Snow-covered lanes, cozy outfits, warm desserts, decked up houses, and lots of presents–for some, fun prospects like these can make winter seem like the best time of the year. However, that’s only partially correct!
With all that fun, winter brings with it a lot of additional expenses, especially in keeping your house warm. Sometimes, insulating your home and preparing it for the upcoming winter season might even require a complete restoration and for an average, middle-class blue-collar family man, this might seem pretty daunting. But what if you could enjoy everything that the winter season has to offer without worrying about expenses?
Yep, that’s possible!
#1 – Seal the Gaps in Doors and Windows
Imagine you’re lying in bed watching your favorite movie or TV show, only for the blissful moment to be ruined by an especially chilly breeze. Wouldn’t it spoil all the fun? That’s why it’s recommended that you seal the gaps in the doors and windows with insulating material such as caulk and weather stripping. If money is no object or you’d rather do the job properly, you could even opt for insulated, double-glazed replacement windows. Although they’re a bit costly, they’ll secure the place like never before.
#2 – Check Your Furnaces
If your furnace filters are working properly, you can eliminate a huge chunk of your heating and insulating expenses, but if they aren’t, it might be wise to get them cleaned or replaced. Once this is done, don’t just sit back and relax. Instead, keep checking the filters once every month to ensure that they are not clogged and if they are, you can at least resolve the issue in a timely and effective manner.
#3 – Go for Traditional Insulation
Another cost-effective way of keeping warm air in and cold air out is insulating your home. If you really want to save money, you can insulate up to six feet of hot and cold water pipes near your water heater to keep your home cozy for longer. You can even wrap an insulation towel around your water heater to slow down the temperature drop in the unused hot water tank.
#4 – Make the Most of Mother Nature
When you can use cost-free heating methods to keep yourself warm, why bother pay anything at all? By opening the shades, drapes, or windows on sunny days and closing them on cold ones, you can keep your house warm for free. So be smart and make most of the resources available to you.