9 Ways to Save Money on Winter Fuel Bills

I hate to be the one to tell you, but winter is on its way and there’s nothing you can do about it.

And while there are lots of great things about the winter months (Christmas, for example!), as the temperature starts dropping so our heating bills tend to go up.

Fortunately if you’re worried about how much money you’re spending on staying warm, and you want to be a little more frugal this winter, there are a variety of ways to save money on your heating bills.

Here are my top tips:

Get the Best Deal

First off it’s important to realize that different utility companies may charge different rates for heating your home. If in doubt, try jumping on one of the many price-comparison sites (here in the UK I’m a huge fan of CompareTheMeerkat CompareTheMarket.com).

Just a few minutes spent with your recent utility bills should quickly help you to deduce whether there are better deals to be had in your area.

Heat the Right Rooms

Unless you live in a one-bedroom flat then you probably use some rooms more than others.

For example on the weekend you probably spend more time in the living room than your spare bedroom.

In addition to this unless you have a giant kitchen, it’s entirely possible that the simple act of cooking can raise the ambient temperature in your kitchen.

This means less (or no) heating required.

Invest a few minutes considering which rooms of your house really need to be heated, and either turn down or turn off the heating in those lesser-used rooms.

Tweak Your Heating Timer

Timers are a wonderful invention of the modern age; they let us arrive home to a warm house in the evening, or wake up to piping hot water in the morning. But if you’re like many people then a little “tweaking” has the potential to save you quite a bit of money.

Examine your current settings to see if any changes can be made. For example how soon before getting home do you really need the heating turning on? And how many hours do you really need your hot water boiler on each day?

Insulate

Homes don’t magically hold the heat. Turn off your heating on a cold day and you’ll find that the temperature in your house starts falling pretty rapidly.

One of the reasons for this is simply that heat can escape from your home out into the atmosphere.

Keeping it trapped for as long as possible can therefore have a major impact on saving money.

Consider, for example, getting double – or even treble – glazing.

Block off cold draughts with draught excluders.

And check that you’ve got suitable insulation in your loft.

While each of these “improvements” can cost money initially, they can repay you again and again over time.

Get Busy

If you sit around motionless in the winter you tend to feel the cold far more than if you’re active.

I know from personal experience that I get a lot colder sitting here writing blog posts than I do when I’m in the kitchen chopping up home-grown vegetables for storage.

In other words, if you’re getting cold at home consider doing something a little more active, even for a short period of time. You’ll increase your body temperature without the need to turn up the thermostat.

Wrap Up

An oldie but a goodie here; just wear more clothes at home.

If you’re sitting around in shorts and a t-shirt in the middle of winter, while simultaneously worrying about budgeting for your fuel bill, you might want to consider popping on some warm clothes.

You don’t need to dress like an eskimo; even adding a long-sleeve t-shirt or some comfy sweat-pants can make a surprising difference to how much heating your home requires.

Eat Right

The food we eat helps us to keep warm. It does this in two ways; firstly if the food itself is warm then it increases your body temperature.

Secondly, warm food or cold, your body creates warmth as it goes about digesting your meal.

If you want to save money on your fuel bill this winter consider giving up the salads and sandwiches, and instead try altogether “heartier” foods.

They don’t have to be any more expensive; a bowl of home-made vegetable soup from the garden together with some freshly-baked and buttered bread can do wonders, yet costs next to nothing to produce.

Get Out More

If you want to save as much money as possible on heating your home then how about simply going out more?

Spending time visiting friends and family isn’t just great fun; it also means you can turn off your heating and instead benefit from other people’s warm houses.

Downsize Your Home

To finish off this article I have a small admission. For the last 5 years I’ve lived without central heating of any kind. It wasn’t even fitted in our flat.

We relied on the tips above, plus a couple of low-wattage oil-filled radiators on the coldest days.

And you know what? We were perfectly toasty.

Why? Well firstly our home was small – so the simple act of moving about warmed the air noticeably. Our flat was also on the top floor, meaning that the weak rays of the winter sun fell directly on our roof, further warming the flat.

One of the best ways to save money on your fuel bills is therefore to simply downsize to a smaller home.

Less space = less heating required.

You’d be surprised how little you can spend on winter heating bills when you live in a small home.

How do you save money on your winter fuel bills? Please leave your top tips in the comments section below…