Five Tips on How to Save on Your Heating Bill

With the rising cost of oil and petroleum products, the cost of heating our homes has become astronomical. We all need all the help we can get to keep our homes warm and our pocketbook a little fuller. Here are five suggestions for cutting down the heating bill this winter and spring.

As all ways we should start at the top. Tip number one is to insulate your attic or crawl space. The average home looses heat through the roof because of a lack of proper insulation. Your insulation should measure at least one foot thick in your attic. If your insulation is not that thick you should consider adding a layer to the existing insulation or replacing it all together. The next suggestion is to keep out any drafts that you might have. Drafts can occur if your windows don't fit properly or if they are old. If you can,consider replacing older windows with double panned, custom fitted windows. If this is not in your budget then you can get inexpensive kits to cover your windows with plastic. This may not be your idea of beauty and style but it really does work. Another related area that we must deal with is filling in any gaps that may exist. Gaps usually can be found around doors, pipes, dryer vents, and electrical fixtures. You can fill these with silicone or caulk which is inexspensive. Larger gaps such as around the door can be filled with foam filler that is made for this sort of thing. It also can be purchased at any local home improvement store with out breaking your budget. Tip number four is lower your thermostat. Lowering the temperature of your home even by a few degrees can really bring your heating bill down. The best part of this suggestion is that by lowering the termostat we have the oppotunity to snuggle up to some one we love to save a little money. Tip number five is interesting, turn on the ceiling fan. This may seem odd but if you turn it on low and reverse the direction of the blades this will help to circulate the warm air that naturally rises to the top of the room.

No matter who we are we like to save a little money when it comes to our day to day expenses. We all have things we would rather spend our money on than high utility bills. Hopefully these five tips will help to ease some of the pain of heating your home.