Heating your home can quickly become expensive, especially when you live somewhere where freezing temperatures are the norm, and not the exception to common winter temperatures. When it comes to savings money, there are lots of different techniques you can use to reduce the amount of heating oil you need to use.

#1 Upgrade to a Programmable Thermostat

Get rid of old manual thermostat, and upgrade to a programmable thermostat. You may have felt like you had things under control with your old manual thermostat, but your programmable  thermostat allows you to set the temperature for different times of day and different days of the week in place, ensure that your house is heated when it should be, and not too warm when it doesn't need to be. This little difference in your thermostat can really make a difference and can save you a significant amount of money as well. This simple investment will last for years and allow you to reduce your overall heating bill each winter.

#2 Break Up Your Bill

Paying a big heating bill all at once can make the winter months harder to deal with. This summer, see if you can be set-up on a payment plan that allows you to break your payments up more evenly over the year. With this type of payment plan, you will be charged around the same amount every month, based on passed heating usage. Any overage is applied to future bills. This doesn't straight out reduce your heating bill, but it is a good technique to help you manage your heating bill.

#3 Get a Tune-Up

Your heating system is a complex system that needs to be taken care of. You can take care of the system by scheduling a tune-up by a professional at least once a year. A professional will be able to come in and take care of little things that you may not think of, such as tighten up parts of the system, lubricating different parts, and replacing small seals – that can really extend the overall life of your heating system, and will allow your heating system to run as effectively as possible. When your heating system is running as effectively as possible, you will save money on your overall heating costs.

Reduce the oil you need by upgrading to a programmable thermostat and a tune-up this summer, and switch to an even billing system to spread out the cost of heating your home.