That first December energy bill can be a bit of a shock, especially for the first-time renter.

Thankfully, a little time and effort can help return unexpected expenses to manageable amounts.

Here are a few hints to help insulate your home against the cold and your wallet against expensive heating bills.

Fans

While counter-intuitive, the same ceiling fans keeping you cool in the summer can also keep you warm in the winter. Locate the small switch on the main part of your fan and flip it so the fan blows upwards, usually turning clockwise when seen from below. This circulates the warm air near the ceiling back through the rest of the room.

Thermostats

Throw on a sweater and turn down the heat a few degrees. No one likes having cold toes while they’re doing their homework, but reducing the temperature of your house to 68 degrees or lower saves money. Find the balance between savings and comfort that works for you and your roommates.

If you have a programmable thermostat, use it! Setting your thermostat to automatically reduce its temperature to around 60 degrees while you’re sleeping or at work or class can also help you save. When you leave for the weekend, drop the temperature to around 50 degrees. Be careful not to go much lower, or you could endanger your water pipes, houseplants and pets.

Windows

Sunlight is natural — and free — heat. By keeping window shades and blinds open during the day, you’ll feel a big difference in rooms facing south and west.

Clean

A dirty furnace filter uses more energy. When a furnace has to push air through a dust-clogged filter, it requires more force to get the job done. Cleaning or replacing furnace filters once a month will solve this problem.

Warm-air registers, baseboard heaters and radiators also work better when clean. This will also help with allergies.

Dirty windows reflect sunlight. Clean windows allow more sunlight to pass into your house, maximizing solar gain.

Weatherizing

The easiest way to prepare your house for cold weather is to make sure the storm windows are down. Pulling storm-panes down into their proper places behind screens gives an extra layer of glass to keep out the cold.

If you live in a house with older, wooden windows, you may wish to consider insulating them. This time-consuming, frustrating task will take you a weekend, but the benefits can be more than worth it. Window insulation kits can be found in many stores for $5 to $10 and usually come with a large piece of plastic film, a roll of two-sided tape and a set of instructions. A hair-dryer is required.

Drafty doors and gaping windows can sometimes be fixed with weather stripping. In some cases, weather stripping may be a job for your landlord, but if it looks like a quick fix, it might be worth trying.

Space Heaters

When one or two rooms of your house are always uncomfortably cooler than the rest, space heaters could be a good idea. Don’t get carried away, though, or your electric bill will make up for your heat savings and you could blow some fuses.

Sources: we-energies.com and weccusa.org

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