By Thorin Klosowski
Winter is on its way, but for most of us it hasn?t quite hit yet. Instead of waiting for the cold weather to blow in, now?s the time to get everything in order so you?re not stuck catching up on the first sub-zero day.
Getting your home prepared for winter is essentially a two-step process: first you need to seal off any leaks, and second you need to make it as efficient as possible so you?re not wasting energy. Let?s start with sealing everything off.
Seal Off Windows, Doors, and Everywhere Else
The last thing you want in the middle of winter is a bunch of cold air leaking into your house. The more cold air that comes in, the more energy you?re going to waste heating up your home. For many people?renters and owners alike?this is an incredibly simple process that we?ve covered before. Here are a few ideas:
- Insulate Your Windows: Your windows are the biggest place you?re going to feel cold air leaking in from. Thankfully, covering them up is easy with an insulator kit. All you need to do is wrap the windows with tape, place the plastic insulation sheets down, and shrink the sheet to fit with a hairdryer. If the window is too big for the plastic sheets, bubble wrap can do the trick. If you own your home, caulking before you shrink wrap your windows helps as well.
- Use Thick Drapes: If it?s especially cold in your area, you might also want to add a set of thermal drapes to your windows as well. If you?re renting and don?t have the hanger for a drapes, you can always use 3M command hooks.
- Seal Off the Doors: The draft from your door is also a big place for cold air to leak in. You can buy an actual draft guard if you want, make your own from foam pipe insulator, or just toss an old blanket in front of the door. The key is to simply make sure you?re not letting in cold air from underneath the door.
- Seal Off Everything Else: Finally, make a quick run through of your house and see if you can feel cold air leaking in anywhere else. You can seal off electrical outlets easily, but also check attics, basements, and everywhere else. From there, block the air any way you can (safely). Photo by: Eric.?
Make Your Heating System as Efficient As Possible
Sealing off all your drafty areas can only go so far. If you want to keep yourself warm, you really need to make sure everything is running as efficiently as possible. Here are a few places to check.
- Spot Check Your Furnace: As someone who has lost a furnace in the middle of a stretch of days where the weather was below zero, I can?t stress this enough: get your furnace ready for winter. Even if you know nothing about furnaces, check it out, poke it, make sure it?s clean, and replace your furnace filter (you should do this around once a month).
- Grab a Space Heater Now (or Pull it Out of Storage): If you don?t jump between rooms much, a space heater is a great way to keep energy costs down by only heating the room you?re in. If you don?t have one, now?s a good time to snag one before supplies are low.
- Install a Programmable Thermostat: A programmable thermostat is a dead simple way to keep your heater running efficiently. as we?ve pointed out before they?re also easy to install. The handy thing is you can set the thermostat to run on a schedule so you don?t waste heat when you?re not home or sleeping. If you get it installed now before the real cold hits, this means you don?t have to worry about forgetting to turn off your heater after a cold night. If you need some help with the schedule set up, 20 Something Finance has some great tips?for tweaking your schedule for optimal efficiency. If you live in a rental apartment that has an older thermostat, most landlords will let you install a new one.
You can also keep your energy bill down in a few simple ways, like keeping your vents clean, fans running, and more. Electricity and gas bills can skyrocket in the winter if you?re not careful, so cutting back every place you can will help make it more affordable. Photo by Collin Anderson.
Title photo remixed from: nadiia (Shutterstock)
Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/VDNfpNGICdA/34766982257
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