Heat Your Home for Less: Top Tips to Lower Your Heating Bills

When you rent a home, you may be able to sign a lease that has your landlord paying for your heat. When you own a home, however, those heating bills are on you to cover. And they have the potential to get very expensive.

If you're looking to lower your heating costs this winter, here are a few tips worth employing.

1. Get your heating system serviced

The cost of a maintenance appointment for your heating system will hinge on different factors, including where you live and what type of system you have. But spending a few hundred dollars to have your system serviced could potentially save you twice that much or more if tweaks are made that allow your system to work more efficiently.

Plus, during a maintenance appointment, a technician can be on the lookout for issues with your heating system. If they spot a problem and you're able to fix it before your heat stops working completely, you'll potentially spare yourself an emergency house call -- and the massive credit card charge that might come with it.

2. Change your filter regularly

If you have a very efficient heating system, you might get away with only changing your filter once at the start of the season. But for an older unit, or one that runs continuously for months on end, you may need to change your filter every six to eight weeks. Doing so could lead to better performance out of your heating system -- and lower utility bills.

The cost of a filter will depend on the specific system you have and what you're looking for. But you might be able to get away with spending $20 or less for a replacement filter. And that $20 replacement during the middle of the winter might end up saving you several times that much via more efficient heating.

3. Let the sunshine in

If your home tends to get a lot of natural light, why not use it to help your interior stay warm? The simple act of opening blinds and curtains could allow you to harness the power of the sun to keep your home toasty. And the less you have to run your heat, the less you're looking at spending.

Of course, you'll want to do the opposite during the summer to save money on air conditioning costs -- keep those drapes closed to block out the sun.

4. Make sure your vents aren't blocked

If your home has a forced air heating setup, all it takes are a few blocked vents to prevent warm air from getting to where it needs to go. As a result, you may be inclined to keep pumping up the heat, thereby racking up higher bills.

An easy way to lower your costs is to walk around your home and make sure none of your vents are being blocked by things like furniture or kids' toys. A simple cleanup could have you spending less.

All of these tactics could result in lower heating bills for you. But if you still need help covering your costs, reach out to your utility company and see if there are programs in place for struggling homeowners.

You can also see if your state offers utility assistance programs, or if there's a federal program you qualify for. LIHEAP, for example, provides help with heating and cooling bills for about 6.7 million households by partnering with local agencies to offer assistance. Don't hesitate to explore options like these if the above tricks still leave you struggling.