As temperatures fall, they cause a rise in heating bills. While it’s inevitable that you’ll spend more on heating in the wintertime, there are also some effective ways to reduce how much.

With just a few changes, you’d be surprised at the amount it is possible to save on heating your home over the winter season. There are five simple steps you can take to reducing your heating bill without sacrificing warmth and comfort.

1) Mind Your Thermostat

One of the easiest and most straightforward ways to save money on heating is to turn down your thermostat when there is no one home or when everyone is sleeping. Even a change of just one or two degrees can lower your heating bill by as much as 3%. Most people prefer cooler temperatures while they sleep anyway, and there is no reason to keep the heat on when everyone is out of the house.

Making the small investment into a programmable thermostat can make a big difference, and you can set it to warm your home up just before you wake up or come home.

2) Draft-Proof Your Home

The more heat leaks out of your home through cracks around doors and windows, the harder your heating system will have to work in order to maintain your desired temperature. By sealing up as many of those leaks as you can find, your house will heat more efficiently. Replace old weatherstripping under exterior doors and remove and replace any old caulking around doors and windows as well. Sealing any gaps around vents, pipes, and other extrusions is also a good idea.

3) Consider Zone Heating

In some cases, it may save you money to heat one room in your home with a space heater instead of turning up the heat for the entire house, such as if you’re the only one home during the day and you really only need to heat a home office. Of course, because gas is cheaper than electricity, you’ll want to keep an eye on your electricity bill and make sure any small increase is worth the heating bill savings.

4) Stay on Top of Furnace Maintenance

A little regular furnace maintenance goes a long way to helping your furnace run more efficiently and use less power. The most routine furnace maintenance task is cleaning or changing your furnace filter, depending on the type of filter you have. Most furnaces could also greatly benefit from an annual cleaning and tune-up by a professional. This will ensure not only better furnace efficiency, but a longer operating lifespan and safer operation as well.

5) Evaluate Your Furniture Placement

Another easy way to take some of the burden off your furnace and enjoy a more comfortable home is to make sure that you don’t have any large pieces of furniture blocking your heating system’s vents and registers. Repositioning your furniture away from vents and registers will allow the warm air to better circulate throughout your home while putting less strain on your furnace.

Home heating optimization and heating bill savings often go hand-in-hand. It’s not only possible to save money and enjoy a heated home at the same time, but it really only takes only a bit of extra effort and forethought.