8 Winter Tips for Homeowners

The Most Cost Effective Ways to Save on Heating Your Home This Winter

Heating costs rise year after year, leaving homeowners with growing concerns over how they’re going to make it affordable to keep their home warm during the winter months.

Solutions to this issue range from long-term investments to quick fixes that will help you save in the short term. If you’re renting an apartment or plan on moving soon, you might be better off focusing on low-cost, short-term fixes while you shop for a home that is more energy-efficient.

In this article, we’ll cover both types of solutions so you can start saving money and fearing the heating bill each month.

Read on for the list of the most cost-effective ways to save on heating your house this winter.

Make sure your doors are sealed properly

A lot of heat can be lost from a door that has worn and outdated weatherstripping. Replacing it will help reduce heat loss for years to come.

Another common issue is heat being lost from door thresholds. To find out if your threshold needs to be adjusted, look for a space in between the bottom of the door and the threshold. It’s often easiest to see this at night if there’s a light on the other side of the door.

Many door thresholds can be adjusted by tightening and loosening a screw. However, if you’re renting and don’t want to make any big changes to the doors without your landlord’s permission, a good quick fix is to use something called a draft guard. This is essentially a roll of fabric that rests against the bottom of the door and blocks cold air from entering the house.

Plan heating around your schedule

With a programmable thermostat, you can decide when it matters most to you to heat the home. For homeowners who are at work from 9-5, it might not be necessary to heat an empty home for the whole day.

Similarly, you can save quite a bit of money by lowering your thermostat by 5 degrees during the night time while you’re asleep.

If you work from home, you might want to keep the house warm during the day so you can focus on your work rather than how cold your toes are! However, you also have the advantage of being home to take advantage of solar heat.

Opening shades and blinds that are receiving direct sunlight and closing those that aren’t is a great way to raise the temperature in your home by a few degrees on sunny days.

Seal cracks and holes

Most homes lose a significant amount of heat to small cracks around window frames, electrical units, and other vulnerable areas around the home. Sealing up these cracks and holes can save you a substantial amount of money, especially if you live in an older home that has seen a lot of wear and tear.

Heat only the rooms you need

There’s no need to heat every room in your house during the colder months. Keeping bedroom and bathroom doors shut and using a small space heater in the room you’re occupying is a great way to reduce your heating bill.