Six Practical Tips to Save Money at Home This Coming Winter

It’s less than a month until winter arrives, which means you have roughly four weeks to make sure that all your preparations are done. This can include setting up your Christmas decorations, tackling your Christmas shopping list, preparing for the holidays, and of course, arming your house for the cold weather.

While it’s not that easy to fight off the snow and the freezing temperatures without using electricity, you can turn to more practical ways to stay warm. To help you get started, here are six money-saving hacks that you can use to lower your energy bills this winter:

Hack 1: Regular HVAC Tune-ups

In winter, your furnace will be your best friend against the freezing temperatures. It would be impossible to survive the harsh winds and snow without it, which is why you have to make sure that it’s ready before autumn is over. Besides, you wouldn’t want it to break down in the middle of winter.

So make it a point to schedule regular HVAC system tune-ups and furnace maintenance. This way, you won’t have to worry about them failing when you need them the most. Plus, it would be the responsible thing to do as a homeowner. Do yourself a favor and don’t forget the regular inspections.

Hack 2: Insulation

No house is completely sealed. There will always be cracks in the walls and floors or gaps in your roofing, windows, and doors where outside air can enter. These drafts aren’t noticeable during other seasons, but it could be the cause of your energy bills skyrocketing in winter.

That’s because when outside air enters your house, it can change the internal temperature. This could urge you to blast your heating to fight off the cold and, in turn, force the HVAC system to its limits. However, by insulating your walls, roof, floors, doors, and windows, you’ll be able to control the internal temperature much better.

Hack 3: Weatherstripping

In line with insulation, it could also be wise to install weatherstripping on the doors and windows that you frequently use. This will help you seal off any openings when outside air can enter the house. Plus, it can maintain the internal temperature since warmer air can’t get out through the gaps as well.

Hack 4: LED Bulbs

Since the nights are longer during winter, you’ll depend on indoor lighting a lot this coming season. That’s why it could be practical to switch all your fluorescent and incandescent lights to LED bulbs, particularly because they last longer than the average bulbs. And they shine brighter too.

Although you might not see much difference between these light bulb types, you’ll notice it when the energy bill comes in, and it’s lower than what you had before, at least when it comes to your lighting. This is because LED light bulbs also consume less energy than other lighting options out there.

Hack 5: Pipe Insulation

Anything exposed to the freezing temperature can suffer during winter, your home’s water supply pipes included. If you have any pipes that are in plain sight, there’s a big chance that they will freeze and burst over the winter, which can then flood your house. That’s why you should consider insulating them.

To start, you must first identify which areas of the house are unheated and exposed to the cold. This can include the pipes in your garage, crawl space, exterior walls, or basement. Also, insulating the pipes can also help you retain the heat in your hot-water pipes because they won’t be exposed to freezing temperatures.

Hack 6: Smart Thermostats

On a regular day, you can already experience drastic changes in the temperature outside. This is because it can be affected by the changing weather conditions in your area. So, it could be cold in the early morning, warm before noon, and scorching hot in the afternoon before it returns to the coolness of the evening.

In winter, it will always be cold, but it can also vary in temperature according to the time of day. To cope with this, you can manually adjust your thermostat depending on your temperature preferences. However, if you had a smart thermostat at home, you could program it to automatically change using the GPS to track local weather conditions. Plus, you won’t have to change it over and over again.

The first snowfall can be a nice welcome to winter, but the ones following that can be a pain. That is unless you can properly prepare for winter before it arrives. If you truly want to enjoy the season without breaking your bank because of your high energy bills, follow these tips and do your best to stay warm amid the freezing weather.

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