This allows the air to circulate freely and keeps the heating at full capacity.
6. Close heating ducts in rooms that don't require much heat. There is no sense in heating rooms that are not used or are seldom used. If you have storage rooms or guest bedrooms that are rarely inhabited, you can close the vents and keep the door closed. This is especially effective in large houses.
"If you have a small house and one spare room, it won't make much of a difference," admits Scott Shaw, owner of Scott's Heating and Cooling Inc. in St. Joseph. "But if you have a big house with three or four rooms that aren't used, that's a different story."
7. Clean your vents and radiators. Dust is bad for two reasons: It makes people sneeze and it retains heat. Therefore, www.savingadvice.com states that you should clean the built up dust from your radiators and baseboard heat vents often. This allows the air to flow freely into your rooms and will help heat each room equally.
8. Use your fireplace or seal it off. If you have a fireplace, use it to heat the room. If not, you should cover any seals in the fireplace. Warm air escapes through the fireplace and out the chimney. Block the path with plastic or blankets. Also, check the seal on your fireplace's flue damper and adjust it so that it is as tight as possible, suggests www.savingadvice.com. A large gap in the flue will also allow warm air to escape.
9. Wash your clothes in cold water. According to Missouri Gas Energy, you should only use hot water when clothes are extremely soiled. This will ensure that your water heater is used less.
10. Bundle up. Sometimes the simplest method is the best. Wearing sweaters and packing under blankets will retain your own body heat. The more layers you have on, the lower you can set your thermostat. And don't forget, a lot of the body's heat is lost through the head.
"If you are chilly, put on a hat," says Barbara LaBass of Missouri Gas Energy's community and governement relations. "You will warm up quickly."
Lifestyles reporter Shea Conner can be reached
at sheaconner@npgco.com
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