It’s time to turn on furnaces here for us in southern Ontario. The cold weather has finally arrived and brings with it the need to heat your home. We have a gas furnace that we call “The Beast” because it takes up a fair amount of space in an awkward spot in our basement and when it comes on you can hear it rumble to life. Our furnace has been around since our house was built in the 70’s. Needless to say I am sure it is not the most energy efficient but we hate to replace when it is still going strong. We have tossed around the idea of getting a new furnace but with having to put on a new roof, eaves and soffit this year the furnace is going to have to wait for another year or two. We have it cleaned every other year by a professional and replace the filters as needed to keep it running as effectively as it possibly can.

We also have a wood burning fire place in our living room and burn fires in it quite regularly in the cold months as it helps to keep the chill out of the first floor. We have it inspected and cleaned by a WETT certified chimney sweep on the opposite year of the furnace cleaning to make sure there are no problems and we certainly do not want a fire!

With a new furnace looming in the next few years it brings to mind other methods of heating. In our small town it is not uncommon for people to heat their homes with wood burning stoves. The house we rented before we purchased this one had been converted the year before we lived there from wood burning to a gas furnace. I imagine the gas furnace was just less of a hassle for the landlord to worry about. Wood burning stoves are a great economical means to heat your home if you have the desire to do so. Wood is cheaper to buy (off a farm by the cord: a cord is a wood pile measurement of 4ft tall by 4ft deep by 8 ft wide that wood is sold in). It can get you off the grid heating and be easier on your pocket. Wood burning stoves aren’t going to be for everyone and for some people they are the only means. By using a wood burning stove you could lessen your carbon foot print and be using a heating source that can be replenished.

Corn Pellet stoves are something else that could lessen your carbon footprint and have you using a heating source that can be re grown. When I was a child my friend’s farm house was heated by a corn pellet stove. At the time I thought it was something unique and different to them. As I have gotten older and look into more cost effective and “green” ways to heat my home I realize that corn burning stoves are another eco-friendly way to heat a home. Corn pellet stoves can heat your home for the cost of a bushel of corn per day.

There are also Pellet stoves that burn compressed wood or biomass pellets to create a source of heat. These stoves slowly feed fuel from a special storage compartment into the burn-pot area. There these stoves create a consistent flame that requires little to no effort on your part.

There are several methods to heating ones’ home that I have not covered. Some of these are hot water heat and electric base boards (we had electric base board heating in a rental we had in the city and it was quite pricey).

Of course I have missed some other means to keep your home comfortable so please feel free to share any others you know of.

Here are some final tips to help reduce your heating bill for the cold months.

• · Make sure you have sufficient insulation

• · Place plastic window kits over old and leaky windows if you cannot afford to get new windows.

• · Use insulation gaskets/covers behind you outlets and switches that are on outside walls.

• · Make sure weather stripping is intact on the bottom of outside doors.

• · Turn down your thermostat 5 to 10 degrees while you are out of the house.

• · Open your curtains to let in the sun. You might as well use the solar heat instead of paying for your heat.

• · Make sure heat vents are not covered by furniture. This will allow the hot air to better circulate through your home.

If anyone has any further tips for reducing heating bills please pass them on. We all like to save where we can!

If you have a Brita Pitcher here’s a printable coupon for Brita Filters.  The coupon is good towards the purchase of any one Brita filters, 3 or 4 pack multi pack , one Brita faucet filtration filter.  The coupon is for $2.00 off and expires November 15 2011.

If you’re looking at getting a Brita pitcher or you need a new one they alos have a coupon for $5.00 of the purchase of any one Brita Pitcher *exlcudes Slim and Classic.  Expires December 31st 2011.

Coupons are valid only in Canada.

$2.00 off filters here.

$5.00 off pitcher here.

If you’ve been thinking about printing some of those digital pics you have then NOW is the time to head on over to Black’s!

For 3 days only (October 18-20) you can print out 50 of the larger 5×7 sizes for only $5!

Click here for details

Sears has a great Anna Sui gift with purchase on now until October 29th 2011.  Spend $60 or more on Anna Sui products and receive a full size, eye colour, lipstick and mascara.  While this gwp has a higher threshold the products that are free are full size.  One thing that concerns me is that apparently you have no choice of shades. Perhaps this would be a good one to go in-store for.

Click here to check out this gift online.

