My favorite thing to do is find ways to conserve heat in our frugal home, but also stay warm. In my dream home there is a warm burning fireplace just like in the pioneer days. Unfortunately, at this point I do not live in my dream home, and there is no fireplace where we live. I have had to seek out many different ways to stay warm over the year’s.
As it stands, there are some pretty easy ways to stay warm and not walk around wrapped in a heavy blanket all day. I am a cold natured person, so when most people say they are hot, I am not. 70 degrees is cold to me. Yes, cold. Summer is my favorite time because I am warm ninety percent of the time until I go in to air conditioning.
Maybe one of these tips will help your frugal home conserve energy next winter.
Curtains and Other Window Coverings
My family knows how much I love to stay warm. In fact, I am almost miserable when it is cold. On the other hand it is more miserable to pay a high electric bill in the winter. One way I have found that helps is to have heavy curtains on my windows, in our frugal home. To offset light, if it is sunny then I gently prop them up or use the tie.
My other choice of window covering is a pull down shade. I found these work best to hold cold out and heat in. Plus, they are not a safety hazard for kids. I have pull down shade’s in all of my bedrooms. For my kitchen I ordered a set of shades that are bamboo.
In my living room I have curtains only because of the dogs. They are easily held back with one of the ties.
Frugal Home Space Heaters
Space heaters are a good back up and heat up a smaller space in a frugal home. Most can be obtained at most department stores. I have two that I set up in the coldest rooms of my house. They are only on when we are in that room, and are unplugged when we are not in the room. Owning these two space heaters has helped tremendously in keeping our thermostat at a lower temperature.
Space heaters are easy to carry from room to room. I do not sleep with a space heater on for safety reasons. Blankets keep us warm at night.
Service the Furnace and Change Air Filters
One way to help with frugal home energy conservation is maintaining what we have. Keeping the air filter changed for the furnace allows for it to work as it should. A clogged furnace filter is not going to help when heating the home. Furnace filters help keep the allergens, dust and dirt from entering the furnace.
Keeping a good maintenance schedule will extend the life of a furnace by years’. I try to have our filter changed quarterly and serviced yearly by a technician.
Inventory Frugal Home Heat Sources
It is to sit back in my home and tell you how we heat our home, or how we save. Over a set period of several months check your heat bill. See and monitor the fluctuations with each change you make. Early on I found out that leaving my electric heater on for long periods of time cost me more on my monthly bill. Whereas if I ran it a short bit when I worked it kept me both warm and didn’t run up the bill.
Inventory the heat losses in your home and choose the best way for you to save. Making a reactive decision helps in the short term but in the long term is not a good idea. Keep track and set an amount for your frugal home that you an your husband want to save.
One of the better ways to watch fluctuations in heating costs is to keep a budget. Make a category for estimated savings, then at the end of the month review your bill and write down the actual amount spent. Over the course of a year this will help you determine the best ways to save.
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