With the extreme winter blast and cold temperatures here, now is the time to make sure that Missoulians have their homes ready.  Here are some great tips that can help conserve energy and make sure the warm air is staying in, while the cold  is staying out.  

Hopefully everyone by now has blown out their underground sprinklers if they have them!  Freezing water lines can damage your system going into Spring.  

Another simple one that folks often overlook is changing furnace filters.  Filters should be checked at least monthly for debris.

Adequately programming your thermostat can be very helpful when conserving energy and saving money.  Making sure that you have programmed the temperature while nobody is at home during the day because they are working, and setting the system to recover 30 minutes before arriving home is your best bet.  

Lastly, if you have not had them out, contact Northwestern Energy and have an Energy Audit done.  This is free of charge to home owners in Missoula.  They'll do a thorough inspection of your home - everything from water heater efficiency to shower head efficiency.  They'll even go so far as to replace shower heads, or help insulate an electric water heater to help conserve energy, and in the long run save you money.

For the complete list of 19 Winterization Projects - here you go: 19 Easy Home Winterization Projects