How to Save Money on Heating Costs [50+ Strategies & Discounts]

The first heating bill for our 1920s New England colonial was $655. Two months later, it was $739. We needed to learn how to save money on our heating oil bill and fast. We had just gotten married, had a baby on the way, and still had both student and car loans. We were Freaking. Out.

We tested a bunch of options until our bills became manageable. As a result, we haven’t had a bill that high since– despite energy costs being nearly double what they were in 2018. When it comes down to it, there are really only two ways to save money on heating bills:

Use less. (Either by warming your body or the air without turning up the heat.)

Pay less.

Of course, I have plenty of specific tips and tricks for handling each of these things. Because so many factors go into your heating bill, I can’t say exactly which strategies saved me the most. But I can list out every single thing we did to reduce our heating expenses, and let you choose which will work best for your situation.

Free Ways to Use Less Energy

Warm Up Your Body

Drink warm liquids: soups, tea, coffee, hot chocolate, etc.

Heat bricks or big rocks (say, on an outside campfire), cover them with a blanket or towel, and use them to keep your feet warm.
Use heated bean bags, rice bags, corn bags, or water bottles.
Always wear cozy socks and/or slippers. The more layers between your toes and the floor, the better.

Add more blankets or sheets to your beds.
Snuggle! People and pets give off plenty of their own body heat. It’s one of the best ways to help kids keep warm, too.
Layer clothing. Try wearing undershirts, your shirt, and a sweatshirt on top, for example.

Reduce Drafts and Heat Loss

Hang unused quilts or blankets over windows and unused external doors.
Close doors to rooms you’re not using.
Roll up towels or blankets and tuck them snugly at the base of doors (especially those you don’t use often).

Make draft stoppers.
Lock your external doors to keep them as tightly sealed as possible.
Pull furniture (beds, couches, etc) away from any radiators to increase air flow around them.

Use Leftover Heat from Other Sources

Cook and bake your own food (which, coincidentally, saves you money on your grocery bill, too).
Then, when you’re done cooking, crack open the oven door to let all the hot air escape and warm up your kitchen. (But only if pets, children, and elderly dependents won’t be at risk.)
Open the bathroom door during (or at least after) your shower to let all the hot air and steam out into the rest of your house.

Open your curtains and shades to let in warmth from the sun, but close them when the sun goes down to prevent heat from escaping through the window at night in.

Do a DIY Home Energy Audit

You can use your hand and feel for cold air, or get a candle and hold up the flame around each window or door. If the flame flickers, you need to seal up the door or window better.
Use an indoor thermometer to check whether your weatherization tricks are working. For example, stick it behind a curtain at night and see if your thermal curtains are working. Check and adjust as necessary.

If you want to really get fancy, you can download this free DIY home energy audit checklist from ElectricityPlans.com

Reduce Your Energy Use

Turning the thermostat down by 7-10 degrees before you go to bed at night can help. This alone can save you 10% on your heating bill, according to the US Dept of Energy.
Turn down your heater when you’ll be gone for an extended period of time (vacations, overnights away, etc). You can bring it all the way down to 55 degrees, if you like. That’s the lowest temperature you ever want to use, since you don’t want your pipes to freeze.

It’s a MYTH that turning your temperature down when you’re at work or school will force the furnace to work overtime later and use more energy. It will take longer to warm your house back up to your preferred temperature, however.

Investments to Save Money On Heating Oil

Often, you can go to the hardware store and find “winterization products” in roughly the same section. I’ve linked to some of the items online if you’d like a visual to bring to the store. (Or, if you’d like to purchase directly online and use my affiliate link, thanks!)

Investments That Cost Less Than $50

Put plastic insulation seal on all your windows, or at least the most drafty ones. This is the kit we use from Walmart. You can winterize your home for about $1/window this way, and it doesn’t take too long once you get the hang of it.

Purchase door snakes/draft stoppers. Here’s the double insulated kind I have on a number of my doors, available on Amazon.
Get thermal curtains. Again, we just got our blackout/thermal curtains from Walmart.
Put area rugs on bare floors, especially tile.

