• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
The Budget Diet

The Budget Diet

Earn, Save & Live Smart.

  • Make Money
    • I Made $62,430
    • Rebate & Cashback Apps
    • Surveys That Pay
    • Side Gigs
    • Career
  • Smart Money
    • Saving Money
      • Save $400/mo
      • Budgeting
      • Coupons
    • Loans
      • Personal Loans
      • Auto
    • Bank Accounts
    • Investing
    • Debt
    • Insurance
    • Taxes
  • Smart Food
    • Meal Delivery & Subscription Services
    • Groceries
    • Recipes
    • Dining Out
  • Smart Life
    • Seasonal & Holiday
      • Summer
      • Valentine’s Day
      • Mother’s Day
      • Father’s Day
      • Lent
      • Easter
      • Fourth of July
      • Halloween
      • Thanksgiving
      • Christmas
    • Cheap Dates
    • Frugal Living
    • Cheap Thrills
    • Baby / Children
    • Utility Bills
    • Books
    • Clothing & Accessories
    • Electronics
    • Gifts
    • Health & Beauty
    • Home & Garden
    • Weddings
    • Pets
    • Back to School
    • Home Decor
    • Travel
    • Earth Friendly
  • About
  • Rebate & Cashback Apps
  • Cut Spending by $400 a Month!
  • Investing
  • Recipes
Home » Smart Money » Budgeting » 7 Budget Tips for Preparing Your Home for Winter

7 Budget Tips for Preparing Your Home for Winter

Last Updated on March 17, 2023 by The Budget Diet Team

We are a reader supported blog and this page may contain affiliate links. When you buy something or sign-up through our links we may earn a small commission. All opinions in this article are the author's alone.

Colder months are coming. Prepare your home with these few simple tips to protect it from further damage.
When Jack Frost makes his first chilly visit to your area, you want your home prepared but you don’t want to spend an arm and a leg to do it. After all, you’ll need that extra money for hot chocolate sprees! With that in mind, it’s a relief to find that there are a variety of affordable (and in some cases, free) ways to prepare your home for winter.

  1. Page Contents

    • Clean rain gutters.
    • Fix any air leaks.
    • De-ice the cheap way.
    • Protect your pipes.
    • Change furnace filters.
    • Reverse your ceiling fan.
    • Baby your hot water heater.

    Clean rain gutters.

    Image source: rainforestplumbing.com

    Cleaning your gutters is one of the first things you can do to prepare your home for winter. As this link from Wise Bread (@wisebread) explains, gutters filled with leaves and other debris can create ice dams that can lead to

    • damaged shingles
    • roof leaks
    • broken gutters
    • flooding, as water may fall next to your foundation

    Cleaning your gutters is free (so long as you avoid injuring yourself in the process, that is), and could potentially save you hundreds of dollars’ worth of damage to your home.

  2. Fix any air leaks.

    Fixing your air leaks can save you a lot from your heater and will prepare your home for winter.
    Image source: blog.allstate.com

    During the spring and summer, gaps in your door and window frames aren’t a big deal — the breeze is usually welcome, after all. When winter hits, however, that cold breeze can lead to soaring heating costs as your heater works harder to combat the unwelcome drafts. Money Talks News (@MoneyTalksNews) offers tips on how to spot and fix air leaks in this article. These fixes, they say, cost only a few dollars to fix, but will save you a bundle on your winter heating costs.

  3. De-ice the cheap way.

    You can make your own de-icing spray at home to remove ice.
    Image source: simplisticallyliving.com

    Ice is the bane of many a Northerner’s existence. It’s everywhere during the winter months —in driveways, on windows, even on sidewalks. The Simple Dollar (@thesimpledollar) has several affordable tips for removing or preventing ice build-up. Instead of spending money on costly de-icers:

    • Use a spray bottle of rubbing alcohol to combat ice on windows and doors.
    • For temperatures just below freezing, mix rubbing alcohol with water and dish soap.
    • Use sand instead of expensive road salt for your driveway.
  4. Protect your pipes.

    Prevent your pipes from freezing and keep it working during the winter.
    Image source: scottbinsackgettinerdoneathome.blogspot.com

    Frozen pipes lead to burst pipes; this is a universal fact of living in colder temperatures. The cost of repairing that kind of damage is astronomical, so protecting your pipes is a must for winter. Today’s Homeowner (@TodaysHomeowner) offers these easily affordable tips for protecting your pipes and what to do if they freeze:

    • Turn off your sprinkler system.
    • Keep your garage door closed during extreme weather.
    • Use a hair dryer to slowly thaw any pipes that do freeze.
  5. Change furnace filters.

