A home is the single largest purchase most people will ever make. Aside for the actual closing costs, maintaining a home of your own can be pricey. One cost that often blindsides new homeowners is the heating bill.

As you might expect, most folks who move into a new home are coming from a much smaller residence, typically an apartment. So, when they purchase a place with five times the space, they invariably complain about the maintenance costs.

Well, we can't help you with a squeaky step or a musty attic, but we can offer some advice about heating bills. For instance, did you know that the average home loses about sixty percent of its heat through the windows? It is easy enough to find information.

The culprit for most heat loss is old-fashioned single-pane windows. These windows provide the bare minimum in insulation and they result in heat loss during the winter months and cooling loss during the summer. The solution to this problem is multi-paned windows.

Also known as storm windows, studies show that these specialty windows reduce heat lost by up to fifty percent! Why doesn't every home have them? Well, some folks think they are too expensive. But the truth is that prices for storm window have fallen over the past decade or so. Affordable storm windows are now available at most home improvement centres in the UK.