Five little ways to save on heating costs.

Not everything you can do to reduce your energy usage is as dramatic as system upgrades and replacement windows. Here are five very simple but effective ways to reduce the cost of heating your home.

1. Vacuum your baseboard units: if you have baseboard heat, remove the baseboard covers to expose the heating pipes and their heat dispersing vanes. Use a kitchen broom to sweep as much dust and lint as you can and then vacuum it off. Believe it or not, this will help your baseboards transfer heat to the room more efficiently.
   
   
2. Remove obstructions: Anything that stands between your baseboards, radiators, or floor vents makes it harder for warmth to get to the rest of the room. Make sure that armchairs, couches, drapes, bookshelves, etc. are not blocking your heat sources. Be sure to keep rugs slightly away from baseboards, too, because air needs to be able to pass through the bottom of the baseboard in order to force warm air out of the top.
   
   
3. Keep your closet doors closed. You don't need to keep your clothes at room temperature so why pay for the extra fuel.
   
   
4. Close your curtains and shades at night to trap heat inside; open them during the day to let heat from the sun in. And be sure to keep windows on the south side of your house clean to maximize solar gain.
   
   
5. If you have a waterbed, be neat and make your bed every day. The sheets, blankets, and bed spread will help insulate the water so you won't have to pay quite so much to heat it. 
   
   Montgomery Oil has the lowest prices around.  Call 354-3515 and start lowering your fuel costs.