We are Southern transplants, currently living in Northern New England, and we had to learn to expect frigid cold temperatures, snow piles taller than me, and shockingly high utility bills. When we lived in Oklahoma, we’d occasionally have electric bills between $500 – $700 for July and August, when temperatures were well over 100 degrees for weeks on end, while normal bills were about $150/mo for natural gas/electric/water combined. People warned us that utility costs in New England were high, but we couldn’t fathom that they’d be THAT high. While we don’t have any specific months where individual utility bills get that high, each of our monthly utility bills here are much higher than we anticipated.
We have propane for heating, and it is billed on average monthly billing. Initially, this one was about $250/mo in our area year round. It avoids HUGE bills in the winter months by paying a little extra all year long. Next, our electric was about $200/mo year-round, also on average monthly billing. We have well water, so while the water is “free”, the pump for the well is included in the electric bill.
It’s helpful to keep a copy of each bill in a binder or folder as it comes in. You can compare year to year costs and usage, to help figure out when you need to adjust usage, and see how your changes are affecting your actual bill.
Heating a home isn’t an option, you have to stay warm and keep the pipes from freezing, so we have learned some things that help us reduce utility costs where we can. We knew some of the “main” tips that people give, such as unplugging appliances when not in use, turn off lights when not in use, close vents in rooms you aren’t using, etc. and were already using those. But we needed to do MORE. After a lot of research, trying things to see what works best for our situation, and making adjustments as needed, we have more than cut our bills in half each month. They are still higher than we’d like, so we’re still implementing methods and experimenting. It’s important to see what works well for your own needs and situation. As we all live in different areas of the country, our needs will vary. These 14 Ways to Save on Heating, Cooling, and Electricity are some of the ways that we have found helpful in reducing our personal utility bills.
1. Thermal Curtains
I’ve blogged about using these before. They are great all year round! In the summer, they block out the heat, and keep cool air in. In winter, they block out some cold, while keeping the heat in. I had to dig through boxes to find them after we moved, but we are able to use the same ones we had in OK. We have more windows here, so I did buy more panels. The kind I have are priced under $15 per panel, but made a BIG reduction in our utility bills. I also purchased curtain hooks and got some cute matching fabric strips at the craft store. In the spring and fall, I tie the curtains back and we open the windows. We get fresh air, and are able to turn OFF the A/C and/or heat. I have allergies, so if they get too bad, we close them all and use the A/C (cheaper than my allergy medications), but only as needed.
2. Put on layers of clothes. We have warm pajamas and boot socks we typically wear around the house. We each have a REALLY warm blanket (Sam’s Club has them for around $15 each seasonally), and we cover up with that.
3. Get Moving. If you are cold, do some quick and easy exercises to get the blood flowing, and warm you up. Housework, such as dusting, vacuuming, etc. can also help 🙂 With the layout of our house, we can walk up and down the hallway, or around the downstairs area in a circle. It’s a great way for me to get some walking in during the cold months! I actually put on shorts and a T-Shirt when I walk, so I don’t get too hot, and then after I cool down and shower, I put my warm layers of clothes back on.
4. Ceiling Fans. We use these in the summer to cool the rooms, and in the winter, we reverse the direction and set them on low. This will pull the cool air up, and push the warm air down.
5. Snuggle. I love to snuggle under the big blankets with the kids while we watch a movie, and the dog snuggles with me all day. When we lost power for several days during a big storm last year, I let the dog sleep in the bed with me. She puts out so much heat, that she’d warmed up the bed in an hour, and she climbed out from under the covers to sleep above my pillow because she was too hot 🙂 I was ok once I got warm, and the blankets kept me warm after that.
6. Bake! During the winter, I cook more things in the oven, which helps heat the house. Once I take the food out, I’ll leave the oven open a crack to let the heat escape and help warm that part of the house. My kids are old enough to know not to touch it, and the pets can’t reach that high. In the summer, we do more grilling outdoors. It avoids heating up the kitchen. We can grill for 2-3 nights at once, to maximize use of the propane, and we sometimes eat outdoors too!
7. Change your filters, or clean them if they are reusable. Our landlord takes care of this for us, and he stops by once a month during the winter to change it. He makes sure the furnace is working properly and efficiently, and checks in on the hot water heater as well.
8. Energy efficient windows. When we bought our house in OK, we had the older windows swapped out for newer, energy efficient windows. When we had our home inspection, it was something the inspector pointed out was an issue. We asked that the previous owner replace them with energy efficient windows before we closed, and he complied. They came with a warranty, and when we got the energy efficiency report from the utility company each month, we noticed a reduction in the amount of energy the home had used before. When we moved to NH, we made sure the house we were renting had these as well. You don’t want to pay all that money for utilities, only to let it leak out old windows.
