Ways to Keep Your House Cool Without Spending a Fortune — Now that the weather is heating up, I am on high alert for ways to keep the cooling costs low. My goal is to keep the house comfortable {though, I am willing to endure a bit of discomfort} by using the the natural heating/cooling of the weather to my advantage.
I figure with a little bit of conscious effort, I should be able to shave off a nickel here and a dime there–which in the end, all add up.
Here’s the ways I plan to keep costs low:
Run heat generating appliances after the sun goes down.
Rather than firing up my dishwasher {which is rare these days, because I prefer to hand wash my dishes}. I plan on using my crock pot and the BBQ more too, so I can avoid heating the house with the oven. I figure, I can even put the crock pot out in the garage to do the bulk of it’s cooking, so even the small bit of heat it gives off doesn’t cost me more in cooling costs.
Instead of using the dryer at all, I plan on hanging most of our clothes.
If HOA’s prohibit the use of a clothesline, you can always drape your clothes all over the patio furniture. 😉
Cover the windows–especially the east and west facing ones.
Limiting the amount of heat that comes through the windows will be huge. Right now, I don’t have a ton of window treatments, and I like it that way, but I am not above putting up a sheet or a piece of cardboard during the heat of the day. **Snoopervisors, please ignore that last couple of comments.
Seal up the house by day, and open it up by night.
One of the advantages to living on the coast is that even in the summer, the mornings and evenings cool off. Sure, we have a couple of really hot weeks, but usually, you can count on a little reprieve from the heat. I plan to open up the windows and use that milder weather to my advantage.
Fans.
Fans use less energy than running the AC all day long. In addition to using box fans to pull in cool evening air, I plan on circulating the cool air throughout the day using fans in the rooms I frequent the most.
Hot showers will be at a minimum around here.
All of that hot steam heats the place up–and heating the water costs money too, so we will all be on strict time limits around here.
Plant trees to shade windows that let in the most heat.
While we have plenty of trees around here, if I didn’t I would definitely make the longterm investment. If you don’t want to invest in a tree, there are plenty of cost-effective vines that provide shade when trained to grow up a trellis.
Install a programmable thermostat.
If you don’t have one, I strongly suggest a programmable thermostat. That way while you are out, you can turn the AC off, and then with a quick press of a button on an app on your phone, you can set it to turn back on before you arrive home again. No reason to pay for temperate climates when you are not there to enjoy them.
Get out of the house.
Speaking of not being there to enjoy climate control, I plan on getting out of the house during the day. Toiling around in my garden, walking air-conditioned Costco on sample day, hitting a bookstore to read cookbooks, etc. There are plenty of ways to enjoy climate control without having to pay for it. 🙂
Plan your vacations wisely.
Speaking of getting out of the house for a day, I know a family that purposely plans their camping trips {in the cooler mountains} around the hottest weeks of the summer. They take off into the hills and turn off their AC for an entire week. While I can’t see the HH and I taking off to go camping, I still think it is a great idea…maybe I’ll have to plan one of our vacations around the hottest part of the year?
Those are my tips on ways to keep your house cool without spending a fortune. Do you have any more tips for keeping your cooling costs low?
~Mavis
Cheri says
Neither my husband nor I grew up in homes that had air conditioner–and in my case, I didn’t even grow up with air-conditioned cars on a normal basis. Because of that, I can handle higher temperatures in my house than other people are comfortable with. I try to keep the air conditioner off or at the highest temperature that I/we can handle. When the outside temps are a little cooler, I’ll open the windows and doors before resorting to air conditioner. It helps that I live in a dry climate, though. If I lived in the Deep South or somewhere like that, I would probably have to use air conditioning more often.
Kathy says
I haven’t used my aor conditioner for going on 4 years. Ceiling fan is grand as is a window fan that I can set to pull and and suck out at the same time as well as set to certain temperature before ot turns on/shuts off by itself.
We keep the blinds closed (or almost closed) during hotest part of the day. It helps that I grew up with no AC. Also helps that, after living in the desert soithwest for several years (I’m back in the midwest now), I can handle the summer heat up to 110 degrees before my eyeballs start sweating. Rotating fans help too.
