How to Cool Your Home and Save Money
Home Improvement,  Money Matters

How to Cool Your Home and Save Money

How to Cool Your Home and Save Money

During the warmer months of the year, it can be difficult to keep your home cool and comfortable. You know the more you crank the air conditioning, the higher your monthly energy bill will be. For homes located in very hot regions of the United States, you may already rely on your A/C heavily. Over time, this can become very expensive and detract from the things you’d rather spend your money on like vacations or a few new home appliances. Did you know there are several ways you can contribute to the coolness of your house without your air conditioning? Follow these tips to benefit from their low-cost cooling effects!

Change Your Bedding

When sleeping, the last thing you want to deal with is feeling hot and sweaty all night long. This will directly affect the quality of your sleep and may even affect your partner. Swap fleece or flannel beddings for options primarily made of cotton. It’s more breathable, helping to keep your body cooler during the night. For example, a lightweight quilt is a far better choice than a down comforter. If you’re worried that very light bedding will have you feeling cold, keep a light blanket at the end of the bed. Problem solved!

Keep Your Blinds Closed

While it may be a habit to open your blinds or curtains to start the day, it’s better to just keep them closed. Why? Unwanted heat often times comes from your home’s windows, so keeping your blinds or curtains closed will help deflect some of that heat. In your warmest rooms, consider installing blackout curtains. These are more substantial options that will block out even more heat and offer additional benefits like blocking glare and keeping the morning sun out of bedrooms for undisturbed sleep.

Install Window Screens

How to Cool Your Home and Save MoneyYou can build on the benefits of the tip above by installing window screens. There are many different types of these on the market with specific screen materials dependent upon your needs. Maybe you’d prefer solar screen, which is most effective in deflecting unwanted heat. Or you may be interested fiberglass, which is very affordable and provides some heat-blocking attributes. Best of all, you don’t need a professional to install these. You can order a window screen kit, which provides all the parts and instructions needed for assembly. Even if you don’t consider yourself the “handy” type, building window screens is truly easy and fast. This will be much more affordable and will provide an instantaneous difference in your home!

Change Your Lightbulbs

Have you ever felt the heat radiating off a light bulb? You’d be surprised at the amount of heat that traditional incandescent bulbs produce! Make the switch to LED bulbs. These operate via diode light, which uses much less power than incandescent lights. They also don’t radiate nearly as much heat as the old-fashioned bulbs because they don’t emit infrared (IR). This is what makes incandescent bulbs so hot to the touch alongside hiking up your energy bill. While it might feel pricey to switch out all your bulbs to LEDs, their incredible lifespan and low heat emission makes them worth it. You’ll spend far less time switching out bulbs and more enjoying a more comfortable home.

Keep All Rooms Open

Closing the doors of rooms that receive larger portions of the morning or afternoon sun will make them practically unbearable to be in! When you have your air conditioning running, you need the air to move freely through your home.

Consider Grilling More

If you or your significant other enjoys grilling, consider doing it more frequently during the summer. Ovens put off a ton of heat, which is dispersed throughout your home. You may think there are some dishes that simply can’t be made on the grill, but there are some pretty ingenious recipes out there that may prove you wrong! Pick up a few grilling specific cookbooks and a fresh propane tank. You may even find that grilling more dishes is fun and new.

While several of the above tips can be implemented right away, others will take a bit more time. Whether you pick a few or try all of them, you should notice a wonderful difference in the coolness of your home without needing to rely on your air conditioning as much. However, don’t go off feeling alone. You can compare average energy bill costs from before changes were made and after to see if there is truly a decline in A/C use.

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