Money
Lower your energy bills but still stay toasty warm with these tips
Staying warm doesn’t have to cost a fortune with these clever, lesser-known ways to keep your home toasty – without cranking the heater all day.
By Bron Maxabella
When the temperature drops, it's tempting to crank up the heater and hibernate – but the energy bill shock at the end of winter can be just as chilling.
The good news? You don’t have to choose between staying warm and saving money.
Sure, you’ve heard the usual advice – “put on a jumper” is an obvious favourite – but here are a few more:
- Wear a jumper, beanie gloves and thick socks around the house
- Close the curtains to insulate the windows
- Wrap up in a blanket while you’re watching TV or reading
- Put extra blankets on your bed
- Keep heating vents clear
- Keep the temperature of your heating between 18°C-20°C
- Heat only the room you’re in
- Do some exercise to warm yourself up
- Fill up on warming soups, stews and casseroles
All great advice, but we can go much further without much effort or cost.
Most of the extra tips below cost under $20 to implement, and many are free. They’ll not only help you this winter, but keep paying off for years to come. They’re all smart, low-effort ways to keep your home cosy and your energy bills under control.
Lower your energy rate
The biggest winter energy saving tip is to compare your energy prices with what’s in the market. The ACCC’s recent enquiry into electricity prices found that customers who don’t switch their energy provider regularly are paying more. “This ‘loyalty penalty’ increases with the age of the offer,” the report found. “Customers on flat rate offers that are 2 or more years old have calculated annual prices on average 16.9% or $317 higher than those on newer offers.” So you could be in for a significant saving by shopping around.
The easiest way to check if you’re paying more is to use a comparison website like iSelect to check your prices. If you find a better deal, it’s a surprisingly simple process to switch suppliers and the savings make it worth the small effort.
Turn your curtains into thermal superstars
You don’t need to invest in expensive thermal curtains to get the same effect. Lining your existing curtains with a layer of polar fleece or even thick flannelette sheets (secured with curtain clips or hemming tape) can significantly improve their insulation power.
Don’t have curtains? Temporary solutions like tension rods with heavy fabric, or even pinned-up woollen blankets, will reduce heat loss through your windows – especially at night when glass becomes a cold sink.
Hang curtains so they extend past the window frame (ideally to the floor) to create a better seal. And tuck them behind furniture to trap warmth.
The unsung winter hero: your ceiling fan
In winter, your ceiling fan can actually help warm your home. Most fans have a reverse setting (check the base or remote), which gently pushes the warm air that’s risen to the ceiling back down to where you actually live.
If you’re heating a room, put your ceiling fan on low in reverse mode, especially in rooms with high ceilings. It evens out the temperature and lets you dial the heater back without feeling the chill.
Seal your chimney (without ruining the vibe)
Love the look of your fireplace but never use it? You could be losing serious heat. Chimneys act like open windows, letting warm air rise and escape even when they’re not in use.
Instead, close your chimney vent. If your chimney doesn’t have one, you can get something called a chimney balloon or draft excluder to do the job instead. You could even try using an old cushion wrapped in fabric as a plug.
Just remember to let your household know you’ve closed the chimney so you don’t light a fire when the chimney is plugged. Leaving a note on your mantlepiece might be a good idea here.
Insulate with furniture placement
It sounds basic, but where you put your furniture can either trap or waste warmth. Large furniture like bookcases or sofas placed against external walls can act as extra insulation. Likewise, placing rugs under couches or chairs helps block cold seeping through the floor.
So, in winter, push furniture up against any walls that face outside. For bonus points, hang wall tapestries or thick fabric behind beds and couches that sit against external walls.
Don’t forget the bathroom
Bathrooms are often cold traps – but heating them separately can be expensive. Instead, use passive solar heating. If your bathroom has a north-facing window, leave the blind up during the day to let in the sun, then shut it tight in the late afternoon to trap the warmth.
A heated towel rail can also warm the room gently at a lower cost than running a bar heater. They also dry and warm your towels and robe, adding a little extra comfort during winter’s chill.
