Living naturally, with pets

With colder weather moving in for the winter, it's a good time to look at ways to keep your home warmer and make it more energy efficient. Insulating the attic, installing electrical outlet insulation plug kits, and weather stripping around doors is a good place to start. And you should also assess your windows as they can cause a good deal of heat loss and air leakage.

There are many products available at home improvement centers to help make older windows more energy efficient. And don't discount the benefit of curtains to cut drafts. We have dual pane energy efficient windows on our home, but can still feel a draft at times, especially on really windy days. Following decorating trends, over the past few years I have had only window blinds and valances on my windows. But curtains are making a comeback for visual appeal as well as energy savings, and I recently added curtains to my windows. I was pleasantly surprised at how homey and fresh the pleated curtains made my rooms feel, not to mention how much warmer the rooms feel at night and when it's windy.

Curtains are an easy way to cut drafts, make you feel more comfortable, and also update your tired looking rooms for holiday entertaining too.