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    3 Easy Ways to Heat Your Home for Less

    By Beth Kobliner, REDBOOK

    Our resident money genius explains how a few home projects can majorly slash your heating bill.

    1. Audit your house. The average family spends at least $2,000 on energy costs annually - but wastes over $200 on heat and cooling because of poor insulation. An energy audit will show you how much money is slipping out of the windows, as well as other money sucks to avoid, like leaving electronics and chargers plugged in all the time. Ask your utility company if they'll set you up with an auditor for free. If not, find one at resnet.us - it'll cost between $300 to $500 but could save you $650 a year.

    Related: 3 Women Who've Learned to Be Happy Living on Less Money

    2. Keep heat in. Some repairs suggested in an audit are easy to do yourself with inexpensive materials you can find at the hardware store, such as spray foam, caulk, and weather stripping for sealing leaky windows and cracks. Use the how-to guide at energystar.gov to get started.

    Related: Keep Your Kids Active This Winter

    3. Go green, get paid. Many tax credits for eco-friendly home improvements expired in 2011, but depending on your family's income, you may still be able to score financial assistance for energysaving switches through the Department of Energy. See if you qualify at eere.energy.gov/wip.

    REDBOOK's money expert, Beth Kobliner, is the author of Get a Financial Life and is on the President's Advisory Council on Financial Capability.


    More from REDBOOK:
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    Permissions: Reprinted with permission of Hearst Communications, Inc.

     

    78 comments

    • Johnny  •  3 months ago
      Keep CSPAN on in the background....the abundance of hot air coming from all of the politicians will heat your home for jus the cost of your cable bill!!
      • Susan 3 months ago
        If only we could!
      • Guest User 3 months ago
        : ) Thanks for the laugh!! Two thumbs up!
    • Bill  •  Chicago, Illinois  •  3 months ago
      I could save bundle if I could convince my wife it's ok to wear a sweater indoors.
      • Susan 3 months ago
        Bill, turn the heat down, if she gets cold, she can put on a sweater.
      • Bill 3 months ago
        @ Susan, I've tried. I set the heat to 73, she will not put a sweater on, instead she turns it up to 77.
      • Iam 3 months ago
        It is silly and very wasteful to use the house for clothes, in the wintertime. 67 deg. and wear clothes and spend the savings elsewhere in your lives.
    • McTavish  •  3 months ago
      Lots....and lots......of sex.
      • Bob 3 months ago
        Hi McTavish, good idea, I'm a widower you live in Maine??
      • dang 3 months ago
        any in depth insight you'd like to give? XD
      • JAMES Dhalluin 3 months ago
        Cold sex is not unlike cold coffee, made with cold water. And it ain't worth a crap on ice..
    •    •  3 months ago
      Well, at least this article didn't tell us to buy stock in oil companies....
    • Jamie  •  Joplin, Missouri  •  3 months ago
      I just added my energy costs up and annually we pay over $3600!! Energy prices in Missouri suck!!
      • Harold 3 months ago
        or maybe your lifestyle is a bit much?
      • Joe 3 months ago
        They give Ameren every rate increase they ask for.The State gets a tax increase with it. Isn't that conflict of interest? Check your bill and see how much sales tax you pay on it. Mine is 8%!
      • Yahoo_Censorship_Nazi 3 months ago
        Or does LIVING (if you can call it living) in such a backwards #$%$ state like Mizzou suck?
    • Mark  •  Mt Prospect, Illinois  •  3 months ago
      this article = crap
    • Paul  •  Wichita, Kansas  •  3 months ago
      I am saving all I can, but the people at the library and unemployment office are starting to look at me funny........
    • icthruyorBS  •  3 months ago
      body heat.
      • hero 3 months ago
        Friction heat
    • Me  •  3 months ago
      Who needs heat. It's barely been winter here in Ohio this year !
    • Bob  •  3 months ago
      Wow!!!!!!!! Insulate your home to cut your heating bill, what a wonderful discovery, and these people get paid to write this stuff, amazing !!!!!!!!!!!!
    • Pat  •  Aspen, Colorado  •  3 months ago
      That article was a complete waste of time.
    • Robert  •  Springfield, Illinois  •  3 months ago
      Been there, done that, now what, with the greedy #$%$ utility companies asking for a utility rate hike every time something in the world does not go there way, or some foreign shiek goes to take a dump, they want a raise in rates.The greed has to stop.Take this hick town I live in they built a new power plant when things were going good, thinking they could sell the excess power on the grid, now the bottom has fallen out, and they want to stick it to the rate payer because they have got there #$%$ in a bind.
    • NOCANFINDNAME  •  3 months ago
      Heat? What Home?
    • LindaK  •  3 months ago
      We recently bought one of the "radiant heat Amish heaters," like they show on TV. I've been surprised to see that it has lowered my electric bill, even though we've had some pretty good cold spells in our area. Also, we do turn the thermostat down at bedtime and layer another quilt on the bed.
    • Christina  •  3 months ago
      If you have unshaded south and west facing windows, remove the screens, wash the windows and open the blinds during the day. You will save on your heating bill. Remember to close the blinds and curtains at night.
    • dan  •  Lake City, Minnesota  •  3 months ago
      This is a easy one, after the divorce, burn it down.
    • Captain Spaulding  •  Tafton, Pennsylvania  •  3 months ago
      Well that was as worthless as a jockstrap in a whorehouse.
    • James  •  Vincennes, Indiana  •  3 months ago
      We only have electric no gas which is expensive, so we took the dryer hose and ran it inside through a nylon as a filter, and bought space heaters. Furnace isn't even working but with mild winter so far no problem energy prices have been very very low. One more trick is in the summer I use curly cue bulbs to reduce heat, but return to incandescent bulbs in the winter, heats the room you"re using.
    • Abbie  •  3 months ago
      Woodburner...cut my own wood...cheap heating.
    • 3C-PO  •  3 months ago
      Burn wood to save money...cut it yourself to heat for free : )

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