BOISE -- Remember: your furnace is your friend. Take care of it, and it will help you reduce heating costs this winter.

"Make sure your equipment is clean," said Brent Wilde with Intermountain Gas. "A good clean furnace, well maintained. We recommend you have your furnace serviced by a professional prior to the heating season."

And be sure to change the furnace filter every thirty days.

Experts also advise you to seal cracks and crevasses around doors and windows as well as electrical outlets and switches on outside walls and any pipes and conduits going through the floor or outside walls.

Wash clothes in cold water whenever possible.

Consider a programmable thermostat to raise and lower temperatures at pre set times.

Also minimize use of ventilation fans in kitchen and bathroom. they can suck precious heat right out of your house...the last thing you need in winter.

About.com has these other energy saving tips.

- Don't heat areas of your house you don't use regularly, such as guest rooms. Close heating vents or turn back thermostats in those areas and close the doors for a painless reduction in heating costs.

- Turn down the heat and use space heaters to heat the room you spend time in.

- Keep your furnace, heat pump, or other heating equipment in top operating condition. Dirty filters reduce the efficiency of your furnace or heat pump. Poorly tuned units are inefficient and use more fuel. An annual maintenance agreement is well worth the money to ensure that your equipment is properly maintained and will last as long as possible.

- Don't turn your thermostat up above the desired temperature. It won't heat up any more quickly and will make your furnace work harder. Also, while it makes sense to turn the heat back when you're sleeping or not at home, turning it down too low can actually cost you more because the contents of the house have to be re-heated in addition to the air. Sixty-eight to 70 degrees while you're home and awake, and 60 to 65% while you're asleep or not at home are reasonable temperatures.