The last several years I've been trying to make my home as efficient as possible. So I'm absolutely ready for my winter heating bills.

It should be noted that my home is small. I live alone so when I was shopping for a house, I bought a cozy 2 bedroom cottage instead of a McMansion. The extra bedroom/ office is kept closed and unheated when not in use and the wireless laptop is moved to the living room so I'm not heating/ cooling an extra room.

I invested a few bucks and several hours in caulking around all my doors and windows and added insulation to the attic. I also added insulation around pipes entering the house and an insulating blanket around my hot water heater. Insulation was also added to my well-pump house.

I also use some basic practices to ensure that I'm conserving energy:

1) I use a crock pot as much as possible. A crock pot uses about the same amount of energy as a light bulb. When I can't use the crock pot, I try to cook after dark when it's cooler in the summer and in the winter, the extra heat generated helps warm the house for bedtime.

2) I've changed all the light bulbs in the house to CFLs. In addition to using less energy, I haven't had to change a light bulb in about 2 years.

3) I use an electric mattress pad to warm the bed for about 30 minutes before bedtime. Once I go to bed, the mattress pad is turned off to conserve energy.

4) I've crochet several blankets of various weights to ensure that I don't have to turn the heat up to stay warm enough to sleep. I can't sleep if I'm too cold, but the various blankets allow me to control the temp. I even sell some of my handmade blankets so the proceeds from the sales generally covers more than my annual electric bill.

5) I keep blankets and sweatshirts easily available in every room to encourage myself and guests to use them rather than turn up the thermostat, which is kept at 65 degrees (although it's generally warmer in the house).

6) I invested about $100/ room on heavy-weight lined blackout curtains. Not only do these do a great job of keeping the light out when sleeping, they also keep the house cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter. Plus, they gave each room a stylish, professionally decorated look.

7) In areas where it's tempting to forget to turn out the lights, I installed motion sensored lights that turn on when there is movement in the room and turn off after 3 minutes without movement. These are installed in the utility/ mud room and the garage and work great.

8) I also practice the basic tips from my parents' day: turn out the lights when I leave a room, don't hold the fridge door open, ect.

Just in case you think all these things don't make a difference, just know that everything in my home is electric and my ANNUALLY paid electric bill is about $500. That includes the monthly $17.50 minimum just for the meter.

Instead of just complaining, there are always ways to reduce the cost of heating/ cooling.