AmyWW says
We live in Houston, which is hot and humid all of our long summer – generally middle of April through end of October, with some nice temperate days here and there in April and October. Hotter than Hades most of the time, though. One time when we had gone away for a long weekend the A/C circuit breaker tripped and when we got home the house was HOT. The air was uncomfortably hot to breathe and even the interior walls felt hot to the touch. The computer fan was blowing full blast trying to keep the computer cool, and there was some damage caused by the heat. So even if we are going to be away for a couple of days we keep the a/c on, just turn it up to a higher temperature while we’re gone. Leafy trees help with shade, but in a humid climate it’s still just super hot. I’m jealous of you sometimes, Mavis! Talking about opening up the windows in the morning and evening to cool off the house is one of those times. Lucky!
Butterflyweed says
When cooling with fans, it really helps to have a fan on one side of the house pulling cool air in and another (or even a couple) blowing the hot air out. This really speeds up the cooling effect.
Mimi says
I never could justify using AC in the Pacific NW. Weirdo that I am, I had our AC removed when we replaced our gas furnace. AC feels awful to me! I rarely even use it in the car. On really hot days we adjust our activities rather than adjust the climate to suit our activities.
Sara says
We are moving to a house with AC this July, thank goodness!! Last summer in Eastern Washington was SO hot! I had to pull out all of my tricks from when I was a kid & Mom wouldn’t let us turn on the AC until it hit 100°. Examples are: frozen water jugs in front of fans, freezing pillow cases, ice packs, & cold showers at night. And anytime work needed me (I am on call in the summer), I JUMPED at the chance bc they have AC!! 🙂 This summer with breastfeeding, I am really eager for AC!!
Dayle says
Agree with the ice by the fan. I do that on hot days as well! It can be surprisingly effective! I usually use an open container of ice though, as my animals like to drink the cool water as the ice melts. 🙂
Katherine says
I’ve cut back on using the dryer. I bought a nice sized drying rack from Ikea and I use it for our clothes and most of the other wash. I do fluff things up on the air only setting before it is put away. If we do need to dry something we do it early in the morning and I put a small fan in the window to pull the heat out.
Alison R says
Here in Coastal Georgia it is 98 degrees today with the humidity at 68%.
We use AC, otherwise it is like I imagine the seventh circle of hell to be!
It was 80 at 7 this morning.
Keep cool!
Mavis says
Haha. That comment made me chuckle…thanks for that.
Jillian says
Good idea about moving the crockpot to the garage!
Gina says
I do it all the time since I hate the stank smell of boiling meats, especially pork, in the crock. It’s true, a crockpot can add heat to the kitchen!
PeggyK says
How I envy those who can live with the windows open – obviously no allergies. Here in the mid-atlantic the pollen is horrible (car is still covered) and if I didn’t have air I would be in the hospital. I keep the A/C set at one temperature all the time and I find that my bills are not out of sight. In my other house with separate units – believe it or not – my A/C costs were higher. I figure better the A/C bills rather than the dr and hospital bills. Enjoy the breezes!
Nancy Sadewater says
Very true, we leave majority of windows / storms sealed year round with thermostat set at one setting. It is cheaper for a/c and heating. Our reasoning is copd, serious asthma, etc. way cheaper then medications/hospital visits.
Connie says
High desert here. Already to be between 100 and 105 this week. What will July and August be ??? It does cool off at night, but not enough to go without AC. I try to get errrands and outside work done in mornings and stay inside during afternoons. Keep AC about 74/75 and use ceiling fans. No oven use in summer ! I only dry my clothes for 10 minutes then hang to dry or put on drying rack. Only run dishwasher once or twice a week and never use the heated dry.
Lilypad says
As a Seattle native, I LOATHE hot weather and hate living in a home without A/C. We put A/C in our house in 2005 and then sold that place in 2006 and I have missed it ever since. We’ll be putting it in the townhouse we bought last year but won’t be able to afford that till next year, so I’ve got this summer to deal with first. Sigh. The last two summers here have been way hotter than normal (72 days of 80 degrees or over in 2014; 88 days of 80+ degrees in 2015 {including 12 days over 90} as compared to the long term average since 1945 which is 38 days of 80+ degrees. Source: Scott Sistek weather blog, KOMO TV.) Hello climate change!! I actually feel worse if I go out and spend time in an air-conditioned space because when I get back to my hot house, it’s even harder to handle. I cope by whining a lot (as shown in this comment LOL ) and lying on my bed under the ceiling fan reading library books.
KAte says
If you put the crock pot in the garage the house won’t smell delicious all day long!
I do like the idea for saving heat though.
My mom puts her toater oven on the back porch in the summer and uses that instead of the oven or grill most days.
