Summer is here and some of us spend the entire day at home instead of enjoying the summer outside. Do you think that you can actually save money while staying at home for summer? Well, you are wrong! Due to the heat of the sun, we look for things to keep us cool somehow and that is to turn on the air conditioner the entire afternoon. Warmer months approached in just a blink of an eye and we are tempted to go to the air conditioner or place you in the nearest fan. We are here to help you avoid your electric bill heat up as well and there a lot of ways to buffer your home from the heat of the sun without letting your electricity bill climb up too.
- Grill – Summer is for grilling and if you use your oven or stove to cook then it will your house 100 x hotter than the temperature outside. Instead of using oven in your home, why not go for the traditional grilling outdoors? Besides, who does not want to cook with fresh air and some beer? Cooking something inside the house and whether it may be a light meal or heavy meal, as long as you use the oven in your home, it will just help your house to get hotter.
- Incandescent lights – If you need the motivation to make the switch to CFLs (Compact Fluorescent Lamps), this is your chance now! Incandescent bulbs waste 90 percent of their energy from the heat they emit; putting them to the curb will make a little difference in cooling your home while you try to lower your electric bill. These bulbs are very known to use a lot of power and give off heat. Incandescent lamps are starting to phase out to you better start switching to LED or CFL bulbs.
- Hacking your windows – Open the top section of your windows on the downwind side of your house and opening the bottom section of windows on the upwind side is one way to create a cooling pressure current in your home. Are you familiar with box fan? If yes, then consider getting one out on one of your windows to push the hot air out inside your home and also you might as well want to try wetting a sheet and hang it in front of a second open window like a curtain. In that way, you can now have an improvised chill-infused breeze in your home. It can also be done in an apartment if you are renting and want to cut some of your electricity bills during the summer season.
- Night Air Power – Keep in mind that even though it is summer, it does not mean that it is also hot during the evening. Temperatures drop during the night, if that is the case on where you live right now, make use of the refreshing hours by cracking an open window before you go to bed. Improvising can also be applied here by creating a wind tunnel by setting up your fans to force the cross breeze. What I love about summer nights is that it is usually different than any other season. I am a summer kind of person maybe that’s why I prefer summer than any other season. Okay, please do not forget to close the window before Mr. Sun arrives and he will not wake you up because it is too hot in your room already.
- Low – Sleep downstairs if the heat rises like in your basement or couch or if you a single mattress or an air bed then place it on the floor if the air feels a little cooler down there. I love to sleep on our air bed because of the bended features on where you lay down that helps the air flow so you will feel cool when sleeping. My kids also love to sleep on the floor with their mattresses and we are making a DIY tent using their blankets. Letting them sleep in the afternoon without using the air conditioner is a big help to me and my husband. Summertime is where the electricity bills play you and the billed kilowatt per hour is higher than what you expected so keep an eye on the extra fees in your bill!
- Heat-proof bed – Are you familiar with Chillow? It is a great source to cool your head. (Literally!) Putting Chillow under your head while you are sleeping will give you more time to sleep and you might forget about the word “Air Conditioner” and for your feet, fill a water bottle and put it in the freezer before you place it at the foot of your bed. This may seem weird because we usually dry everything that we use especially with blankets but placing them inside your freezer before using it before bedtime will literally help you chill out and get very cool good and sweetest chilling dreams.
- Exhaust power – If things get hotter inside your house or apartment, try to open the exhaust fans in your bathroom and in the kitchen. (Or anywhere that has an exhaust fan in your home.) You need to pull out the hot air that rises every after you cook or when you take a steamy shower every morning out of your house to lower the temperature inside. Some of us ignore the power of exhaust fans and how it helps every household around the world. It has a big role during the summer season because it is the only item that was invented and intended to remove the heat inside the house.
- Body temperature vs House temperature – Okay, our first priority is to keep us cool and not the house itself. House does not have feelings but you do! Of course, we are humans and we can feel the heat of summer and not the house! Remember, all our ancestors way back then survived without air conditioner and how come we can’t? Have you ever thought of that? (Ha ha! I did!) From sipping tasty ice cold drinks to putting a cold cloth to your neck and wrists (where the pulses are) is actually not a bad idea at all. Honestly speaking, I don’t want to cuddle any one during summer. (Except from my kids!) because it is way too hot and I am always irritated because I have skin asthma and my skin are itching and it turns red if it is too hot already so keeping myself cool will also keep my head cool too. One of the tricks to keep your body temperature low is to wear clothes that are cotton and sleeveless! Keeping a bowl of water by your bed and dipping your feet if you feel warm in the middle of the night can also help to keep your body cool.
- Ceiling fan secret – This trick has been applied the day that the ceiling fans were created. Our ceiling fans at home needs to be adjusted seasonally. (I did not know that before!) Set to run counter-clockwise in the summer at a high speed, it may look weird at first if you are not used to seeing it that way but the airflow from the fan will create a wind-chill breeze effect in your home that will make everyone feel cooler during the summer.
- Swap sheets – Let me ask you a question, how often do you change your bed sheets? If you ask me, I change every week since I got skin asthma. Okay back to the topic. Changing your bed sheet seasonally will help you freshen up your room and it is a great way to help you keep cool. Did you ever wonder why is it so nice to sleep when your bed sheets are new? Flannel sheets and fleece blankets are common things to keep your warmer but during summer, you need something to keep you cool. So keep them in your closet for a little longer and use cotton blanket instead because cotton breathes easier and stays cooler.
- Magic fan – Who says that you need an air conditioner to keep you cool this summer? I will share some of my tricks that I have been doing for the past 5 years already. Yes we do have an air conditioner but I only turn them on every time we go to bed. (Frugal living at its best!) Fill a mixing bowl with ice (or an iced bottled of water will do too or an ice pack), and place it at an angle in front of your fan and in that way, the air that comes from the fan whips off the ice in a chilled, extra misty state.
- Always be smart with your doors – Meaning closing the unused rooms will just prevent the cool air to flow in your entire home during the hottest part of the day. You might want to try to open the doors at night too, letting the air flow naturally through your home and let them do their job. To make your home cooler and to lower the heat inside your home, try putting some live plants inside your house to produce natural oxygen and to keep the air that you breathe healthier.
- Blackout curtains – This is one of the best purchases in my entire life! Blackout curtains are known to naturally insulating the rooms in which they are installed and that is what they are made for, blocking direct sunlight from the sun. I have blackout curtains installed in our homes except in the kitchen and it helped me reduce our electric bills ever since I purchased them.
- Keeping your blinds closed – One of the simplest tips for today’s article! Closing the blinds prevents your home from becoming miniature greenhouse because expert says that 30 percent of the unwanted heat comes from our windows and utilizing the shades using your curtains will help you lower your bill up to 7 percent. Tips guys! Always keep your blinds closed in the south and west facing windows.
Done with our list and I hope this tips will help you. Remember, our tip does not include and it is not mandatory to turn on your air conditioner. We are here to help you cool this summer without letting your electric bills heat. Did we miss something? Please let us know with your comments below!
