Because we live in a region with long cold winters, heating costs can take a big bite out of your monthly budget. Today you may be paying twice as much to heat your home as you did just a few years ago. Now more than ever it’s important to get the most out of every gallon of home heating fuel. You can cut your heating costs significantly by following these money-saving tips?

• Do an energy audit of your house, identifying areas where heated air is leaking out. Check around doors, windows, fireplaces and other areas that may feel drafty. Use caulk, weather stripping, door sweeps, plastic and other appropriate means to close off these leaks. If your house is poorly insulated, adding additional insulation will pay for itself in reduced heating costs.

• Minimize your use of ventilation fans such as bathroom fans and kitchen hood fans in winter. A bathroom fan can suck all the heated air out of the average house in little more than an hour. Over the course of the winter, ventilation fans can increase your heating costs by a surprising amount.

• Don’t heat areas of your house you don’t use regularly, such as guest rooms. Close the heating vents or turn back thermostats in those areas and close the doors for a painless reduction in heating costs.

• Keep your furnace, heat pump, or other heating equipment in top operating condition. Dirty filters reduce the efficiency of your furnace or heat pump. Poorly tuned units are inefficient and use more fuel.

• Don’t turn your thermostat up above the desired temperature. It won’t heat up any faster and will make your furnace work harder. Also, while it makes sense to turn the heat back when you’re sleeping or not at home, turning it down too low can actually cost you more because the contents of your house have to be reheated in addition to the air. 68-70 degrees while you’re home and awake, 60-65 degrees while you’re asleep or not at home are reasonable temperatures.

• In winter, open the blinds and curtains on the sunny side of the house (the south facing side) when the sun is shining and close them as soon as the sun goes down to retain solar heat. Close curtains on the shady side of the house (the north facing side). If you don’t have curtains, consider installing some. Curtains made from heavy fabric with many folds (fullness) can prevent cold air from seeping in and warm air from seeping out.

• Consider a programmable thermostat to raise and lower temperatures at preset times.