9. Repair your roof. Likewise, a maintained roof is important. We also negotiated a new roof into the purchase of our OK home. The inspector said it would need to be replaced in about a year, so we asked the seller to replace it. We were lucky the roofer he selected lived 5 doors down, so when we had an issue and needed it addressed under warranty, he was quick to take care of it. We quickly learned that an older roof, or one with poor maintenance, can allow heat to escape (melts the snow while other homes are still covered), or can allow water in, which causes other issues.
10. Insulation. It’s really obvious when a room is not insulated well, during months of extreme temperatures. When our pipes froze and burst in OK, we found an entire section that was not insulated. As the remediation team was making repairs, they insulated all the areas. It made a huge difference in electric bills, and allowed us to adjust the thermostat. It also helped keep the pipes from freezing and bursting again 🙂
11. Programmable Thermostat. Our electric company installed one of these for us in our OK home for free when we enrolled in a special energy efficient program. They checked for energy efficiency, and gave us great tips and tricks. We had an adjustable rate plan, so we paid a flat fee for off-peak hours, and a premium fee for high demand hours. We were able to do all of our washing/showering/cooking during off-peak hours, so we paid a VERY low rate per kW. We had the thermostat set to adjust temperatures during high demand hours, so we used very little energy during that time. Here in NH, our electric company doesn’t offer this as an option, but we did get a programmable thermostat so we can have it automatically adjust temperatures for us. During the winter, we have it raise the temperature about 30 minutes before we get up for the day, and lower once the kids go to school. I’m ok with it being cooler during the day, I can keep warm with my blanket and warm clothes. It warms up again when the kids get home, and lowers again at bedtime. During the summer, the house stays pretty cool all morning, and the kids play outside during the day. We’ll have it cool off around the time Nick gets home from work until about an hour after bedtime, then it raises, so it won’t kick on again unless it gets really hot in the night, which is rare in this area.
12. Use a space heater. We have a space heater, similar to the one above, that we use in our family room. During the day, if I get too cold, I can turn it on to quickly heat just the room I’m in, instead of raising the thermostat to heat the entire house. Likewise, in the evenings, we’re all in here together, so we can use it to just heat this room. Ours has a temperature setting, so it’ll turn itself off and on to keep just this room at that temp, or we can set it to high if we’ve just come in and are freezing, just looking for a quick warm up. We are VERY careful with it, making sure nothing gets too close to catch on fire, and turn it off if we leave the room.
13. Floor Fan. While we had ceiling fans in every room of our OK house, for some reason only the living room in our NH house doesn’t have one. We offered to purchase one and install it, but the landlord said the room isn’t wired to handle one. Last summer, our AC went out and the unit need a special order part, so we had to go without for a week. Of course it was the hottest week of the summer up here (only 89, but VERY humid), and we had the windows open, but the air wasn’t circulating well. We finally got a floor fan, and it made all the difference. Once the AC was repaired, we kept the floor fan to use during the day, and raised the thermostat temperature. It helped lower the bill, because the fan kept the main room cool, while allowing the rest of the house to be a bit warmer.
14. Energy Efficient Lightbulbs. We make sure to turn lights off as we leave a room, but we also took the step to purchase energy efficient lightbulbs to use when they are on. It gets dark up here in NH around 4pm in the winter, so we use a lamp in the living room for several hours each day, and as needed in the other rooms. While the initial cost of the bulbs we use is more than a traditional bulb, between the energy savings and the extended life they offer, we more than make up the difference. We’ve just started needing to replace the bulbs in the lamps we moved from OK over 4 years ago, and I can’t recall how long they were in there before we moved, but it was a good while. When we moved in, we replaced the regular bulbs with energy efficient bulbs and saved the old ones to put back in when we move. They’ll still work, and we can take the energy saving bulbs with us to use in our next home. We like the Finally bulbs because they give off a good quality of light, the LED units are inside of the outer globe, so it “looks” like an ordinary bulb, it doesn’t require any “warm up” time, and has a 10-year limited warranty.
Which of these 14 Ways to Save on Heating, Cooling, and Electricity is your favorite or most helpful to you?
What tip can you share to help others with ways to save on heating, cooling, and electricity costs?
Rosie says
We now have new energy efficient windows, and it is amazing how much it saves in heating and cooling costs, and it is so much more comfortable.
Birdiebee says
The thermal curtains really help to save on heating bill as I just bought these for my daughter’s home.
