Easy, affordable ways to winterize your home ? A Healthier Michigan

With the holidays coming to a close, it?s time to start thinking about what the rest of the winter season will bring ? ice, snow and cold temperatures. While winter weather may not be ideal, you can be prepared by following our tips for winterizing your home. These easy and affordable ideas will help keep the temperature in your house high and the price of your electric bills low during the next few months of frigid winter weather.

• Insulate your windows:?You can buy plastic film window insulation at any home improvement or hardware store. And, window film is easy to install ?
  • Simply pull the film taut across a clean window pane ? be sure to pull the film past the window frame.
  • Use a hair dryer to blow hot air on the center of the film, which will cause it to stretch tight across the window.
  • Use scissors to cut away the excess film.
  • You can also use bubble wrap to insulate your windows. The air in each individual bubble provides extra insulation.

• Reverse the direction of your ceiling fans:If your ceiling fans are capable of operating in reverse motion, consider this trick ?
  • ?Make you sure the fan is turned off.? Then flip the toggle switch on the side of the fan to reverse the direction of the fan blades.
  • When you turn the fan back on, the blades will move in reverse and push air up instead of down, as normal.
  • By running your ceiling fan in reverse, the hot air will pool at the top of the ceiling and be forced to the outer edges of your room. It will then be pushed down along the walls to the floor. Once the air hits the floor, the hot air will circulate back towards the center of the room and up through the ceiling fan again.
  • This will help equalize the temperature of the rooms in your home.

• Use draft stoppers: Place draft stoppers in front of any door that leads outside to keep cold air out and warm air in. These can be purchased at home improvement or hardware stores, or are incredibly easy and affordable to make yourself ? you may already have many of the materials needed to assemble one.

• Clean your air filters:? If the filters are free of debris, the warm air will more easily flow. Cleaning the filters will also ensure the air is free of allergens and other unhealthy materials.

• Move all furniture and other objects away from vents: This will also allow the warm air to more easily flow into the room.

As a Healthy Blue Xtras member, you can save money on many of the winterizing materials mentioned above at Michigan retailers across the state.

Photo credit: TodaysHomeOwner.com

Related posts:

1. Four affordable ways to make your home safer and healthier
2. Equip Your Home to Workout Inside this Winter
3. Going Green at Home and at the Office
4. Healthy and Affordable
5. Home Remedies: Myths or Kitchen Miracles?

Tagged as: affordable, HBX, HBX savings, healthy blue xtras, winter, winterize your home

Source: http://www.ahealthiermichigan.org/2013/01/02/easy-affordable-ways-to-winterize-your-home/

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