To heat your home, you must have some fuel for your furnace. Depending on where you live, that fuel may be heating oil. Some regions of the country depend more heavily on heating oil for their furnace than other areas do. If you live in one of those areas, you might want to know how to keep your fuel oil costs down since heating oil prices have increased. Staying warm is nice, but it can get really expensive. 

Fill Up During the Off-Season 

One of the things that you can do is to fill up your heating oil tank during the spring or summer. The demand for heating oil is lower then, so the price can drop. A full tank until winter isn't damaging anything, and the oil can easily sit in your tank. That way, when it's time to turn on your furnace, your tank is full, and you can turn it on. 

Budget Plan

Many heating oil companies offer budget plans. One of these plans will let you spread out the payments for your fuel oil deliveries over a few months. You will pay a part of the delivery fees even in the summer, but the costs will be smaller than if you were trying to pay for it all at once. Signing up for a budget plan may also let you lock in the price for the lifetime of your program. Locking in the price will protect you if the prices start to go up for whatever reason. 

Turn Your Thermostat Down

You may feel the urge to turn the thermostat up so that you can be nice and toasty all winter, but if you turn it down some, especially when you aren't home, you will save money on your heating. Adding in some warm socks and a sweater will help you stay warm. You might also check into buying a programmable thermostat because you can program it to raise and lower the temperature depending on the time of day and how many people are at home. For example, you can have the thermostat drop the temperature while everyone is out of the house, and then an hour or so before you come home, the thermostat can raise the temperature, so your house is warmer when you get home. 

If you use heating oil for your furnace, you might wonder how you can keep your heating oil costs down. 

Contact a local heating oil company to learn more.