Ways to Save Money on Heating

Creative Techniques for Decreasing Your Heating Bill

Dec 12, 2008 Angela Wilson

Heat is a luxury, and when times are tight it's important to find ways to make your dollar go further. The following are some creative ways to save money on heating.

When times are tight, finding ways to save money becomes very important. Some of these may seem obvious, but if you're really wanting to cut your heating bill, evaluate if you are actually doing these seemingly basic moves.

Turn Down the Thermostat

Don't just buy a programmable thermostat and leave the house at 60-65 during the day. That's not enough. When you are sleeping or gone, turn it down to 55. When you are home, turn it up to 63. You may think this is too low. How are you going to stay warm if your house is only 63 degrees?

Put on a Sweater and Slippers

Like your grandma used to say, just put on a sweater! Why turn up the heat when you can warm your body up with a sweater that's hanging in your closet. If you're feeling especially chilly, pull the hood over your head. It's there for a reason.

To prevent your feet from getting chilled, slip on a pair of slippers. You can even get microwaveable slippers that you pop in the microwave for a few minutes to provide you over an hour of feet heat.

Hang Dry Your Clothes

Why would you want to waste precious heat on your clothes? Let them hang dry and then pop them in the dryer for 5 minutes. Instead of spending money on heating your clothes, allow yourself to crank the thermostat up a degree or two.

Get Moving

If you sit for a long period of time, you might start to feel a little cold in your 64 degree home. Solution? Move! Not only will this heat your body up, it will get your heart pumping and add some exercise to your day, making it a definite win-win situation.

Invite the Dog Up/Cuddle More

If you have a dog under 50 pounds, invite her up. You may have had rules about her getting on the couch or recliner, but you might as well let her lay on your lap and warm you up. A dog's average temperature is 101 degrees, so invite that pup up and let her warm you up. Don't have a pet? Cuddle with your partner instead!

Only Live in Heated Rooms

If you only use your office to get on the computer, move your computer out for the winter and close the room off. You can completely shut the heat off and decrease the amount of heat needed to heat your house.

Use an Electric Blanket

You can live with the thermostat at 60 degrees when you're home by using an electric blanket. By calculating the actual cost (watts divided by 100 times your kilowatt/hour charge (8-15 cents)) you'll realize that using an electric blanket for ten hours is only going to cost you an extra 15-30 cents. Compare that cost to your gas or electricity bill.

It's cheaper to heat you up for an hour than it is to heat up the entire house. So turn the heat down to 60-65 and use the electric blanket for an hour – and you'll be surprised how much it saves you over a month (to compensate for the elctricity spent, unplug all your appliances when you're not using them, like your television, dvd player, coffe maker, microwave, etc - which all pull electricity).

Source: How Much Does it Cost to Run an Electric Blanket

Use Other Electric Heating Devices

These days, electricity costs less than oil and gas. To save money, use an electrical heating device to heat specific areas of your home. Instead of heating your entire home, you can heat just the rooms you're living in for a specific amount of time.

Don't Use Kitchen or Bathroom Fans

These fans suck all the warm air out of your house. Keep them off and keep the warmer air in the house.

Maybe you're using some of these methods, and maybe you're not. When it comes time to save money on the heating bill, evaluate the methods you're using and try adding some changes. You'll be surprised by how much money you can save by significantly turning down the thermostat and adding these other changes.

The copyright of the article Ways to Save Money on Heating in Family Finances is owned by Angela Wilson. Permission to republish Ways to Save Money on Heating in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.