Use a space heater if you tend to stay in just one small room for much of the day, or you only briefly need to warm a space up.

Investments That Cost More Than $50

Instal a more efficient furnace. Disclosure: while we did eventually do this last winter and it has helped, it did not impact the $514 I saved when we first bought the house.
Pay for a professional energy audit. Many states offer rebates to help cover the cost of the audit and any efficiency improvements the audit suggests.

Have your HVAC system serviced every year so it’s at maximum efficiency.

Other Tips to Save Money on Heating Oil

Houses come in all shapes and sizes, and what worked best for my family might not be exactly what you need. Other ideas are excellent, but have a large up-front investment and we haven’t prioritized those yet. Here are a few ideas I’ve researched and can’t personally vouch for, but plan to use myself.

Get Better Air Circulation

Reverse your ceiling fan directions so it spins clockwise, thereby pushing warm air down and keeping your house more comfortable.

Inspect the duct system in your house if you have central cooling/air.
Clean grilles, remove debris and other obstructions.
While you’re at it, make sure all the grills are fully open.

Make sure any chimney dampers are closed when not in use.
Try moving your fridge a little bit away from the wall and putting a fan to blow the warm air it generates into the main part of the room.

Do Some DIY Projects

Make your own thermal curtains to keep the warm air in at night.

Caulk the seals around your windows.
Instal foam gaskets behind electrical outlets and switch plates on external walls
Insulate your hot water heater. This guide from the Department of Energy walks you through each step.

Replace filters in your furnace, if you have them. Clogged, dirty filters are much less efficient.
Get a chimney balloon for your chimney when not in use.
If you have an electric clothes dryer (NOT a gas-powered dryer), you can rig up a system like this to conserve the hot exhaust it creates:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTBy3oIOgKg

Other Investments

Get a smart thermostat.
Install all-new, ultra-efficient windows.
Insulate everything: your attic, crawl spaces, basements, etc.

Have an energy-efficient heat pump installed as a secondary heat source.

Look into Heating Assistance Programs

At the end of the day, sometimes you’re still not making enough to cover the heating bills, no matter how many of these strategies you might try. A really cold winter or astronomical heating costs can crush your utility budget.

If you find yourself in that scenario, there’s no shame in asking for help. Most states in the northeast have Heating Assistance programs, and most states have an eligibility threshold of 60% of the median income for the state. I personally was shocked at how many people qualify for these tax-funded programs and don’t even know it. But to check if you qualify or if you think you have a special circumstance, you’ll need to contact the right people. Here are the links for applications in…

Rhode Island
Vermont
Full list of all state and tribal offices (if your specific state isn’t listed above)

How to Pay Less for Heating Costs

Find Discounts (And Avoid Extra Fees)

Use the company’s preferred method of payment. Some will charge extra if you use a credit card, others offer discounts if you do. Call up their customer support line and ask if you’re not sure.
Look into automatic delivery. Sometimes, companies charge more for this convenience service, but ours is actually cheaper this way.
Don’t let your fuel source run down to zero. Companies often charge a fee to fill your tank after you’ve run out, and it can damage your HVAC system. We learned this the hard way.

Sign up for newsletters from companies. I regularly get emails from energy providers offering coupons and discounts for first purchases, leaving positive reviews online, and word-of-mouth referrals.

Compare Prices

If you have a choice of provider when it comes to getting energy (such as if your home is heated with propane or heating oil that’s delivered to your house, or if there are multiple electric companies in your area), regularly check the local alternatives.

Here in New England, there’s NewEnglandOil.com and MaineOil.com. In my experience, they’re updated regularly and super accurately. This is one of the biggest ways we save money.

You can also check CheapestOil.com if you live in Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, or Maryland.
FuelWonk.com compares prices nationally on both heating oil and propane, though you do need to create an account to view information.

I hope you found a few new tricks to save money on heating oil. If you’d like to know when I post my next money-saving post, subscribe to my newsletter below!