Winter is here to stay for the next few months, and you may be pondering ways to keep the house warm that you potentially hadn’t tried before. Wouldn’t if be great too if you could save money while keeping the chill out of your house? Check out our tips below for the lesser-known, but highly effective, ways to keep your home comfortable without breaking the bank!
1. Get a programmable thermostat. A thermostat like this will keep your energy bill low, while keeping your home toasty. It’s also efficient in that you won’t need to manually adjust it every time you want or need to, and with this you won’t forget to turn down the setting when you’re heading to bed. Set the temp for warmer (66-68 degrees) in the daytime hours when you’re awake and in the home, and cooler (60-62) when your out of the home or are asleep.
2. Let the sun in! Even on cold Vermont days, the sun is still warm – capture that heat! Open the curtains in the rooms that get the most sun before you leave for work. A room that is shadowed by trees, or doesn’t ever get direct sunlight? You can leave those closed.
3. Pay attention to fireplaces. Fires are great for keeping toasty and warm (for the room that that are in, especially). Remember thought to keep the flue closed when the fireplace isn’t in use. Not closing it is the same as leaving a window wide open in your livingroom.
4. Check your ceiling fans. Have ceiling fans in your home? They may be resting unused during these winter months… put them to work! Most fan types have a setting which reverses the fan spin so that it moves clockwise (as opposed to counterclockwise, which is normal). As heat rises, this clockwise spin pushes the heat back down into your rooms instead being stuck at your ceilings.