Keeping Spirits Up and Bills Low

Winter is a special time for most households; the holiday season, school breaks, and family reunions all combine to make this usually dismal season something to be enjoyed, instead of simply to be endured. All the fun societal celebrations can’t take away from the fact that for many, however, winter is also one of the most difficult times of the year when it comes to saving money.

Not only do the aforementioned holidays demand a certain amount of pageantry and gift-giving, all of which costs money, but the extra energy your home burns through in order to keep your family warm and comfortable can do a real number on your power bill.

Luckily, we’ve compiled a list of a few ways in which you can keep your energy costs low while still letting the warmth of the season flow through your home. You might even be surprised how home window tinting can actually help the home stay warm all winter long.

Embrace Blanket Culture

Remember the quote from the popular Charles Dickens novella A Christmas Carol? “Scrooge liked the cold. He was hard and sharp as a flint, secret and self-contained, and solitary as an oyster.”

While we don’t suggest that you become “hard and sharp” at this festive time of year, there is something sensible about being “self-contained” in the wintertime. In the context of your power bill, this means working blankets, sweats, and flannels into your domestic routine as a means for warmth while you keep your home pleasantly cool.

  • Turn your thermostat down at night and put extra blankets on your bed. You can save 10% of your power bill or more by doing this.
  • Program a smart thermostat to keep the house cool whenever your family is out, either at work or visiting other loved ones.

Keep the Warm Air Flowing

Now that you’ve discovered the benefits of keeping your thermostat turned down low, you’ll naturally need to keep the house warm; not everyone will feel particularly enthused about walking around with their blankets like Linus from The Peanuts. 

Happily, you can generate heat in a number of different ways:

  • Keep a fire going.
  • Use space heaters.
  • Run your ceiling fans in reverse (clockwise) in order to push the hot air that gathers near the ceiling down to those on the floor.
  • Keep the oven door open after removing dinner while it cools down.

Invest in Residential Window Tinting

It’s the kind of statistic that can make your blood boil, but your home loses nearly a third of its heat out of cracks in doors and windows. Now that you’ve devised ways to keep the house warm cheaply, you certainly don’t want all the warmth to be lost outside thanks to poor caulking and poor heat reflection.

You might wonder whether home window tinting actually keeps the house warm in the winter, or if it simply keeps the home colder because the sun is reflected away from the house. The truth is that while the film does keep the home cool in the summer thanks to projecting the sun’s rays away from the house, it also keeps the energy redirected back into the home in the winter as well. 

  • Decorative window films can help insulate your glass.
  • Less heat will pass through the window, meaning you’ll get more heat from your HVAC for less money.

If you’re interested in getting the house outfitted with some great home window tinting before the year’s end, please contact us at Simply Cool today. We are helping keep homes all across Utah warm and cozy for the holidays.