How to Save Money Fast on a Low Income in the Winter
Snow is falling here, so I wanted to share some ways to save money on a low income. Winter is especially tough on finances, with higher heating and light bills during winter's dark, cold days. If you are looking for ways to save money this winter, you are in the right place.
1. Close doors
The first thing you can do to save money during the winter is close the doors behind you when you leave the room. Whenever I left the room and closed it, I returned to it, and the initial room temperature stayed the same.
Whenever you're leaving your room, make sure that the windows are locked up. Shut the door behind you so that the room can retain the heat and not let it out through the door when you go out.
This also applies when you're leaving your house. Make sure that you securely close the windows, shut the doors, and make sure everything is closed up because it's usually those holes that let the cold air in or any openings that let in the cold from the outside.
2. Lay carpets on the floor
The second thing I would recommend that you do this winter and subsequent winters to save money is if you have rolled up carpets and just stocked them in your garage, it may be an excellent time to spread them on the floor.
Carpets on wooden floors provide an additional layer of insulation. Wooden floors are usually cold, especially if you don't wear socks. In the winter, it's expected that the wood will get colder.
I would recommend that even if you don't have a carpet, there are affordable carpets out there. The other day I saw a really great 5x7 carpet for about $80 or so. That carpet will last years and serve you through many winters.
One thing with carpets is that if you don't have them and you walk on your floor barefoot, you're going to get very cold walking around on the wooden floors. That can prompt you to increase the house's temperature and thereby increase your bills.
The carpet will provide a layer and additional installation to stop the cold and prevent you from getting cold and turning up the heat.
3. Open the vents
Another thing that you can do is to go around the house and unlock the vents. I'm guilty of this because I know that I often turned up the heater or the fan then I realize my vents are closed.
So make sure that all your vents are open when you heat your home. Otherwise, you're going to increase the temperature, and nothing will happen because that heat is not coming out from the vent.
4. Check your hot water heater
Another tip you can use is to check your hot water heater. The water we use to take baths and wash dishes has a heater. So check the temperature of your hot water heater. Sometimes it's really too hot.
On average, people use between 100 to 110 degrees Celsius, so if your hot water heater temperature is way higher, turning it down might help you save money.
5. Change your lightbulbs
You can swap the lights in your house to save money. Incandescent lights really do use more energy than LED lights.
So if you can swap your incandescent lights, which consume a lot more energy, and replace them with Led lights, which consume a lot less energy, then at the end of the month, your bills are going to be lower.
Another advantage of using LED lights is that they last, they say, 25 times longer than an incandescent light.
6. Check your door insulation
Another thing to watch out for is doors that are not adequately insulated. I know I mentioned that you have to close up doors and windows.
Sometimes you can have the doors and windows closed, but the issue is that there is no insulation around the door. Sometimes the insulation around our doors is not good and that sometimes even lets in snow.
Make sure the doors have the right strips to keep drafts out and stop snow from coming in.
7. Leave your oven door open
The seventh tip I'm about to share with you may sound like common sense, but it's not common if your house is still cold after you've done all the above.
When you cook food during the winter using the oven, leave the door open after you take out the food. Make sure the kids go to their room and play away from the kitchen, and then leave the oven door open.
You know how hot the oven gets; it is a great source of heat for the household. So whenever you cook using the oven during the winter, open the oven and let that heat warm up your home instead of turning up the heater.
How to save money fast on a low income
These are the seven ways to save money on a tight budget. If you use these tips, I know you'll save money on your heat bills this winter and more winters to come.
Like I always say, every dollar adds up, month after month, year after year. Leave a comment below with any other tips you have to save money on a tight budget.
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We have our water heater on an analog timer to cut heater on for several hours in the morning then for several hours in the late afternoon/early evening. There is enough warm water for hand washing and other chores the rest of the day. By the way, this is old technology that my in-laws installed in the late ‘70’s in our 1940’s era farmhouse. I, too, hang most of my laundry outside or on laundry racks, use my oven to cook most of the meal at the same time, try to cook once and eat twice, heat our home with a wood stove, replace incandescent lightbulbs with leds as the old bulbs burn out (this spreads the expense of led bulbs over time), use the sun to our advantage.
Your water heater temperature will send people to the emergency room. 100-110 Celsius is 212-232 degrees Fahrenheit. However 100-110F degrees Fahrenheit is what most manufacturers recommend you set the water temperature range.