Save money on heating bills

If you are trying to save money, the first thing you should do is go out and buy yourself a really cute sweater.

Wait, what?

Now put it on and turn down your thermostat.With recent hikes in energy costs, you may be finding your energy bills are climbing pretty high as we’re collectively turning our furnaces on. In addition to keeping your thermostat down a couple of degrees, here are some helpful tips on how you can save on heating costs this winter.

Keep the fans going

For whatever reason, we associate the use of fans with trying to cool down in the summer. Fans help air circulate, which works for hot air too. Moving hot air means that your furnace doesn’t have to go into overdrive.  Reverse the fans and push the warm air down to your level.

Shut vents

Shut vents into rooms that you aren’t using so that hot air will direct back into the rooms that you are using. Be careful not to shut too many though.

Also, don’t shut vents near a thermostat. It will misread the temperature in the house and chug along unnecessarily.

Draft dodger

Handle that caulking gun like a pro and make sure that doors and windows are air tight. You don’t want to heat the outside, do you?

Check out the attic

In the spring and summer, weather tends to be windy, which can cause the insulation in your attic to shift. Go up there with a broom and push it back in place. Heat rises after all, and if there is nothing to protect it, it will go right out the roof.

Change your furnace filter

Even the most reluctant of DIY homeowners can handle this one. You simply pull the tray out, take the filter out and pop in a new one. Bring the old one to the store with you to make sure that you get the right one.

A clean filter means the hot air flows more freely.