Winter is coming.
And unfortunately, heating a house is expensive, especially with the rampant inflation we’ve experienced in recent years.
Heat your house for less this year. Discover the best ways to save money on heating to stay warm on a tight budget.
How to Save Money on Heating
Our tips for reducing heating costs come in three broad categories:
- Reducing energy consumption
- Prepping the House
- Conserving Energy
Reduce Your Energy Consumption
You don’t have to pay for what you don’t use, right?
Save money on heating by waiting as long as possible before turning it on. Many people turn the knob as soon as the temperature hits the forties, but if you can brave those chilly nights, you can save tons of money each year.
When the temperature plummets below freezing, keeping the heat off is no longer an option.
However, you can keep it set to a chilly but livable temperature. Although the fifties can be a stretch, setting your thermostat to the sixties all winter long can help you save big.
When I lived in Pennsylvania, I kept my house at a chill 62 all winter long. But the pipes were safe, and I found other ways to stay warm.
Wear Layers
In the winter, layers are your best friend. Wear warm pajama pants, thermals, slippers, a fuzzy sweater, and a warm cozy robe.
Warm indoor wear helps when the temperature is fifty degrees or above, but when it gets below that, sweeten the mixture with toasty throw blankets.
What’s the point of winter if you can’t snuggle up under some warm blankets?
Eat Warm Food
It’s stew season for a reason! The warm, hearty stews are delicious, but they warm you up, too!
Holding that hot bowl of deliciousness while you slowly savor every bite is almost like heaven on a cool fall day.
The same is true of tea, coffee, hot chocolate, and warm apple cider. Holding a warm cup for half an hour helps the cold disappear for a while.
It warms and soothes you from the inside out.
Sunlight is your Friend
During the summer, standing in a bit of sunlight can be miserable. But in the wintertime, it can do wonders for warming your house.
Don’t be afraid to open those drapes and let some sunlight in. The radiant daylight will help warm your house naturally and can also help you save energy on lighting.
Every little bit helps.
Snuggle
In the cold of winter, body heat is your friend! I’m actually hot at night despite the crisp 62-degree thermostat because my cats cuddle with me all night long.
During the day, they sit on my lap, sharing their warmth.
Snuggle up with your warm-blooded friends during the cold winter days to keep each other cozy. Hey, I promised unique, right?
Use a Space Heater
A brand-new space heater is the real star of our stay warm show. These babies warm up a room!
Space heaters run on electricity, but it’s much cheaper to heat a single room to a comfortable level with an electric space heater than it is to heat the entire house.
The downside of space heaters is the propensity to cause fires. You have to be extremely careful when using one.
Never leave a space heater on when you leave the house. In fact, you should unplug it when you aren’t going to be home just to be safe.
Keep them at least three feet away from flammable material (including carpets – so never place them on a carpeted floor!). Consider paying a little extra for a space heater with an auto-shutoff feature.
Taking these precautions will ensure your space heater remains safe and effective all winter.
Prepare Your House for Winter
It takes less energy to heat a house if you can keep the heat trapped inside. Therefore, prepping your house for winter is crucial to reducing your heating costs.
It’s a challenge, though, as heat is a notorious escape artist. It seeps out through every hole and crevice, especially if you have an older fixer-upper.
Fortunately, a few simple DIY hacks can help keep that sweet heat in the house where it belongs.
Seal the Windows
Windows provide ample opportunity for heat to escape. Many of them have tiny drafts, and if they are single-pane windows, then they have absolutely no insulation.
You need to fix that.
Luckily, there’s an easy do-it-yourself solution to drafty windows, and that’s plastic. You can get a DIY window insulation kit for easy, no-fuss insulation, or simply use plastic sheeting and double-sided tape.
The plastic-and-tape option doesn’t have as powerful a seal as the kits, but it’s a cheap, easy alternative that will make a noticeable difference.
Losing the window is a small price to pay for saving all that warmth.
Double-Check the Insulation
A properly insulated home is a warm home. Before winter comes, you’ll want to fix any problems.
Check the attic and crawl spaces for proper insulation, and make sure anything installed is rated for winter.
Though it seems overwhelming, installing insulation isn’t that difficult. All you need is the right type of insulation, gloves, and a staple gun.
Lay the insulation out, hold it in place, and staple it to secure it to the wall/ceiling.
Weather Strip the Doors
Weather stripping doorways keeps heat trapped inside, and you can get everything you need for this simple DIY task at any home improvement store.
Installing weather stripping is straightforward. It simply goes in the creases of all the doors. Weather stripping keeps the cold air from leaking in via closed doorways.
