Increasing Energy Efficiency - Winterizing the House

A simple way to go green at home and to save money on expensive heating bills this winter is to insulate your windows. Most older, single pane glass windows are incredibly energy inefficient. Windows can either leak heat to the outside or, due to poor seals, allow cold air to blow inside.

We have recently taken up the task of weather-proofing our house for the winter. Once the weather turned cold, we realized how poorly insulated our home is and how drafty our windows are. We moved into this house at the end of the summer, so we rarely used our air conditioning and did not turn on our heat until it was absolutely necessary. Once we did, however, we realized that our house was being bombarded by cold drafts coming from the windows - which are probably from 1970 or earlier. Many of the windows do not even seal properly.

We found some cheap and easy to install supplies at the hardware store and sealed our windows to keep the warm in and the cold out. We bought foam piping to plug the area between the window sill and the frame and we got weather stripping for our doors. We also bought plastic sheeting to tape over our windows. Window insulating kits are available, but are much more expensive as you have to buy one for each window. We probably spent about $10 total on supplies which, by this point, I'm sure have paid for themselves in savings to our energy bill.

We researched thermal curtains, which are essentially very thick double layered curtains meant to keep heat or cold from penetrating. The cheapest we could find a panel for was about $20 each. At this price, it would have cost us upwards of $400 to purchase curtains for every window in our house. Instead, I visited the fabric store and found double layered upholstery fabric in many different styles and patterns in the clearance area. I chose some nice, neutral colors, and for about $130 I bought enough fabric to make curtains for each window in our house - and a slipcover for our couch.

So far, it seems that our winterizing efforts have paid off. Our house is much warmer than before and now I don't have to wear my coat inside to be comfortable. Thanks to the insulation and the thick curtains, our windows are no longer drafty. I feel certain that our investment of about $150 total (window insulation, fabric, and curtain rods) will pay for itself in savings to our winter heating bills.