4 Tips for Staying Cool on the Cheap – Without Leaving Home
Utility bills are my least favorite bills to pay. I’m not sure why, but it’s always been a personal challenge of mine to see how long I can make it before turning on the heat each fall, and we’re running the central air less and less every year.
This summer, we turned on the a/c pretty early in the season (we wanted to get the humidity out of the house after the flooding), but we’ve made it through nearly the entire month of July without it. Here are my tips for keeping your cool when it gets hot and humid.
1. Install ceiling fans
Ceiling fans have a bad rap due in all of the home decorating shows, but they can help you save a ton on energy costs. We have fans in our living room and a couple of bedrooms - they make all the difference between stifling hot and comfortable when the thermostat gets above 80 degrees. For a more complete list of ceiling fan tips, check out this post at The Simple Dollar.
2. “Apply heat” outdoors
Matt does all of the barbequing at our house (I’m not sure what it is about men and grilling, but I’m all about embracing this stereotype). He jokes that it’s not cooking as much as it’s “applying heat.” If we must turn on an appliance, I prefer to keep the oven and stove off - instead we’ll prepare chicken and veggies on the grill out on our deck.
3. Live in your lower levels
Our master bedroom is in the second story of our home, but in the summer months we sleep downstairs in one of the guest bedrooms. If our basement was still finished, we’d probably sleep down there. There must be at least a 15 degree difference in air temperatures between the three floors.
4. Put a pool in your backyard
An in-ground pool may be beyond our budget (besides, who needs the liability?), however a kiddie pool provides relief for hot tootsies and gives the dog a place to cool off as well. After spending a Saturday afternoon doing yard work, there’s nothing better than resting your feet in fresh, cool water while enjoying the ice-cold beverage of your choice.
Got any cheap tricks for beating the heat? Please leave your thoughts in the comments section below
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Stumble it!
July 30th, 2008 at 2:03 pm
I make sure to keep all of the blinds and curtains shut early in the day when the sun tends to hit the house the most. On one hand it kind of stinks having the house shut up like a cave, but it also keeps things cooler in the evening.
I grew up in a house without air conditioning, but my parents’ house has an exhaust fan in the attic that they run at night to suck the cool air in. That helps a lot, too. They also have a nice in-ground pool, so I spend a lot of time there in the summer!