    Image source: angieslist.co

    Your furnace filter traps dirt, dust, and other small debris, so it gets dirty fast. As Candy’s Dirt (@DallasDirtCandy) helpfully points out, a dirty or clogged filter means less air passes through which can lead to higher heating costs. Check out the link for information on money-saving washable filters versus disposable ones.

  6. Reverse your ceiling fan.

    Image source: apartmenttherapy.com

    We all use our ceiling fans in the summer to supplement our A/C and keep our houses cooler, but did you know you can use them in the winter to keep your house warmer? I certainly didn’t until I read this list of tips from Art of Manliness (@artofmanliness). Evidently, reversing the direction your ceiling fan turns in (so that it turns clockwise) helps push the warm air down, forcing it to recirculate through the room.

  7. Baby your hot water heater.

    Keep your water heater run smoothly and warm during colder months.
    Image source: household-tips.thefuntimesguide.com

    The smallest things can save you money; your water heater is by no means small. However, a few simple tricks will keep your water heater running smoothly and keep costs down through the coldest months.

    • Kasasa (@Kasasa) recommends wrapping an insulated blanket or jacket around your water heater to cut up to 9% off your bill
    • Well-known handyman Bob Vila (@BobVila)recommends flushing your water heater to increase its efficiency
    • Money Talks News (@MoneyTalksNews) explains most hot water heaters are set to 140 and recommends lowering yours by 20 degrees to lower fuel costs.

Winter is cold enough without feeling a chill in your wallet, too. I hope these tips come in handy for you as you prepare your home for winter, and that you are able to be under-budget so you, too, can have all the hot chocolate all winter long. Do you have any budget-friendly tips I missed? What did you think of our low-cost winter preparations? Comment below to let us know and don’t forget to share.

Tweet
Pin201
Share15
216 Shares

Related Posts

  • simple home security tips
    Tips to Secure Your Home on the Cheap

    The majority of burglaries occur during the day when no one is home, Crime Doctor…

  • Vacation Home Exchange

    I've been busy this week looking for a beach house to rent for our summer…

  • Budget Friendly Summer Fun At Home!

    Staying home this summer? Need ideas for summer fun? Don't let your children spend hours…

Filed Under: Budgeting, Frugal Living, Home Decor, Organize My Life

Must Read

7 Ways to Stow Your Stuff on a Limited Space

How I made $62,430 – Ebates

Leave a Reply

  Subscribe  
Notify of

Primary Sidebar

Search

Popular Posts

How to Save Money – 98 Ways to Cut Your Spending by $400 a Month!How to Save Money – 98 Ways to Cut Your Spending by $400 a Month!1M Total Shares
How To Make Oreo Balls Cookie Recipe | No BakeHow To Make Oreo Balls Cookie Recipe | No Bake363K Total Shares
The Cheese Dip That Will Make You Famous!The Cheese Dip That Will Make You Famous!103K Total Shares
How to Tint Bottles and JarsHow to Tint Bottles and Jars70K Total Shares
White Texas Sheet Cake RecipeWhite Texas Sheet Cake Recipe42K Total Shares

Footer

The Budget Diet is all about showing you budget friendly yummy recipes and life hacks that shrinks your budget and earns you money. It’s not just a diet for your wallet…but for your waistline too.

  • About
  • Contact Us
  • Become a Contributor
  • Advertise
  • Free Newsletter
  • Home Decor
  • Organize My Life
  • Parties
  • Seasonal
  • Back to School
  • Christmas
  • Father’s Day
  • Fourth of July
  • Halloween
  • Mother’s Day
  • Summer
  • Thanksgiving
  • Electronics
  • Smart Life
  • Baby / Children
  • Books
  • Cars
  • Clothing & Accessories
  • Health & Beauty
  • Home & Garden
  • Homemade Gifts
  • Pets
  • Travel
  • Utility Bills
  • Weddings
  • Weekly Challenge

Copyright © 2023 The Budget Diet · The Budget Diet LLC
Made with in Seattle

  • Sitemap
  • Terms of Use
  • Privacy Policy
  • DMCA
  • CCPA Information
  • Do Not Sell My Information
  • Affiliate Disclosure
  • Contact Us
wpDiscuz