Winter preparations for lower heating bills...

We live in what I like to affectionately call 'the frozen tundra'. It can get brutally cold up here in northern Minnesota. Any little space that air can get through into your home will make your home cold and increase your heating bills.

With many of us dealing with under/unemployment we don't have much money to spend on high electric/heating bills. I have enjoyed a low electric bill this summer, it wasn't much more than $100.00 each month...wonderful! That is all over now. We are getting down into the mid 20's for a low and just above freezing for a high. We had to do something about keeping us warm this winter while keeping our expenses down. Here is what we've done so far...

1. We put up Energy Film on our windows that are old and have leaks that allow cold air to come into our home. I found this film in Walmart and have seen a noticeable improvement already!

2. Then my husband bought some expanding foam to help seal up the window frames and door frames. It isn't very expensive so we thought it worth a try in helping to keep our heating bills down.

3. Next we bought a portable heater for our living room, which is our coldest room when we are having cold temps below -15. Our radiant ceiling heater doesn't do a great job and works far to hard to heat that room, which means a high electric bill. So far with this portable heater we have not had to turn on our heat in that room.

4. Warm bedding and pj's for everyone! And that means fleece pj's for everyone because it is warmer than flannel in my opinion. This may be a no brainer for many but I wanted to mention a wonderful find I discovered recently, fleece sheets! Now, we haven't bought these yet. I am hoping to use some anniversary money we got to buy these for my bed and my teenage daughter's bed. I have touched them in the store and they will be a lot warmer than flannel sheets. That means being able to keeping the heat down during the night.

I am sure we will do more than the above, but this is just a start. And with money being limited our preparations are slow going and have to be done very wisely.

I would love to hear what you've done for winterizing your home.

Blessings,