These common sense steps can help you cut your winter utility bills down to size

While much of eastern Colorado has only recently began to experience winter in its most well-known form – snow – the cold has been here a while, and that means the furnace is kicking on and the utility bills are climbing.

About.com offers these common sense and affordable – if not free – steps to keeping those bills from climbing too high (though they may not have the impact new windows would have):

1. Bundle up! OK, so Coloradans are used to the cold, but we don’t have to run around in shorts, a tank top and sandals in the middle of winter to prove it. Instead of turning the heat up to accommodate summer wear, don on a sweater or sweatshirt, sweats, socks and fuzzy slippers. Keep a fuzzy blanket nearby to cuddle up in while watching TV, reading or chatting with friends, and lay down throw rugs on hardwood and tile floors to eliminate the shock of the ice cold surfaces. Then turn down the heat!

2. Cover up the windows and doors with plastic that aren’t used during the winter months. Window kits sell for about $5 per window and can help eliminate drafts to keep in the heat. If kits or plastic sheeting aren’t in the budget, hang blankets to help insulate.

3. Turning the heat down to a reasonable 60 degrees at night and when no one is home can make a big difference on your bill. Adjust the thermostat manually for free, or spend a few bucks on a programmable thermostat, in case you’re liable to forget adjusting the thermostat.

4. After baking cookies or making dinner in the oven, leave the door open a crack. There’s a lot of heat in that oven, so letting it escape puts the heat to good use by warming up the kitchen and surrounding rooms, and the furnace won't have to run quite as much.

5. Use a space heater only in the current room you are hanging out in. This will take the nip out of the air to make you feel more comfortable without heating all of the other rooms in the house and wasting energy.

6. Use silicone to fill any cracks in doors, windows, etc., including the basement floor and walls. You would be surprised at how much heat is lost through cracks that seem insignificant. A tube of caulk or silicone will only run you a few dollars and it’s an easy weekend project.

7. Close any doors and vents to rooms that are not used regularly, such as the guest room that sits empty most of the time. Doing so can easily cut 100 to 200 square feet off of your energy footprint.

8. Put weather stripping around windows and doors, especially in an older home, as the seals around doors and windows can deteriorate over time.

9. Cover up the attic entry with plastic, pieces of insulation, old blankets, weather stripping, saran wrap, painter drop cloth or even a few old shirts. Any of those materials will help to slow – if not, stop – the drafts and warm air from floating away through the roof. Heat rises and may get sucked up through the attic, so you may not notice a cold draft even though your expensive hot air is floating away.