Pet Smart is offering Howl-o-ween pics for only $4.95 get a 4×6 photo and frame.

Also:

Free goodie bags to the first 100 customers brought to you by Mars Petcare and Greenies

Pet Parade and Costume Contest @ 3:30pm

All this takes place one day only, this Saturday October 22nd 2011.

Kettle Brand Potato Chips are giving away a coupon for a FREE bag through their Facebook Site.

Click here to “Like” them on Facebook and then be prepared to refresh a number of times before the form finally loads. Don’t say I didn’t warn you!

I had my coupon within the first 5 minutes though

Om nom nom!!

*Offer has ended* All bags have been given out.

You can now shop online at Walmart.ca.  If you like some of the deals Wal Mart has to offer but don like to make the trip to the store you can pick up some things online and have them shipped right to your door.  Shipping rates do apply but seem to be quite reasonable. We can only hope maybe they have some different merchandise available online than in store or possibly web only offers?

If you are dissatisfied with your item you can return it in store to your local Wal Mart or via mail.

Visit WalMart.ca.

From Oct. 17-30, 2011, Pizza Pizza is holding their Slices For Smiles promo, which supports charities such as the Children’s Miracle Network, Sick Kids Foundation, and more. Since its launch in October 2007, Slices For Smiles Foundation has raised over $585000. For only $2, you can get half of a 10-inch cheese or pepperoni pizza, or $4.99 for a 12-inch medium cheese or pepperoni pizza. Limit 4 per person, walk-in only.

Click here for more details.

This is a cool freebie to take advantage of.  Post cereal is giving away FREE retro T-shirts with specially marked boxes of cereal.  To redeem your FREE t-shirt locate your PIN on the inside of your cereal box and enter at their site here and click submit to get started.

To get your desired retro t-shirt you need to purchase the corresponding cereal.  So if you want a retro shreddies shirt purchase shreddies cereal for a sugar crisp shirt purchase sugar crisps cereal and so on.

Offer end February 29th 2012 or while supplies last.

Retro free give away site here.

Heres is  a coupon that came out October 11th and is good until October 24 2011.  get 25% off all regular priced Below Zero kids winter wear.  Coupon is good for one time use only.  One coupon per customer per house hold.  Cannot be used towards the purchase of gift cards.  Cannot be combined with any other discount, offer or at www.marks.com.

Print coupon here.

Find a Marks Near you here.

Get $3.00 off your next purchase of  any Children or Infants Tylenol product with this printable coupon form living Well.  This is the time of year we seem to use more Tylenol with the children getting colds and ear aches.

Print your coupon here.

Save 25% off your purchase of $50 or more today only at The Childrens Place.  Offer is valid in store and online.

Online Use web code : 2K4E2011 (this is the web code we received in email) There is another web code posted on their site which is 2J4E2011

In store use print coupon and take it with you for use in store: Print Coupons

Flat $8 shipping rate on all web orders.

OR use your savings pass to save 20% off your entire purchase.

Webcode: 2G4E2011

For coupon to use in store follow above Print Coupon link.

Ardene is having a Fall Sale. Save 30% off hoodies, coats pj’s ad more.  My wife shops here for hair accessories for our girls.  Our oldest is just now able to fit into their smallest size so we may be checking this sale out to put away some clothes for Christmas.

They also have a Halloween Boo-tique with lots of cool accessories and trinkets for dressing up for Halloween.

Check out Ardenes site here.

Here is printable coupon for $4.00 off the purchase of Difulcan One.  This coupon is for use at Rexall only from October 13th to October 26th.   One Pill One Dose One Day to treat your Yeast infection.

Print your coupon here.

Today’s Hammer drop deal is a Delta Faucet Chrome Slide Bar Handheld Shower for $100.  For those of you who may not know what Home Depot Hammer Drop deals are here is some info:

“Every morning at 8:00 AM. EST Home Depot offers a great product at an even greater price – not available anywhere else on Homedepot.ca.

Each item is on sale for 1 day only – unless it sells out first!”

The Rules:

“The item is on sale for 24 hours only. The item is not revealed prior to its release. You can purchase up to 5 of each item. Your order is not guaranteed until the checkout process is complete. Shipping costs are confirmed at checkout. Fully backed by the Homedepot.ca return and exchange policy. Hammer Drop Items ship from our warehouse within 7-10 days of purchase.”

Click here for Today’s Daily Deal.