Save Money this Winter

"Home is a place you grow up wanting to leave, and grow old wanting to get back to" - John Ed Pearce

This week temperatures plummeted and we had to throw some quilts on our bed to keep warm at night. So this is a good time to start thinking about heating the house for the winter. What can be done to lower heating bills?

1. Microsoft Holm, www.microsoft-hohm.com/Home/, offers advice. I entered my address and it popped up a satellite image of my house with guesses at the number of rooms, types of heating, age of home, etc, and estimates my energy bill. Spooky. I'll have to work with this more to see if it will be useful or not.

2. There are tax credits for home improvement that will expire Dec 31. Check out www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=tax_credits.tx_index

3. Trees are said to be good for your house - they provide shade in summer and a wind break in the winter. I'm not sure I agree. We have many trees, a forest, around our house. What we might gain in temperature control is surely lost in tree maintenance, roof/car repair from fallen branches, no sunlight for backyard garden, poor TV/satellite reception, and paying someone to rake the leaves in the fall.

4. Use a programmable thermostat that changes the house temperature based upon rules that you set up. We keep the house cold at night, warm it up to get us out of bed, cool down during work hours, warm up for our return and back to cool for sleeping again.  Modern high-end  thermostats can be remotely controlled via your cell phone or iPhone.

5. A lot of heat is lost through single-pane windows. Sadly Energy Star windows are expensive, an estimate for just one wall of our house was $18,000. So each winter we cover our windows with a layer of transparent plastic sheeting.

6. Plug the leaks in your house. Caulk around windows and any cracks you find. Thermal images (above) can show you the hot spots in your house.

7. Cover hot water pipes with insulation.

8. Insulate your attic and basement.

9. Open the drapes by day to let in the sun and close them at night.

10. Dress in sweaters. Don't try to heat the house to summer temperature.

Bottom Line

Heating oil and natural gas are expensive! Make your house as energy efficient as you can. But don't go crazy. If we purchase the $18,000 windows we would never make back the money in energy savings.

More ideas at http://www.moneytalksnews.com/2010/07/07/searching-for-lower-energy-bills-this-summer-13-cool-tips/