4 Tips to Keep Your Energy Bills Low During Winter Cold Spells

Texas weather can be all over the place. Some days it’s 50 degrees, and then others it’s 25 – or even less.

When it gets that cold outside, what can you do to keep your energy efficiency reasonable so you don’t find yourself whacked with a massive bill at the end of the month?

Here’s what you can do:

1. Turn Down Your Thermostat
   
   Yep, saving energy gets this easy. Just turn down your thermostat a degree or two…even that makes a difference.If you’re ambitious about saving energy, throw on your warmer clothes and reduce the temperature even further.Don’t make yourself, or your family, miserable. But do what you feel is right and helpful for saving energy.
2. Let the Sun Help You Out
   
   The sun rises in the east, revolves toward the south, and sets in the west. When the sun is out during the winter, open your blinds and let it help warm up the south side of your home.You might even consider planting deciduous trees that shed their leaves during the winter. When they have their leaves again in the summer, they’ll block the sun from your home, which helps it stay cool.
3. Keep Your Trips In & Out of Your Home to a Minimum
   
   Air moves from hotter places to cooler ones. The more you enter and leave your home, the more warm air escapes outside. Then, your heating system has to help your home replace that lost warm air.Work with your family to open and close doors as quickly as possible when you have to leave or enter your home.
4. Seal Your Home’s Air Envelope
   
   This one works not just in winter, but all year long. Basically, think of your home as having plenty of small cracks, crevices, and gaps that let air in and out.This happens in every home…even brand new ones. You simply can’t construct a perfect home that leaks no air outside.

But of course, some homes have a tighter air envelope than others. This is a project you can do on your own with help from the many online DIY guides.

You can also allow a contractor to do the work. And that may be wise because they have more experience finding the most difficult-to-notice leaks.

Whatever you choose to do, you’ll certainly improve your home’s energy efficiency.

Now You Get to Reap the Savings

Believe it or not, following even these simple tips can lead to hundreds of dollars in energy savings per year.

So avoid the temptation to just shrug these ideas off. And instead, implement each in the order they make most sense to you so you can get some extra cash – and do your part to protect the planet.