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Winterizing your home doesn’t have to cost you a lot of money! Try these easy ways to winterize your home on a budget and save money on your heating bill.
Winter isn’t an easy time of year, especially if you live in an area that gets a lot of snowstorms and cold weather.
But you can still make your home nice and warm and save money doing it!
It really doesn’t matter if you live in a new home or an older home they can all benefit from taking some simple steps to winterize your home.
We live in a very old home, it was built in 1850! So without proper winterizing, it would be very uncomfortable to live here.
But the truth is I’ve lived in apartments and newer homes and they all had the same problems with air leaks around the doors and windows, gaps in the foundation and other common home issues that needed to be fixed.
The good news is that it isn’t hard to properly winterize your home and it doesn’t have to be expensive either! Quite the opposite actually.
By taking some time to follow these simple steps you can feel warmer in your home and lower your winter heating bills.
Contents
How To Winterize Your Home On A Budget
Make Sure Your Doors Have A Tight Seal
Use Door Snakes On Exterior Doors and Attic And Basem*nt Doors
Seal Up Any Holes In Exterior Walls
Check Windows For Air Leaks
Caulk Cracks In Your Window Frames
Install Storm Windows
Use Plastic Over Your Windows
Use Heavy Drapes And Area Rugs
Use A Programmable Thermostat
Change Your Furnace Filters
Wrap Your Water Heater In A Blanket
Use Your Ceiling Fan To Warm Your Home
Close Up Chimneys
Use An Indoor Dryer Vent
How To Winterize Your Home On A Budget
Make Sure Your Doors Have A Tight Seal
One of the biggest sources of air leaks in homes is around your exterior doors.
Close your door and run your hand around the edges where the door meets the frame. If you feel any cold air coming in then you need to add insulation to your door.
Thankfully fixing air leaks on your doors is one of the cheapest winter weatherizing steps you can do.
All you need is some foam weather seal strips, it comes in different sizes depending on how big the gap around your door is.
First, wash the door frame where you plan to install the weather stripping.
Then cut the foam into lengths that you need, place the weatherstripping against the frame and slowly peel off the cover and press the sicks side against your door frame.
Continue a little at a time. Done!
Use Door Snakes On Exterior Doors and Attic And Basem*nt Doors
After you have sealed up air leaks on the side and top of your door frame it’s time to get the bottom sealed up too!
The easiest way to seal up air leaks from the base of your door is to use a door snake.
These come in different types. Growing up I remember using tubes of cloth that were filled with rice and laying them on the inside of the door.
These work really well but can be a pain to remember to place back against the door every time you open it.
So one of my favourite door snakes are ones that you actually attache to the door!
These come in a few different types you can get rubber ones that stick or screw on to the bottom of your door.
But the simplest way to go is a foam door snake that just slides onto the bottom of your door.
Seal Up Any Holes In Exterior Walls
Don’t forget to also check your outside walls for any cracks that could be letting cold air into your home.
Take some time to look around the exterior walls and foundation for holes and cracks that need to be sealed up. It’s very common to find gaps around holes that were made for dryer vents, and outside taps.
Fill in the gaps with spray foam to help keep your home insulated.
Filling up these holes also helps to keep your home cooler in the summer and keep bugs from getting into your house.
We love using spray foam to seal up any cracks in our older home. You can find it in both low and high expanding foam types depending on how large the cracks you need to fill are.
Check Windows For Air Leaks
Just like your doors, windows are also a big cause of cold air leaks into your home.
Check all of your windows to make sure that they are closed properly and locked. Windows should be kept locked for safety reasons but locking them also makes sure that they are tightly closed and that helps to seal up air leaks.
Caulk Cracks In Your Window Frames
Check around your windows for any cracks that could be letting cold air leaks in and seal them up.
You can do it with a caulking gun and run a bead of caulking around the window.
But an even easier way is to use mortite caulking also called putty caulk! This is soft caulking that is formed into strips much like the weather sealing you used around your doors.
To apply putty caulking cut it into lengths and press it firmly into the corners of your window to cover the cracks.
Install Storm Windows
Our home was built in 1850 and has had updates done on and off over time. Before we moved in here most of the windows on the first level were replaced with new windows.
Some on the main floor and all of the upstairs windows are the older thin glass pane windows. Honestly, I love them! But they are not the best for keeping your home warm.
Installing storm windows makes old windows almost (or just as good) as installing brand new windows for a much lower cost.
Storm windows can be installed on the outside or inside of your windows depending on the look you’re going for. This is a great video tutorial on how to install your own storm windows.
Use Plastic Over Your Windows
The last step to winterizing your windows is to use a plastic film over them.
If you can only do just one thing to winterize your home this year, this is the one you don’t want to leave out! It’s also one of the cheapest ways to help keep your home warm in the winter.
Placing the plastic over your windows makes sure that any cold air drafts that might come through your window, don’t get into your home.
Use Heavy Drapes And Area Rugs
Hanging up heavy drapes on your windows also does a lot to keep drafts out and heat inside your home. Even if you only keep them closed at night when the weather is colder it will be a big help.
Another big source of cold is our floors. How many times have you been sitting in a room and felt perfectly warm but your feet were freezing?
Place some pretty area rugs or mats around your home in places you often are standing or sitting for a while. This will help you to feel much warmer.
Use A Programmable Thermostat
Honeywell RTH221B1021/E1 RTH221B1021/A 1 Week Programmable Thermostat
Using a programmable thermostat can help keep your home at a more stable temperature and save you money too. They are much more efficient than the older dial style furnace thermostats.
The good news is they are much cheaper then you think! You can get a good programmable thermostat for under $20.
Also, lower the temperature you keep your home at to 68 F (20 C) it’s considered the most comfortable room temperature to use. If you are a little chilly then put on a sweater and keep some pretty blankets on your couch to curl up with.
Change Your Furnace Filters
Don’t forget to change your furnace filters regularly. When your filters get dirty it’s much harder for the furnace to heat your home.
Keep the furnace filters clean so that it works more efficiently and saves you money.
Furnace filters are also pretty inexpensive making it a sensible choice to keep them clean.
Wrap Your Water Heater In A Blanket
Frost King SP60 All Season Water Heater Insulation Blanket, 3” Thick x 60” x 90”, R10
Wrapping your water heater in an insulating blanket will go a long way to keeping your water warmer longer and saving you money on your water heating bill.
It’s easy to do an also another cheap way to winterize your home.
Use Your Ceiling Fan To Warm Your Home
No, I’m not crazy! Using your ceiling fans in the winter can actually keep your home warmer.
Set them to spin clockwise so they are pushing the warm air that rises to the ceiling back down into the room. You don’t have to have the ceiling fans going fast for this to work, the lowest setting works great for us.
Close Up Chimneys
If you have a fireplace but are not using it to heat your home in the winter then you’ll want to seal up that chimney.
Chimneys are a big source of air leaks in your home. They both let cold air down into your home and suck the warm air out.
One of the easiest ways to seal them up is to use a chimney balloon.
Use An Indoor Dryer Vent
Drying your clothes creates a lot of heat that is lost outside from your dryer. Think about using an indoor dryer vent instead of during the winter!
Using a special indoor dryer vent box it will filter out the lint and dust but let the warm air into your home. This can really help to lower your heating bill, especially if you do a lot of laundry.
There are so many ways to winterize your home on a budget. Even doing just one or two of these tips can help keep your home warmer and lower your heating bill!
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Kim
Kim Mills is a homeschooling mom of 6 and lives on an urban homestead in Ontario, Canada. Blogging at Homestead Acres she enjoys sharing tips to help you save money, grow and preserve your own food.
