It’s never a good idea to turn your home’s heating completely off. But lowering the temperature when you know you’ll be away is the right thing to do. Consider these 2 heating principles:

• The warmer your home is relative to the outside temperature, the more heat your home will lose.
• The colder your home is, the longer it will take to heat to a comfortable temperature.

If your living space is too cold, it can lead to pipes freezing and other complications. But dropping the temperature when you’re not at home is a simple way to improve your heating system’s efficiency. If you normally keep your home at 70 degrees, try dropping the temperature to about 58 degrees while you’re away.

One way to make this constant calibration easier? Install a smart thermostat! You can schedule your work routine or other times you’re away from home so that your heating system adjusts automatically.