At no other time in my life had I been as cold as I was then, living in the northern state of Wisconsin. The wind pushed the damp cold right to my bones and no wind breaker or down coat could keep me warm. On top of finding myself in this extreme cold, we were also living in a 40 year old house with old drafty windows and cold (but beautiful) hardwood floors. The heating bill was much higher than other homes our size and yet we weren’t any warmer.

To say I was motivated to tackle home improvements was an understatement. There were only two things on my mind, I was cold and how could I fix it.

Little did I know that within three years, this first time home re-modeler would not only be warmer, but would have cut the energy use in half – not of what we were using, but in half of what other homes our size were using. We actually cut it by more than half. (I know because our charming little town sent letters regularly telling us where we stacked up). Our water bill was also cut by more than half – but that is a post for another day.

How did we do it, an average couple, fresh out of grad school, with no nest egg of backup money? The truth is even more affordable and possible than you would think. We learned to increase comfort and save money through securing leaks in windows, doors, ceilings, floors and outlets all for $10 or less. There are more expensive options, but these work and you can be warm now and have a lower electric bill. If you want to do the environment a solid you can, by using less energy for equal (or increased) comfort. You don’t always have to invest in $10,000 improvements to be environmentally wise.

The first big issue for us and for more than 25% of American households, was leaky, inefficient windows. The image below is infrared, the red shows where heat is escaping this house. The average home loses up to 30% of its heated and cooled air through the windows. At this point almost every other site will tell you to get new windows. Which would be great if you have a huge amount of money waiting to be spent.  The cost varies, a single story home with 10 windows can cost anywhere from $3,000-7,000.

The truth is, we did have a bit of money, but that was for the whole house, not just the windows. It is possible to increase the performance of your old windows now and one day get new ones, but be warm now.

There are three things you can do for windows each costing $5-10. First caulk the outside of your windows, filling in any crevices or cracks that have been developing over the years. This will help keep out cold in the winter and heat in the summer. It will also keep out bugs. Choose a caulk that is labeled for outdoor windows and trim with a silicone base. These are often not paintable, but I just get the clear color and don’t paint it. Dap is a great brand because you can count on it holding up. It can cost $5 more than the cheapest brand, but it is worth it. You will make up the money in energy savings and effort.

After you’ve sealed the outside, seal the inside crevices with this awesome caulking cord. Because it is in thin cords packaged in a wide row, you can fill small spaces or large. This is very useful for old windows that may have large gaps. It never cracks and remains mold-able and seals completely. I always use this in my daughters room because of her asthma.  It seals out most allergens from outside and helps her sleep more comfortably.

The third window treatment is your classic shrink wrapped window – on top of doing the other two things. Shrinking plastic to your windows is easy to do and can be done in a way that is almost hard to tell it’s there. Follow directions for shrinking it. I like to try and put it on metal around the window versus painted walls or wood – it can pull paint and varnish off. Windows may be old, but with these three meathods they will not leak.

Your next big energy loss is heat rising through the roof. In fact for many homes, 25% of the heat produced by your boiler escapes through the roof. There are a few things you can do. First, you want to make sure the ceiling joists are covered. Chances are, if you have an old house, the insulation has compacted over time, or didn’t have enough to begin with.  

A tell tale sign that you are losing heat through the roof is if on a snowy day you can see your roof beams through the snow.  Once you begin to notice this you will see how common roof heat loss is.

It took me a while to clue into this. I noticed there was a draft in our kitchen. In fact when I opened the corner cabinet cold air would rush out. This was in a large part due to the fact that the first electrician we hired to install fire alarms moved the insulation around the ceiling joists in the attic and never put it back.

In a way it was a blessing (though I was totally annoyed with him) because I finally got up the nerve to climb into the attic. Not only did I find all he had done, but also found that ALL of our joists were showing. We got a quote to have more insulation blown in and they quoted us $4000! It turns out that the average price is around $1200 and this company offered all kinds of extras we couldn’t afford. It wasn’t that we didn’t want insulation or didn’t see the value – we simply didn’t have the money.

So this is where you save money and stay warm. Wear a dust mask, long sleeves, pants and gloves. This is to protect yourself from fiberglass in the insulation, especially your lungs. I then took a broom, swept a section of insulation into a pile towards me, pulled it apart, fluffed it back up and placed it gently back in place. I was able to re-cover most of the joists completely. For one 10 square foot section I had to buy more insulation, but the cold draft was gone and we were much warmer.

One note, it is very important that the roof has circulation or you will have condensation, which will breed mold and ice jams. Make sure you do not cover attic vents and that no insulation touches the roof. Think of attic insulation as a big blanket keeping warmth in. It’s ok if your attic is cold – you want it cold, but you don’t want the level below it to be cold.

Cold air also travels into your home through poorly insulated outlets. You can tell if an outlet is leaking cold air by licking your finger and placing it near the outlet opening. If you feel cold air moving past your finger you want to insulate the box.  If this is a new build or basement,you can use spray foam to insulate behind outlet boxes.

If the home is built and walls are up, place outlet insulators behind all outlet covers and light switches that are found on the inside along exterior walls.

Replace weatherstripping around your exterior doors. The link here is for convenience from amazon – note it is not $10. But if you go to a local hardware store you can find many options.

Floor – insulate floor joists from the basement. Cold air transfers from outside walls, travels along your floor joists and settles in your basement. If you have an unfinished basement this is a very easy, slightly annoying job.

One option is to hire a professional to come in and spray all floor joists with a special insulating foam. It guarantees energy savings. It also cost several thousand dollars. Meaning it would take along time to regain your cost of installing.

Instead I bought 8 cans of spray foam. Sprayed along all crevices where joists meet support boards.Then placed blanket insulation in the space for further cold air protection. I am sure the professionals would have sealed it better, but my version cost about $30 and with all of our affordable energy improvements we cut our usage by more than half. I know it works and it doesn’t have to cost thousands. *while I was researching products I’ve used, I came across a DIY version you can buy for about $800 and possibly get close to professional coverage if you want to check it out.

And that is my quick and easy 5 ways to get warm for less than $10 a project.

I wish you the best in your energy efficient DIYs. I would love to answer any questions you might have on other projects.

Until next time, stay warm, for as little as possible.  😊