This winter you can save money on your heating bill and be more comfortable.

If you heat your home with a heat pump, set the thermostat and leave it alone (unless you have a special thermostat made for heat pumps). When the backup electric heat is on, it is costing you about four times more than when the heat pump is working alone. Your thermostat probably has a blue or green light that is lit when the backup heat is on. If you turn up the heat and the blue or green light comes on, you are paying much more for your heat than when the blue or green light is not on. Be sure your inside evaporative coil (A coil) and filter is very clean all the time. And, seal your ducts.

If you heat your home with electric baseboards or ceiling heat, don't heat the rooms that are not being used, or keep the heat very low. Shut the doors to these rooms.

Except in the cases of heat pumps, it is cheaper to reheat a room than it is to keep it at one temperature. If you leave a room for two hours or more, and when you sleep, turn the heat down. Even one degree will save you 1% of your heating costs. Each degree you turn your thermostat down, and leave it down, saves 3% of your heating costs.

Make sure your windows and storm windows are shut and locked to keep out cold air.

If you have less than 10 inches of insulation in your attic, add more. Cellulose is a good insulation product because it can seal holes as well as insulate. Call your utility or check some of the website links to find good weatherization contractors. Be sure not to cover recessed lights.

Seal all the holes in your attic floor. This includes open top plates, open stairways and backs of shower stalls. Seal holes around plumbing and electrical wires, too. The attic hatch or pull down stairs should be insulated and weather stripped unless they are never used, and then seal with caulk or foam.

If you have a story and a half style home, seal the spaces between each joist where the knee wall meets the floor. This will stop cold air from the knee walls from going under the floor and cooling the rooms below.

If your furnace is old, it is probably inefficient. Replacing your furnace with a new, high efficiency furnace may cost more than a lower efficiency furnace, but it will probably pay for itself in energy savings.