Jerry Marquardt says
UI would like to save on energy costs. I appreciate your nice reviews and will keep the pointers in mind.
Marnie G says
Great ideas. Heating and cooling costs can certainly hit you hard in the extreme termperature months.
Richard Hicks says
Lots of good advice. Always good to have reminders like this
Dotty J Boucher says
I love to bake and work out, and I am always doing something most of the time to keep myself warm, because it just seem that I am usually freezing these days.
Sue M. says
As I work from home as a medical transcriptionist, I usually avoid having the air conditioner running as it can be pretty noisy, plus using it a lot will make my electric bill go up a lot. Instead, I just use a quiet desk fan while working at my computer and splash water on my face so I still stay cool!
Lanie K. says
Definitely always use a space heater or a floor fan to save on the bills! All of them are good suggestions! 😀
Erica E says
Great tips! I wish I could get a programmable thermostat. Unfortunately, it’s not really a possibility right now, so I make do as best as I can by turning the heat/AC off when I’m at work and then manually turning it back on once I get home to save on the electric.
Lisa Coomer Queen says
These are great ways to save on heating and cooling. thanks for sharing.
Jeanna Massman says
Thank you for all the great ideas. I am definitely going to try them.
Amber Ludwig says
So many great ideas! We have lots of fuzzy blankets so we like to cover up instead of turn on the heat 🙂
Jessica Cox says
I love to just wrapped in a comfy blanket and drink hot cocoa to keep warm
Julie Lundstrom says
Some good information for summer and winter.
Lanie K. says
Use a space heater! I am constantly trying to heat the entire house instead of focusing on the room I am in. I could totally cut down on my bill with that tip alone! Great article 🙂
Sarah L says
I live in a townhouse and can’t do anything about the roof. I wear layers.
Karen says
Turn the fan off, so the blades don’t hit you, then look near the motor. Mine have a little button that slides up and down. When I switch the button position and turn the fan back on, the direction of the blades change. Hope that helps 🙂
Diana Thompson says
How do I reverse the fan blades? My ceiling fans don’t do that.
Cynthia C says
I am in the process of getting new windows. It will be expensive, but they need to be replaced and I expect it will save on heating and cooling.
gale mccarron says
Great tips! This is such a problem for us, especially during the Winter. Ourbills are outrageous, so I’m always looking for help. Thanks!
Sarah L says
I like my programmable thermostat. I wear layers and warm slippers in the winter.
Deb P says
Some great ideas, I use the bakeing idea and curtains
Rosie says
These are all very good suggestions. One thing I noticed is after a year or so of being up north, I was more used to it, and don’t need to keep as much heat. Also I got so used to it being hot in the summer as I was outside much, that I didn’t use the AC. It is good to do as many of these suggestions when you move in, to get the most savings over the years.
Laura says
Great tips! Always love to save money! 🙂
BRANDI DAWN says
These are all good! I like #3 and #6 best, two birds with one stone (I hate that saying lol)!
Cynthia R says
We do what we can. Even with wearing layers and keeping our thermostat low our heat bill is pretty large. Our master is over the garage and on the north side so we don’t get much sun either.
Cheryl says
It’s always important to save money on energy costs.
Debbie Campbell says
I use my ceiling fans year round. I just have to remember to switch the direction for the seasons.
Michelle Elizondo says
Times are tough so need to save.
carmen miller says
This is such great information for all homeowners or renters. Thank you for posting this valuable information.
Margie says
These are all great ideas. Our programmable thermostat helped cut our heating costs. If you have older, leaky windows, they can be covered with plastic, and this really isn’t very obvious.
Rachel Dean says
These are all great ways and we practice them all! Sometimes I wear foot warmers in my sleepers or shoes to help me feet warm up. Or use a heated throw.
rochelle haynes says
This is nice to know thanks for the info
michele ziemann says
i have lived in ne almost all my life short 9 yrs we lived in tx , but just wanted u toknow all the things u talked are just great ideas really!!!! even gave me ome tips i had not thought about thank u
Della Williamson says
When baking. Turn off the oven at 5 to 10 minutes before the timer goes off and DO NOT open the oven door. Depending on the manufacturer it takes that long before the oven starts cooling off and your cake, roast, whatever will still get fully baked. On stove top, if you have an electric stove. Turn off the burner during the last 5 minutes of cooking. It takes at least before it starts to really cool off. As with eggs. When frying an egg for breakfast. When I go to turn the egg over, I first turn off the burner. Then turn over the egg. get my hot choc and toast ready. Then remove the pan from the burner and remove the egg. Nary had a problem with the egg not being cooked enough.