Winter is just around the corner, and you probably will have to turn on the thermostat from December through March. But the furnace, unfortunately, consumes a lot of energy to keep your home heated, and that means your bills will shoot through the roof and leave a gaping hole in your wallet.
What if I told you that won’t be the scenario this winter? That’s right, staying warm doesn’t necessarily mean turning the heater on; there are alternative yet inexpensive ways you can stay warm throughout the winter!
#1. Utilize Curtains Smartly
This might seem like a no-brainer, but it is very important to conserve the sun’s heat as much as you can. So, during the daytime, leave the curtains open so that heat from the sunlight comes in.
But as the evening approaches, draw the curtains shut. This way, you are essentially providing an extra layer of insulation so that the heat inside the room will not escape.
Heavy or thick curtains are recommended for this and in darker shades to help conserve the heat inside your house.
#2. Keep The Windows & Doors Sealed
Sometimes, we keep our doors and windows shut, but the room still gets chilly after a while. That’s probably because the doors and windows are not properly sealed, leaving some gap around the edges through which the heated air escapes the house and the cold air comes in.
To make sure that you are conserving the heat indoors, you have to seal those little gaps. You can do so in a number of ways, like using adhesives or draft excluders.
It’s one of those home projects that won’t eat up much of your time but will be well worth it, so set aside an hour or two over the weekend to seal your doors and windows properly to conserve the warmth in your house.
#3. Rearrange The Furniture
Moving your furniture around can help you stay warm throughout the winter. Check whether the bed or couch is near the radiator or not or vents. If so, you should move the couch or bed around so that the rest of the room gets a sufficient flow of heated air too.
On the other hand, we often tend to put our furniture around the perimeter of the room, because that way the room appears to have more space to move around. But during the winter, the perimeter of the room is usually the coldest.
That’s because those walls are closer to the exterior of your house. So, it would be a good idea to put beds and couches away from those walls and more toward the center of your room.
#4. Turn Down The Temperature A Little
You might be wondering how turning down the thermostat dial can help you stay warm. The trick is to turn down the temperature for the time you are not at home.
The U.S. Department of Energy suggests 68 degrees Fahrenheit for when you are at home throughout winter for optimized bill reduction. For when you are away, just by turning the temperature down by 7 to 10 degrees can reduce your energy bills by up to 10%.
#5. Invest In A Smart Thermostat
In case you aren’t keen on keeping the heater on the entire time you aren’t at home (and let’s be realistic, that’s the smarter thing to do in 2019!), you may consider getting a smart thermostat.
Smart thermostats can be operated remotely using a mobile app. So, you can just turn on the heater a while before you come home from work, and you will enter the home at your ideal temperature for the winter.
Not only will this eliminate the extra cost you incur by keeping a thermostat turned on during the day, but smart thermostats are also known to save energy bills by up to 20%. Therefore, even though smart thermostats may seem a little expensive, it is a sensible purchase for the long run that will keep your energy bills at bay for years to come.
#6. Cook Yourself A Warm Meal
During winter, you want warm food that keeps your body warm. A hot meal on a cold day can help increase your body’s temperature, making you feel a lot warmer than usual.
Yes, it might take time to prepare a warm meal, but there are some easy recipes that you can quickly make for dinner on a weekday during the winter.
There’s a second benefit to cooking a warm meal: it warms up the house! The heat needed to cook escapes the cooking pot and into the air, thus warming it up. A delicious way to handle the cold indeed!
#7. Switch On The Ceiling Fan
As counter-intuitive as it sounds, switching the ceiling fan on in winter can actually help you stay warm. Fans are supposed to provide you with air and make you cooler, right? Right, but not if the fan is moving in the opposite direction!
Here’s how it works: Warm air rises toward the ceiling, and colder air settles toward the bottom of the room as per the laws of physics. Concurrently, fans move in an anti-clockwise direction.
However, ceiling fans usually have a little switch around the base that changes the direction in which it moves. As a result, when you turn the fan on and put it on its lowest settings, it will draw the cold air in your room upward and push the warmer air downward.
Thus, the warm air circulates around the room, and you feel warmer.
#8. Just Put On Extra Layers Of Clothing!
Yes, it is pretty obvious that extra layers of clothing help you stay warm. What matters, though, is what kind of material you’re covering yourself with. For winter, wool, fleece, flannel, and silk can conserve heat.
So, dig into your closet for the right clothing items to add warmth to your life this winter.
Final Thoughts
Energy prices are always on the rise. Winter, unfortunately, comes with extra energy expenses. While eliminating these extra expenses is difficult, you can cut down on the bills by following the tips above.
