SALT LAKE CITY – The past week’s weather may have been nicer than last week when snow hit the mountains, but winter will soon be here for good. How ready is your home? There are many cost-effective ways you can keep the cold out while keeping the energy bills down.

Melissa Campbell is bracing for winter in a brand new home. Her old home in Ogden was just that: old. One-hundred years old.

“And there was a lot of winterizing to do on that old home,” Campbell said. “We put the plastic around the windows. We had to put things on the floor by the doors to help hold in the heat.”

But, even brand new homes need winterizing.

“You can still wrap the pipes, you can still put covers on your water heaters,” said Teresa Hunsaker, a family and consumer science educator with the Utah State University Extension office in Ogden. “A few dollars here and a few dollars there really will make a difference on your utility bill. With utility costs rising, it really makes a difference over time.”

Here are several affordable ways to keep the heat in your home this winter:

Outlet and switch sealers

These foam sealers fit around the outlets and switches installed in exterior walls. Once installed under the plate, they will stop cold air from coming in through your outlets.

The six-count package we bought cost $2.16.

Shrink-to-fit plastic wrap

Plastic wraps are not exactly chic, but they’ll help keep up to 35 percent of your heat from leaking out of your windows. It’s a fairly simple DIY project.

The cost for the four-window kit we bought was $4.98.

Weatherstrip tape

Drafts will make heating bills go up, so go around your home with weatherstrip tape to make sure your windows and doors are sealed tight.

The roll we bought cost $5.79.

Draft guards

For $7.87, a draft guard will keep heat from escaping under the door. It simply slides onto the bottom of the door.

Foam insulation

Spray foam insulation is a tool Campbell has used in her old and new homes.

“You go around any surface that comes from the outside to the inside, it puffs up and seals the joints. You can do it with your spigots, your windows and your doors. Any place you feel air coming through,” she explained.

A 12-ounce bottle of insulating foam can be bought for $3.47.

Foam faucet cover

For $4.50, you can buy a foam faucet cover that simply fits over an outside spigot, and helps prevent chilly wind from sneaking into your home.

The U.S. Department of Energy says by sealing up air leaks, a homeowner can cut the yearly cost of heating by 10 percent to 20 percent.

Water heater blanket

Here’s a big energy saver: Insulate your water heater.

“It will keep the hot water hot, so you won’t have to use the gas continually to keep it heated,” said Hunsaker.

You can expect to pay around $25 for a universal heater blanket at a home improvement center. The Energy Department says it can trim your water heating costs by 7 percent to 16 percent.

Foam pipe insulation

For around $6, a homeowner can buy a six-foot-long foam tube of pipe insulation to wrap around an exposed water pipe. It can help save hundreds by avoiding a disastrous frozen pipe burst.

Roof and gutter de-icing kit

A roof de-icing kit may not be a huge energy saver, but it can help you avoid costly repairs to your roof caused by ice and snow over the winter. You use clips to attach a cable along the roof’s edge in a zigzag pattern, and plug it into an outlet. The heat it creates clears the path to the gutter, and away from the home, for melting ice and snow.

“If you have gutters that freeze and your roof has all that frozen ice, it can do a lot of damage to your roof and your gutters, and then you’re replacing all these things,” Campbell said. “(The de-icer kit) will help so you don’t have to go chip off the ice, you’re not having icicles come down.”

We found a 30-foot de-icer kit, for $50.

Other winterizing tips

Hunsaker suggested several more cost-effective winterization strategies.

• Get a professional tune-up service for your furnace, and change its air filter.
• Check the insulation wherever possible, and then replace or add insulation. Make sure the attic floor is insulated.
• Consider getting a programmable thermostat if you do not have one already. The Energy Department says for every degree you lower your home’s temperature in the winter, you can knock off 1 percent from your energy bill. The thermostat can help hold down the temperature when you are not at home.

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