For most families, when the colder months arrive, it usually means hefty heating bills are soon to follow. As we head into these months of heavy energy-usage, preparing your home for energy efficiency should be a big priority. Here are several tried and true tips you can follow to increase your homes' green thumb and keep the household bills manageable.

Draughts and leaks from gaps are responsible for sapping up to 30 per cent of your home's energy, so blocking them is a high impact but oh-so-simple way of winterizing your home. Look closely where two different building materials meet such as around door and window frames, corners, where pipes and wires exit and along the foundation. Even small cracks can lead to heat loss and cool air creeping in. You can use caulking and weather-stripping to patch up any gaps. Using draught snakes is a simple method for blocking gaps under doors.

Your home heating and hot water systems need regular maintenance to work at their optimum efficiency, so make a point of regularly checking them over. Keeping them clean, lubricated and properly attuned will reduce energy use and save up to 5 per cent of your homes heating costs.

If your radiator, storage heater or hot water system is in need of replacement, it's a good idea to bite the bullet and make an upgrade. While it does require an initial cost, a modern system should cost your far less to run each month than an old, struggling system that isn’t working to its optimum. You can take this chance to invest in an energy-efficient solution and look for the Energy Saving Trust recommended labels.

Many people mistakenly think ceiling fans are just for summer, but this is not the case. Most fans have a switch that reverses the direction of the blades. Running your fans in reverse will push warm air down and can cut your heating cost by as much as 10 per cent.

Boosting the insulation in your home is another high-impact alteration that is going to pay you back for years to come. You can add more insulation between walls, make sure your basement and attic are properly insulated and insulate your hot water cylinder and pipes.

Investing in an energy monitor is a handy way to keep track of your home's energy usage in real time. They allow you to see exactly how much each activity or appliance is costing you. Knowing this information has been proven to encourage homeowners to significantly reduce their electricity consumption.

For further savings, you can investigate what energy saving grants and offers you may be able to benefit from. It is recommended however, that you check that any energy efficiency modifications to your home don’t affect your house insurance premiums.

Educating your family on simple energy saving habits can also help towards cutting your homes energy bill. These habits include: wearing a jumper inside, not heating rooms unnecessarily or when no one is home, taking shorter showers, unplugging seldom used appliances, switching electronics off rather than leave them on standby and letting winter sunlight into the home.

With these green home tips, you should be able keep your home and your family warm and cosy this winter, without causing the heating bills to skyrocket.

The author of this article is a part of a digital blogging team who work with brands like Confused.com. The content contained in this article is for information purposes only and should not be used to make any financial decisions.