KAte says
Toaster*
Lace Faerie says
Being born in Southern California I used to love the heat. Not anymore, especially accompanied by humidity. I go from getting too hot to physically ill, blacking out and vomiting, in a heartbeat. I think poor temperature regulation is part of my Fibro.
I also open the house up at night, pulling cool air in with fans, and close it up as soon as the sun hits the house. Keeping the drapes drawn till after the sun has passed the windows. Fans blowing on me helps while I work.
Remember, if the fan isn’t actively pulling in cool air I or blowing hot air out, it’s motor is generating heat. Blowing warm air around only cools people, not rooms, so turn off fans when you leave the house.
Kristen says
Thoughts on keeping the house cool: If you have a cellar, use the cool sink it provides to draw air from the basement to the upper flow with a fan. Close off rooms that get hotter than others to prevent them from heating the rest of the house. Learn how the sun moves across you house and open/close room doors to move air naturally.
Chris M says
My deck is right off the kitchen, so I put my heat generating appliances out there when I need to during the summer — rice cooker, crock pot(s), roaster oven … a friend refers to it as my “redneck” kitchen. Since my kitchen faces West and gets so much afternoon/evening sun, I work hard at reducing any heat!
Leslie says
I use cooking appliances that I can place outside (electric skillet, crockpot), or the grill. Also, I hung some cheap exterior roll-up shades outside our windows that get the most sun. That made a surprising difference!
Julia says
I grew up with out AC but we had a whole house fan in the attic. In the evening we would open all the windows and my father would turn on the big fan which would suck all the hot air out of the house and draw in the cool evening air. I still remember the sound of it as I fell asleep. Now I use ceiling fans as much as possible and only turn on the AC. when it’s really hot. I limit cooking in the heat of the day, line dry clothing (this is year round as I have indoor and outdoor lines, including some in the basement). We have to keep my son’s room at 70 as he keeps some of his 4-H show rabbits in there. I’m trying to convince him to move them to the basement for the summer as it is much cooler there.
Tracy L. says
I have very large windows that let in a lot of light. Which in the PNW is usually a good thing (most of the year). But, in the hot months, I put up car sun visors running vertically. They are reflective, and have suction cups that adhere to the windows pretty good. I do use blue tape to help hold the edges. I have noticed a HUGE difference since using these. Before I got these I used Costco heavy duty aluminum foil. Yes, yes it was VERY redneck, but it worked! Friends thought I was crazy, until they realized how well it worked!!
Joanna says
That’s smart!
Joanna says
We also have an attic fan that we turn on in the evening after the temp drops below 75. Plus we close all the doors to the bedrooms upstairs so the cool air doesn’t flow downstairs. Oh, and we always (try to) close the doors to the bedroom closets, as the closets abut the roof and get either hot or cold depending on the season.
Georgia says
I’d suggest a drying rack that can be moved outdoors and in as the neighbors walk by instead of laying clothes on furniture. I’d also suggest window film for those easy/west windows. You can buy varying types from heat reflective to privacy.
Ellie says
This drying rack is the greatest. Holds a huge amount. Not the typical rickety wobbly rack from the store.
http://homesteadstore.myshopify.com/collections/homestead-laundry/products/homesteader-drying-rack
Ann says
My washer/dryer are in the garage where I’ve had clotheslines strung since day one. I use them to dry everything but sheets. Air-dried clothes stay nicer longer (especially lingerie), pilling is minimal, nothing fades, and the energy saving is obvious.
Julie says
We have black out blinds, they are cream coloured but so dense they keep the heat out. In the mornings the front of the house is blacked out, in the afternoons the back is blacked out. It makes an amazing difference. Also outside our west facing kitchen French doors, my husband built a pergola which is now completely covered in wisteria, beautiful and keeps the patio and kitchen cool. The labs love sitting under there in the shade. Finally we are lucky to be able to have a linen line the length of the garden, previously though I used fold up airers, and a pull up dolly airer in the bathroom.
Farmer Phyl says
We recently had to replace 5 west facing windows, each 6’x5′. It was quite an expense! The window installer said the old window seals failed because our insulated blinds allowed the sun to pass through the glass and be trapped between the glass and the blinds. So it was like an oven. Now we have shade cloth over the outside of the windows which keeps the glass from getting so hot in the first place. And we can still use the insulating blinds. Be careful about saving a few dollars on AC costs and spending at ton on new windows. It’s better to shade the outside of the windows.
Lori says
I love these tips for saving on the A/C! Great ideas.