If you live in a climate that gets hot during the summer, you know how expensive it can be to cool off your home during these long summer months. However, just because you’re wanting to save money doesn’t mean that you have to suffer through an entire summer of unbearable heat in order to not pay outrageously high cooling bills. So to help you find ways to beat the heat without breaking the bank, here are three ways you can save money on cooling your home in the summer.
Don’t Create Additional Heat In Your Home
One way you can keep your home cooler during the summer is by doing all you can to keep from bringing additional heat into your home. There a quite a few things that you do on an almost daily basis that can heat your home up quickly. According to Energy.gov, some of the most common things that can heat your home are using your oven to cook, running other appliances, and leaving the lights on. Rather than doing these things, try cooking outside on a grill when possible, turning off lights you’re not currently using, and only running certain appliances when they’re full or absolutely necessary.
Use Your Blinds Strategically
Another thing that can quickly heat up your home is leaving your blinds or curtains open during the day. While you might like having to natural light coming into your home, the heat from the sun will also make your house a lot hotter, which can cause you to run your air conditioning more. To combat this, Alina Bradford, a contributor to CNet.com, suggests closing your blinds during the hottest part of the day. Once the sun goes down, open your blinds and windows to help bring in the cool night air and naturally cool down your home.
Increase Your Home’s Insulation
While you might think of this as more of a wintertime strategy, putting more insulation into your home not only help it to be warmer in the winter, but also help to keep it cool in the summer. With less outside air getting into your home, you can make better use of your air conditioning and keep from losing that cool air into the atmosphere. And according to Katie Kuehner-Hebert, a contributor to LearnVest.com, even just buying a small amount of insulation and strategically installing it in your home can help make a huge difference in the amount of money you’re paying to heat or cool your home each month.
If you’re concerned about keeping your home cool this summer without spending a lot of money to do so, consider using the tips mentioned above to help you find ways to keep cool even when it’s hot outside.
