There are many common causes of high-energy bills, including badly sealed doors and windows and inefficient furnaces. A recent Realty Times article discusses some lesser known, but just as wasteful, causes of heat loss in the winter. You may not know it, but these holes could be the cause of your heart-stopping bills:

The Dryer

Your dryer may not come to mind as the cause of your expensive heating bill, but the exhaust duct for your clothes dryer goes right to the outside through a four-inch-wide pipe. Yes, there is a metal trap door that is supposed to open and shut, but it can sometimes get stuck or blown open, allowing all your heat to escape through the dryer and letting cold air in, making the laundry room the coldest room in the house.

Luckily, there is a simple solution to this problem. The Clothes Dryer Vent Seal costs less than $20 and keeps out cold air, as well as pests, such as insects or rodents. The vent remains closed unless the dryer is in use, in which case it uses a “floating shuttle” to allow warm air, moisture and lint to escape.

The Attic Stairway

If you have an attic with a stairway, you may be losing a large amount of heat as a result. Since attics often ventilate directly outside, they can be steaming in the summer and freezing in the winter. That thin sheet of plywood, instead of ceiling and insulation, provides no protection against winter’s cold. To make matters even worse, there are often gaps around the attic stairway door.

As with the dryer, there is an easy solution. A do-it-yourself insulation product keeps the cold air out by providing a seal and costs under $30. You should notice the difference immediately.

The Fireplace

Yes, it provides heat, but it can also be a source of heat loss. According to the Realty Times article, a recent study showed that for many fireplace owners, heating bills may be more than $500 higher per winter due to wasted energy caused by their fireplaces. If your fireplace has a damper that you can open and close, it may be the culprit. Dampers are not designed to be airtight, so heated air from your house can be sucked right out by the chimney.

A fireplace draftstopper, selling for $45, is an inflatable, non-flammable pillow that can be placed inside the chimney when the fireplace is not in use to stop heat from escaping. Even if you do forget about the pillow and light the fireplace accidentally, it is completely safe. The pillow comes with a bright orange reminder to deflate and remove the pillow prior to lighting a fire. However, as an added safety measure, the pillow will simply fall down on top of a lit fire and smother it (because it is non-flammable), should you forget. An added bonus is that it also stops cold air, insects or birds from coming in from the chimney.

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