Fifteen Things You Can Do This Weekend to Make Your House Warmer

It's getting cold. The leaves are coming down, the wind off the prairie is starting to bite, and your heating bill is about to get personal.

If you've got the budget, the right answer is new windows, real insulation, a smart thermostat, and a high-efficiency HVAC system. We do that work all the time. But not everybody can drop $30,000 on energy upgrades in November, and you shouldn't have to. Here's what I'd do this weekend with a tank of gas and maybe a hundred bucks.

The big-money option, for reference

For context, if you were going to fix this the expensive way, the list looks like:

• Replace all your windows with proper energy-efficient ones — not just inserts. (We've written about why inserts are the wrong move.)
• Replace exterior doors.
• Install radiant floor heating, ideally in tile or stone areas.
• Install a programmable or smart thermostat.
• Install a whole-house fan for shoulder seasons.

That's the comprehensive answer. It's also $20,000–$80,000 depending on the house. So let's talk about what you can actually do this Saturday.

Year-round fixes

1. Clean or replace the filter

Your furnace filter — and your A/C filter, if it's separate — should be checked monthly. A dirty filter makes the system work harder, costs you money, and shortens the equipment's life. New filter every 1–3 months, depending on the type. This is the single cheapest energy improvement you can make.

2. Clear the airflow

Walk through your house and look at your vents and registers. If furniture is on top of them or the couch is blocking the return, fix it. Heated air aimed at the back of a bookcase is heated air you paid for and didn't use.

3. Check the attic insulation

Go up there with a flashlight. If you can see the tops of your floor joists clearly, you don't have enough insulation. If the insulation is buried well above the joists, you're probably fine. Energy Star has clear guidelines by region — in Nebraska, you want R-49 to R-60 in the attic.

This one isn't a Saturday project if you're starting from nothing, but adding a layer of blown-in over existing insulation is doable in a weekend or hireable for $1,500–$3,000 depending on attic size.

4. Reverse the ceiling fans

Most ceiling fans have a switch on the housing that reverses the blade direction. In winter, run them clockwise on low to push warm air down off the ceiling. In summer, counterclockwise on whatever speed you want for the breeze. Costs nothing. People forget every year.

5. Curtains, shades, and blinds — used right

Thermal curtains are real and they work. Even regular curtains insulate some. The trick is using them on a schedule: open them on sunny winter days to let the heat in, close them at night to keep it from radiating back out the glass. Same logic in reverse for summer — closed during the hot part of the day, open at night.

6. Window insulator kits

You know the ones — clear plastic film, double-sided tape, a hair dryer. They look temporary because they are. But on a leaky window, they cut drafts measurably for less than $20 a window. Pair with rope caulk in any visible gaps. This is a stopgap, not a fix. But it's a real stopgap.

7. Close off unused rooms

Got a guest room you use twice a year? Shut the door and close the vent. Add a door snake at the bottom. You're not heating space that nobody's using.

8. Weatherstrip the drafty doors

Run your hand around the frame of your exterior doors on a windy day. If you feel air moving, you've got a weatherstrip problem. New foam, rubber, or silicone weatherstripping is $10–$20 per door and takes 15 minutes. Don't forget the threshold — that's usually where the worst of it is.

9. Put the bathroom exhaust on a timer

The bathroom fan pulls heated or cooled air out of your house and dumps it outside. That's what it's supposed to do. The problem is people forget to turn it off. A $20 timer switch limits it to 20 or 30 minutes after you flip it on. Replace one in 15 minutes if you're comfortable with basic wiring; pay a handyman $100 if you're not.

Cold-weather fixes

10. Rugs

Cold floors are a comfort problem, not just a temperature one. A rug doesn't change the room's heat much, but it changes how warm the room feels, which is most of the point. Put rugs where bare feet go: beside the bed, in front of the couch, at the entry.

11. Fireplace drafts

An open chimney flue is a hole in your roof. If you have a fireplace you don't use, keep the flue closed and add a chimney balloon or fireplace cover. If you do use it, get a glass door installed — it traps the heat in the room when the fire is going and seals the opening when it isn't. Glass doors run $300–$800 installed.

12. Use the heat you make

Showering, baking, running the dishwasher — these all generate heat your house can keep. In winter, leave the bathroom door open after a shower instead of running the fan. Open the dishwasher when it finishes its cycle and let the steam vent into the kitchen. Small, free, adds up.

Warm-weather fixes

13. Open windows at night

If you're in Lincoln or the surrounding area, summer nights cool off into the 60s most of the time. Open the windows after sunset, run a fan, and close everything up at 7 a.m. Free A/C for the first half of the day.

14. Cook outside

Every hour the oven runs in July is an hour the A/C is fighting it. Grill, smoker, slow cooker on the porch — anything to move the heat outside.

15. Plant a tree on the south or west side

This is a 10-year fix, not a weekend one, but it's the best one. A mature deciduous tree shading the west side of your house in August will drop the inside temperature 5–10 degrees in that part of the day. And it drops its leaves in winter so you still get the sun.

If you want to look at the bigger fixes — insulation, windows, doors, or HVAC zoning — give us a call. We'll come look at the house and tell you honestly where your dollars would do the most.

*Product prices, energy code references, and Nebraska-specific insulation values (R-49 to R-60 for attics in Climate Zone 5) are current as of May 2026. Energy codes update periodically; check the latest Energy Star and Nebraska Energy Office guidance before a major project.