Our goal ­ yours and mine ­ on this educational adventure is to save you money on your heating bills next winter. Like any trip, to get from A to B, you first have to know where A is.

We're going to find out this month where A is for your house by walking you through a simple, quick energy audit of your home. It'll be less strenuous than an Easter egg hunt, and while you won't find any Easter eggs, your reward will be enough money in your checking account next Spring - from what you've saved on you energy bills this winter - that you can buy as many Easter eggs as you want.

As you go through your house, you'll assign points to the various energy advantages of your own home and tabulate them for your final score. A 100 point house is a perfectly energy efficient house. Besides indicating you had the lowest energy cost possible, it also would mean your carbon footprint on the world was virtually invisible.

Kudos to you and feathers in your Green Pioneer Hat for that.

The lower your score is, the more room there is for improvement and the more money you can look forward to saving next winter compared to what you spent last winter on fuel costs.

The point values for each category have been assigned relative to the average home in the Pioneer Valley, the average weather here, and the average cost of fuel sources locally. Remember, though, your own house is unique, and there may be energy aspects to it ­ positive or negative - that we have not been able accommodate in our energy audit. Make sure you keep those in mind when evaluating your own final score here.

We've chosen five major categories for you to assess and have assigned them point values relative to their importance in saving you money on your energy bills. Your heating system, not surprisingly, is the highest point value, 45. Insulation, windows and doors, and weatherizaton are worth 15 points each. Water heaters can earn you as much as 10 points. The total is 100.

We left out electricity and water energy audits. While they contribute to your overall energy costs, they play little part in your heating costs and our purpose here is to save you money on those next winter.

Items like 1.6 gallon flush toilets, low flow shower heads, faucet aerators all save you money on your water bills. Energy Saver appliances, properly adjusted refrigerators and freezers, unplugged TV's and DVD players (when not in use) save you energy, too, and cut down on your electricity cost. And all of these reduce the size of your carbon footprint on the world, as well.

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