This time of year, it always seems to feel like winter has overstayed its welcome. Whether or not you believe the groundhog (who predicted an early spring this year), the forecast seems to predict there’s plenty of cold weather left. Keep your home warm for the rest of the season with these 5 tips.

1. Use your ceiling fan

Many ceiling fans have a switch that reverses the blades to rotate clockwise for colder months. If you haven’t already, flip that blade switch and turn on your fan to help push the rising heat back down into the room. This is especially helpful for rooms with high or sloped ceilings. If you find your ceiling fan cools the air too much for your liking, try running it at a low speed.

2. Assess your layout

Walk through your living spaces and make sure furniture is not blocking vents. Some rearranging may be in order to ensure every room is getting its maximum heat potential. Just as important as making sure heat is flowing properly indoors is making sure cold air stays out. Check for leaky doors, windows, attic and basements drafts, and leaky exterior wall outlets. You can seal up leaks by caulking, adding insulation, using draft excluders on doors, and weather stripping for doors and windows.

3. Use the sun's free heat

Open curtains during the day where sunlight streams in for a bit of natural warmth.

Keep curtains closed at night to keep some heat from escaping through the windows. You can take that a step further by hanging insulated curtains for winter use.

4. Add layers to wood floors

According to the National Energy Foundation, as much as 10% of a home’s heat is lost through uninsulated floors. Add layers to wood floors with carpet and rugs to keep rooms warmer.

5. Inspect your furnace

Ideally, you would do this before winter starts, but if you didn’t get around to having it done this year (no judgement here), it is still worth the call to McElroy’s local service professionals to make sure your system is in good working order. You should have your furnace inspected at least once a year. McElroy’s offers preventive maintenance and furnace repair/service. While McElroy’s is a Carrier brand authorized dealer, our technicians have experience with a wide variety of systems and brands and are ready to help you get the most efficiency out of your system.

One thing you can do on your own is to replace furnace filters at least every three months to help your furnace stay clean and run smoothly.

Simple home improvements may also be a good option for increasing efficiency and comfort and saving more on your utility bill. That could mean replacing your HVAC system with a higher-efficiency unit or installing a programmable thermostat.

Turn to the experts at McElroy’s to help determine what the best option is to keep you and your home warm this winter and for many winters to come. The McElroy’s team of local professionals is happy to walk through your options with you and help determine the best solution for your budget and lifestyle.