If you’re tired of paying top dollar for heating oil, it’s time to explore new avenues and save some money. You can buy oil online, and save some money while you’re at it. Follow this guide to learn where and when to shop in order to get your money’s worth.
It’s not unusual for families in cold climates to spend more than $2,000 a year on heating oil. It’s a huge cost, but the alternative to paying it is even worse.
What’s a family to do? There has to be a better way, right? It turns out there is: buy oil online.
It may sound silly, but buying oil online you can save hundreds of dollars a year. And it’s not as complicated as it sounds.
In this article, we’ll tell you everything you need to know to lower your heating oil bill. So read on and start saving money now.
Use Less Oil
Before we start talking about all the clever ways you can save money buying heating oil online, we need to talk about the old-fashioned way of saving money on heating oil: using less of it. Now, that might sound like a big sacrifice. But we’re here to help you save money on heating oil, not coddle you.
And really, it doesn’t have to be an awful, cold experience. Sure, you could save some money by turning your thermostat down a few degrees, but more than anything, using less heating oil is about making your heating system more efficient.
That starts with the design of your house. The heat that comes out of your furnace is only the first step in heating your home. The more important step is to make sure the heat your furnace creates doesn’t leave.
To keep heat locked in your house for as long as possible, you need to improve your insulation. Look into upgrading the insulation in your walls, installing double-paned windows, covering any cracks you have with caulk, putting heat guards underneath your doors, and putting a flue sealer in your chimney.
These measures will go a long way toward making sure your house stays toasty warm without the need for gallons and gallons of heating oil.
Once your house is insulated, make sure you keep it at a stable temperature. Going up and down between extremes is hard on your furnace and a waste of heating oil.
Upgrade Your Furnace
Not all furnaces are created equal, and some use a lot more heating oil than others. Learn about your furnace and calculate how much fuel it uses.
If it uses more than a gallon and a half per hour, it may be worth it to buy a new one. It will pay for itself in a few years with the amount of heating oil you save. Finding a trusted company and site like woolleyfuel.com is who you need, with their amazing quality and professional services, whether you’re wanting a replacement furnace or a top-up of heating oil.
Buy Oil Online
So you’ve done everything you can to make your house and furnace more efficient. Now, it’s time to talk about how to save money by buying oil online.
If buying heating oil online is new to you, it’s an easy thing to learn more about. And it’s not as complicated as you think.
The premise is simple. When you buy heating oil in the winter, you’re buying it at the same time as everyone else. Because the demand is higher, naturally, the price is higher.
So, instead of buying your heating oil in the winter like all the rest of those chumps, buy it online by exploring PayLessForOil.com and similar websites that offer home delivery.
If we look at this past year, heating oil was around $2.10 per gallon in January and around $1.42 per gallon in July. So if you had bought 800 gallons (a typical year’s worth of heating oil) in July instead of January, you would have saved close to $500.
Sounds too good to be true, doesn’t it? We promise, it really works.
Speculating Based on Crude Oil Prices
It’s more than just the seasons that affect heating oil prices. Heating oil is refined crude oil. And therefore, crude oil prices have a big effect on the price of heating oil.
Of course, crude oil speculation is in the realm of big-time commodities speculation. And we’re not going to tell you to study finance in order save a few hundred dollars on heating oil. But having a basic understanding of crude oil prices is important if you want to make the most of buying oil online.
For example, thanks in part to the fracking boom coming out of the American midwest, oil prices have been historically low over the last few years (though they are going up). And it’s not a coincidence that over the same period, heating oil has been relatively cheap.
If you really wanted to save money on heating oil, you would have bought several thousand gallons a year ago when heating oil was at its cheapest, knowing that the price wouldn’t be that low again for years.
That level of speculation might sound intimidating, but the point is, you can save a lot of money on your heating bill by buying heating oil in bulk.
If you don’t want to obsess over numbers, a simple thing to remember is that heating oil prices are volatile. So, if its summertime and they’re lower than usual, buy, buy, buy. Don’t wait or they might bounce back up.
Storing Your Heating Oil
By now you’ve probably realized that to implement this strategy, you’re going to have to buy heating oil in bulk, and that means you’ll need a place to store it. If you’re lucky, you already have a large backyard tank. If not, you may have to buy one.
And remember, if you plan on doing real speculation, you’ll need a big one.
Start Saving Money
Now that you know how to buy oil online the right way, it’s time to put that knowledge to work. You’ll be amazed at how much money you can save. It will take some investment to get you started, but we promise it’s worth it.
If you found this how-to article helpful, go to our home improvement blog. You’ll find tons of other helpful guides on everything from real estate investment to organizing your desk.
