How Do I Make My Home Eco-Friendly For Winter?
As September arrives and the temperatures start to drop, with evenings growing darker earlier, our thoughts naturally turn to the colder months of autumn and winter. One of the biggest concerns during this time is managing our budget while keeping our homes warm, eco-friendly, and energy-efficient. Often, making our homes more environmentally friendly brings to mind costly upgrades or unreliable solutions, especially during winter. However, this doesn’t have to be the case. While installing a new energy-efficient boiler or upgrading your insulation to the highest standard can be expensive, there are other, more budget-friendly ways to prepare your home for winter. These alternatives allow you to enhance your home’s eco-friendliness without draining your savings.
Here are some simple yet effective changes you can make over the next few months to ensure your home is warm, energy-efficient, and eco-friendly throughout the winter—all without breaking the bank.
Controlling Your Heat
Effectively managing the heat in your home and deciding which areas need heating is key to reducing costs while staying eco-friendly. During the winter months, it’s tempting to turn on the central heating at the first sign of cold, but this approach can be costly and harmful to the environment. Older homes, in particular, were not designed with zero energy consumption in mind, making it challenging to maintain warmth without high energy use. One effective way to cut down on heating costs is to use small, portable heaters to warm individual rooms rather than heating your entire home. While this approach doesn’t eliminate energy consumption, it’s more economical and environmentally friendly than heating every room.
Just remember to use these heaters safely and turn them off when you leave the room to maximise their efficiency and minimise energy waste.
Seal Air Leaks and Drafts
Many people are unaware of the drafts coming from windows and doors in their homes, but they’re more common than you might think. Fortunately, these leaks are usually easy and inexpensive to fix. With the right tools, you can seal these drafts yourself. There are several ways to detect drafts, such as feeling for cold air or holding a candle near doors and windows to see if the flame flickers, indicating a breeze you might not otherwise notice. To learn how to seal up your air leaks yourself, click here.
Heat Control Window Film
Installing heat control window film is an effective strategy for maintaining warmth in your home during the winter months, much like sealing air leaks or drafts. This specialised film works by redirecting infrared radiation—one of the primary forms of heat energy—back into your living spaces rather than allowing it to escape through your windows. By reflecting this heat inward, the film helps to create a more consistent indoor temperature, reducing the need to constantly run your heating system. With less heat loss, your heating system doesn’t have to work as hard, resulting in significant energy savings over time.
There are many ways to stay eco-friendly this winter while keeping costs down, and these are just a few examples. However, in some cases, you may need to stretch your budget a bit further to address larger issues, like a broken boiler. Fortunately, at BingoLoans, we offer payday and short term loans to help you manage these financial emergencies. Learn more here!