With energy costs rising precipitously over the last few years and greater focus on saving the planet and conserving natural resources becoming part of most people’s everyday lives, finding ways to cut these costs is a great way to save money and the planet at the same time.
Below are some easy and inexpensive ways to save money on heating and cooling bills now and well into the future.
Modernize Your Thermostat
One way bills skyrocket is when appliances are working unnecessarily, as when they continue to heat or cool a room that is already the correct temperature or when no one is home.
Modern thermostats can naturally regulate this, with sensors that can be set to turn the heat or air conditioning on when the house is at a certain temperature or off when it reaches another temperature.
Even more modern thermostats can even sense when people are in various rooms, heating and cooling the rooms based on activity within them.
While these thermostats will be initially expensive, the cost will be more than made up over time in lower electricity bills.
Insulate Your Windows
Windows are where the largest amount of heat and cooling created inside your house will escape, so it’s important to keep this from happening as much as possible.
While you will obviously still need your windows to be functional as windows, purchasing thick curtains to hang in front of them will keep the cool in and hot sunlight out during the summer, making a noticeable difference, and causing less air conditioning to be used.
This will work similarly in the winter, allowing less heat to escape through the glass of your windows and cold to seep in.
Seal Your Doors
Hot and cold air also readily escape through the cracks beneath and around your doors, especially because doors are regularly opening and closing, creating a natural draft.
By purchasing cheap sealing strips and crack putty from your hardware store, this problem can be dealt with cheaply and easily.
Seal the cracks around the door frame with putty and attach the strips to the inside of the door, to fill the opening between the door itself and the frame.
It will close much more snugly and keep your home hot or cool as needed.
