I must admit that everything I know about winterizing a house comes from watching my mother make the rounds of my childhood home roughly every November, putting door snakes at every drafty point, and then admonishing at least twice-weekly that we weren't trying to heat the whole neighborhood.

Now that I'm grown, with a family and a toddler who is one mental leap away from figuring out how to open doors on his own, and my own gas bills to pay, I tend to take this more to heart. So I do my own winterizing routine, checking out the place for drafty edges and blocking them up with towels and the occasional stuffed animal. It's not a bad system — but it's terribly unscientific, and I can't help noticing that it's not having a huge effect on my gas bill.

Then I recalled my research last year into energy audits, and they were the very definition of "scientific." The detailed graphs showing hot and cold spots showed every last scrap of lost power, whether it be sheets of blue sneaking in around window edges or the surprising spots where cold passed right through thinly insulated walls to infiltrate a seemingly hermetically sealed area. I'm giving it serious thought for next year. (Sorry, Mom.) They're surprisingly cost-effective, could very well pay for themselves in one winter of saved energy bills, are actually offered by your electric company in some areas, and now, we rate them on the List. So not only can you learn the best methods for your house, you can find out who your neighbors think are the best in your area!