it in great shape, maintain it regularly. Follow any guidelines offered by your builder to ensure your heater works efficiently for years to come.
Insulate and Seal
Sure, newly built homes are well sealed, but for those whose homes are aged a bit, make sure that all entry points to the outside are sealed. Check doors and windows for draftiness and stop up any gaps with water-resistant caulk. If you are in possession of storm windows, now is the time to bring them out. Inspect the outside and inside of your home for weak spots.
Cover all pipes with insulation to prevent bursting and to shorten the amount of time need to heat them. Take a look at your attic — a notorious escape route for heat — and fill in any drafty areas and make sure it is properly lined with insulation.
Fan Rotation
If you thought that fans were just for cooling you off, think again! Possessing two directions in which to rotate, fan blades can either push warm air up or down. During the winter, you’ll want to set your fans to a clockwise spin. Because warm air rises, this ensures that fans will circulate that air back down to you. If you own any small or standing fans, you can place them in front of the heater to extend the reach of warm air.
Spare Rooms
If you have spare rooms in your home, it’s time to seal them off until spring. Shut their windows, close their vents and doors, so that you’re not spending money heating extra space. By the same token, the smaller the space, the easier it is to heat, so find a smaller room in the house for the family to hang out in winter. Try reading bedtime stories in the study instead of the living room.
Curtains
Curtains can be an easy way to manage temperature and provide an added layer of insulation. The good news is that many of us already have them. At night, make sure your curtains are closed, so you can trap cold air from coming inside. During the day, you’ll want to harness the power of the sun. Open those curtains to the light and enjoy the sun’s natural warmth.
Heart Warming
Blankets
A simple standby, blankets provide great protection against the cold. Perfect for lounging on the couch or sleeping at night, adding more blankets instead of turning to the heater is incredibly beneficial for your budget. For some wintertime fun, build a blanket fort with you kids.
Heating Pad
Instead of heating an entire room, you can heat your immediate space with a heating pad, hot water bottle or electric blanket. It’s a cheap way to stay warm during sedentary activities like reading or watching TV. If you’re not seated, trying moving around the house. Actively engaging in chores will help keep your heart rate up.
Cuddle Up
It’s the holiday season, so the more the merrier, right? Corral all the kids, the family and any pets and snuggle up together. Body heat goes a long way and you’ll make many memories trying to stay warm together!
Heat may rise, but don’t let your heating bill do the same. For a warm winter, try these tips and tricks and use the money you save on heating bills to buy holiday gifts instead. Cheers!
Ashley Steel is a writer for NewHomeSource.
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