Ditch your downlights (or at least cover them up)
Many Aussie homes have halogen or LED downlights that punch holes through ceiling insulation, letting warm air escape into the roof cavity. Special downlight covers or insulation-safe fittings help fix this heat leak without fire risk – they sit in your ceiling on top of your downlight.
You could also consider replacing your halogens with surface-mounted LEDs that don’t compromise ceiling insulation.
Use zone heating smarter (it’s not just closing doors)
Zone heating is more effective when done strategically. Rather than just closing doors, actively "layer" your heat: heat the rooms you spend time in, but let warmer rooms share a little warmth with adjacent ones. An open door for 15 minutes might warm a hallway enough to avoid heating it separately.
Use portable draught stoppers to “control the flow” of warmth from one room to another without shutting doors entirely.
Microwave your warmth (no, seriously)
Reusable wheat bags aren’t just for sore shoulders – they're also a brilliant, energy-efficient way to pre-warm beds or cosy up on the couch. Unlike electric blankets, they don’t draw continuous power and offer hours of comfort for just 2 minutes of microwave time.
Keep one under your doona for a few minutes before you hop into bed. Wheat bags also make cold early mornings less brutal (if you’ve got someone willing to brave the cold to heat one up for you).
Of course, good old-fashioned hot water bottles are good for this too.
Check out these ideas too: 101 clever ways to save money
Insulate inside your wardrobe
It sounds strange, but wardrobes attached to external walls are notorious for becoming cold zones. Clothes can feel damp and musty and they leach heat from the room they’re in.
To help prevent heat loss, line the back wall of wardrobes with foam board, cardboard and foil, or even thick fabric panels. A warmer wardrobe means a warmer room (and nicer clothes to jump into on cold mornings).
Use timers to pre-heat
Many people leave heaters on longer than needed or turn them on too early. A smart plug or timer switch can pre-warm a room just before you get home or wake up, without the cost of leaving it running for hours.
Set your timer for 30 minutes before you get out of bed or return home from work. It’s cheaper than running the heat all night or all day.
DIY draught testing
Not sure where heat is escaping? Light a stick of incense or a candle and walk slowly around doors, windows and vents. Watch what the smoke does: if it flickers or gets sucked away, you’ve found a leak.
Use weather sealing tape, door snakes, or even pool noodles in pillowcases as quick draught-stoppers. Consider the longer-term solution of sealing gaps with insulation strips or caulk.
Layer your floor, not just yourself
Timber, tile, and concrete floors look great, but they steal heat. Area rugs, especially those with foam or rubber underlay, can make a huge difference. Layer rugs for extra insulation and comfort.
Consider putting rubber gym mats or interlocking foam tiles underneath your rugs in cold zones like kitchens or laundries. They’re invisible but help make things cosier.
Checklist: Set aside some time this weekend
So, set aside an hour or 2 this weekend to do a quick check around the home to see where you can save. Use this checklist to make that easy:
Reduce the cost of energy
☐ Compare your energy rates at a comparison site like iSelect
Heating hacks
☐ Switch ceiling fans to reverse mode to push warm air down
☐ Install timers to pre-warm rooms only when needed
☐ Set your heater temperature to between 18°C-20°C
☐ Install a heated towel rail as a low-cost heater alternative
☐ Cover or replace downlights that breach ceiling insulation
☐ Consider swapping halogens for surface-mounted LEDs
☐ Buy a few microwave wheat bags for bed or couch warmth
☐ Buy a hot water bottle or 2
Heat leak fixes
☐ Use incense or a candle to detect draughts around doors and windows
☐ Seal unused fireplaces with a chimney balloon or cushion
☐ Plug gaps with weather stripping, door snakes, or DIY stoppers
☐ Add a fleece or flannelette backing to your existing curtains
☐ Make sure curtains reach the floor and extend beyond the window frame
☐ Move large furniture against external walls for extra insulation
☐ Line wardrobes on external walls to stop cold creeping in
☐ Hang thick fabric or wall-hangings on cold external walls
☐ Layer rugs on hard floors and add a foam or rubber underlay
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Feature image: iStock/vorDa
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