Energy Conserving Tips To Reduce Your Heating Bill
If you’ve already winterized your house and don’t want to feel cold all winter, there are still some additional ways to save energy.
Use these additional tips to conserve energy throughout your home and save money on heating.
Use a Programmable Thermostat
A programmable thermostat will help you stay in control of your home’s temperature. It’s worthwhile to change the temperature of your house if you’re going to be gone for 8 hours, but no one wants to manually switch that dial four times a day.
Instead, get a programmable thermostat and set it to automatically warm your house about an hour before you arrive home, and an hour before you wake up. Doing so will reduce your energy use without sacrificing your comfort.
Choose Energy-Efficient Appliances
A great way to conserve energy overall is to use energy-efficient appliances. Every type of appliance, from your dishwasher to your fridge to your dryer, comes in energy-efficient options.
It may not be cost-effective to replace perfectly good appliances, but when it’s time for a new one, look for that Energy Star label.
Conserve Hot Water
Long hot showers are heaven, especially in the cold of winter. However, they can be wasteful. It takes a lot of energy to heat water, even if you have a tankless water heater.
Try to limit your time in the shower and lower the temperature slightly. Opt for showers instead of baths. Wash your clothes on the cold setting.
These small changes will save you money on energy bills over time.
Conduct Maintenance on your HVAC
Maintenance on your heating and cooling systems can be expensive. But preventive care on these systems is the best way to ensure they run efficiently.
Regular maintenance on these systems can also help you discover a problem before it becomes severe, saving you even more money.
Another bonus is that many of these systems are two-in-one (cooling and heating), so regular maintenance will also help you save on cooling costs.
Be Smart with Lighting
You don’t need to keep all the lights in your house on all the time. Turn them off and open the curtains instead, allowing natural light energy your house.
If you need the lights, opt for energy-efficient light bulbs. Incandescent bulbs are the traditional, cheaper choice, but they are the least energy efficient. Compact Fluorescent light bulbs are much more energy-efficient, but they do need to be recycled.
LEDs are the most energy-efficient, but they are also the most expensive. However, they use almost 25% less energy and last way longer than regular incandescent lights – so if you have the money to pay upfront, they are definitely worth it over time.
Check out Energy.gov for a full breakdown of the differences between these lighting options and choose the option that will save you the most money in the long term.
FAQs About Saving Money on Heating
The internet abounds with advice on how to save money on heating, but how do you determine fact from myth?
We used expert research to answer the two most common questions people have about heating their homes.
Does Turning Down the Heat Save Money?
A lot of people like to keep the heat super low while they are away, and pump it up when they get home. The idea is that keeping it low all day will help them save money on heating.
The other school of thought is that it’s not worth it – the energy saved from having the heat low all day is canceled out by the energy it takes to get the house to your ideal temperature.
Who is right?
The consensus is that if you are going to be gone for more than 8 hours, turning the temperature down actually does help. According to the US Department of Energy, you can save up to 10% on heating each year by turning your thermostat down 7-10 degrees for eight hours daily.
Crank that baby down 10-15 degrees while you are away, and turn it back to the ideal temperature once you get home. Using a programmable thermostat makes it much easier, as you can set it to start warming before you’re expected to arrive, so you won’t even notice the chill.
Should I Turn the Heat Higher to Heat the House Faster?
No.
Turning the heat higher will not heat the house faster.
According to professional HVAC companies, turning the heat higher will not heat the house faster, but it will make your system run longer, which isn’t good for the system’s overall life.
What Should I set the Thermostat at in the Winter?
The ideal temperature for everyone is different. If you want to save money on heating, set the thermostat at a lower temperature than you would normally be comfortable with and follow some of the tips above to keep warm.
You can set it a bit higher if you have a super cheap or efficient heating system or if you aren’t worried about heating costs.
But if you want to save a ton of money on heating, set it to the lowest temperature you can stand to remain comfortable.
The thermostats in my house are at a brisk fifty degrees! That’s warm enough to be comfortable with blankets and tea, but also low enough that I won’t burn through all my oil in two weeks.
Have a Warm Winter for Less
Energy is expensive, but heating your house doesn’t have to break the bank. Follow these tips to keep warm all winter long without busting your budget!
Stay warm!
Also – be sure not to turn the thermostat down TOO far when you’re gone – if it gets below freezing, pipes can freeze!
So true! frozen pipes sounds like a terrible time!
I hope your heating bills are reduced by 50% this winter season. I am always thinking of ways to keep the heat “in”. I like to compare my heating bills each month every year (I have natural gas) to see what tactics work.
I hope so too! Oil is freaking expensive!