Ways to stay warm when oil heating is too expensive
Home heating oil has become so costly that monthly winter bills can reach $700 even when keeping the thermostat as low as 65 degrees. To stay warm without relying on expensive oil baseboard boilers, homeowners are offsetting fuel consumption by using wood stoves or looking into mini-split heating systems.
What the numbers show
Counted from the threads quoted below. How we count
- The most recent one is from November 2026.
- This comes up 36.9× more often in r/homeowners than across the site as a whole.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
Found another way around this?
Share your steps and trade-offs so fellow engineers don't have to reinvent the wheel. No account required.
Ways to stay warm when oil heating is too expensive
- 1Using electric or propane space heaters for localized spot heatingDid this help you?
- 2Putting blankets or clear insulating plastic film over windowsDid this help you?
- 3Using electric blankets instead of heating the whole roomDid this help you?
- 4Getting a home assessment from the utility company for weatherstrippingDid this help you?
- 5Installing a mini split systemDid this help you?
- 6Using online calculators to compare the exact costs of different heating methodsDid this help you?
- 7Offsetting the oil usage by splitting and burning wood in wood stovesDid this help you?
- 8Installing heat pumps or mini-splits to handle the majority of the heating loadDid this help you?
- 9Using electric space heaters in individual rooms and keeping the oil thermostat lowerDid this help you?
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“We bought a 3400sf house with oil and no natural gas access north of you. Heat is great but very expensive. We are on a few acres so I’m offsetting the cost by splitting my own wood for wood stoves.”source ↗
“Question - I have never had oil heat before and am wondering what are the general thoughts on homes with oil baseboard heat utilizing a boiler. I know oil is crazy expensive right now so presume its an expensive option.”source ↗
“I loved our baseboard heating above all types, as far as comfort goes. But fuel costs bring what they are, I’d look into mini split heating.”source ↗
“We can also just do oil heat, just so you get a reference it used to be like 300usd per month during the winter in 2016, now it can be like 700usd.”source ↗
“Obviously, considering recent oil prices i am worried about home heating this winter.”source ↗
“We always keep it pretty low (set it to 65 or 70 at the highest but i think it gets warmer than it says) but it still eats through our oil.”source ↗
“What are some easy strategies to keep the place warm?”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
- 7How to lower high summer electricity bills from air conditioning
- 23Why is my AC not lowering indoor humidity?
- 12How do I use and maintain an oil heating system?
- 3Why is my heat pump always running on emergency heat in the winter?
- 30Why are HVAC replacement quotes so expensive?
- 6How to fix high radon levels in a house