It goes without saying that the increasing cost of gasoline and energy in general are forcing homeowners to cut back on monthly living expenses. And cutting back is not always easy since many living expenses are fixed and out of our monthly control. Your monthly house payment, health insurance, auto insurance, life insurance, medications, auto payments, and monthly credit card payments are among those fixed costs that are siphoned from our bank accounts - and there's little we can do about it. However, some of our monthly home utilitiies can be reduced dramatically with just a little more effort on our part. Changing our habits is not always easy. But here's one that can save a bundle ... better control of your heating and cooling system.

Many homeowners are simply shutting down their air conditioning during the summer months. Yes, its not always pleasant, especially on those hot July days and muggy August nights, but this can save hundreds of dollars during the summer months and help compensate for the extra money spent at the gas pump.

If shutting down the air conditioner entirely is not practical, you can still save a bundle by simply controlling the cooling system so the condensor runs less. Most residential thermostats have an "auto" and "fan" mode. Set to "auto", the air conditioner will turn on and off to maintain the temperature you set on the thermostat. To save money, do this ---- Once the home is sufficiently cooled, manually turn the air condtioning off, set the furnace to "fan" and allow the cooled air to circulate all day, without the condenser. You may be surprised how long the air keeps the home comfortable by simply re-circulating already cooled air, without the outside condensor unit running.

Homes with basements may find this manual control method to be especially useful, since basements are normally cool to begin with. Why not take advantage of that cool basement air by circulating it to the upper levels of the home through the central heating/cooling duct-work (simply by running the furnace fan). In many cases, manually controlling your air conditioning system, rather than allowing your thermostat to do it automatically, can save substantial energy dollars. An average 3,000 square foot home could save hundreds during the cooling months, depending on climate, home location and other factors. Every home is different. Better insulated homes tend to retain the cool air better than poorly insulated ones.

"But what about the heating months? We need heat during the coldest months of the year. Beyond putting on a sweater and keeping the thermostat set at 68 degrees, what measures can I take to really save energy dollars"?

Just as with cooling, operating the heating system manually as suggested above will offer substantial fuel savings all winter long. Even though a good programmable thermostat is helpful in reducing fuel usage, relying soley on the thermostat to maintain climate control overlooks some of the more practical ways to save fuel dollars. Consider this ... instead of heating the whole house, why not heat only the room where you spend the most time? You ask, "but I have a central heating system ducted through the entire house. When the furnace is on, the whole house is heated. And simply closing off air registers in certain rooms does little to lower my monthly gas bill". That's true for most homeowners. So what's the answer?

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