This year we will be facing some unexpected financial surprises when the weather turns chilly and Jack Frost is nipping at our toes.

The dog days of summer are currently upon us but less than half a year from now will come the Christmas holiday season and we will be living through much higher home heating bills. What are you doing to prepare for that?

It's bad enough that Christmas bills come as a surprise and take a big bite out of the bank balance but add on top of that most expensive time of the year, the need to stay warm.

In the last year home heating oil prices have nearly doubled and natural gas and propane prices are increasing as well. If our income had doubled in the same time period, none of this would be a concern or issue, but income hasn't doubled.

The New England area is more tied to the use of home heating oil than other parts of the country and a cold or prolonged chilly winter period is going to hit people hard, very hard. There are really few good options to deal with escalating energy cots this year.

Of course we have the old tricks of putting on an extra layer of clothes and turning the thermostat down. But what if that's not enough to make ends meet? And it won't be for many people this coming winter.

This year, more and more people are going to have to face the horrible choice of eating or heating. With budgets already busting at the seams, something will have to give. If you've already made drastic financial cutbacks, the only place to trim will be in things that are considered necessary but optional expenses like health care, medications, eating, cable television and even a simple treat now and then.

Any advice I can give you right now isn't going to soften the pain of trying to save money now to prepare to stay warm this winter. But now is exactly the time you need to think about this cold hard economic monster looming. It's easier to open the windows in the summer to keep the air conditioning off than it is to open the windows in the cold months.

Other heating products are rising as well. Firewood has risen dramatically in cost and kerosene is up 25% to 40% in places. There is no doubt that staying warm this coming year is just going to be yet another thing tougher in our financial lives.

The National Energy Assistance Directors' Association said the national average cost to heat a home with oil this winter will be $2,593, up from $1,962 last winter. Wow!