We are talking about reducing your home cooling bill. If you missed the first part of this series, click here: Save on Home Cooling.
Adapt yourselves to the heat. Don’t rush to turn the air conditioner on as soon as the outside temperature goes above 75 degrees. The soon your body adapts to the warmer temperatures the easier it will be for you to tolerate them. Try raising the temperature on your air conditioning by a degree each week to help you adapt. Aim for 78 degrees. Last year, we adapted to 82 degrees quite nicely.
To help your body feel comfortable in the warmer weather, wear light loose-fitting clothing, drink plenty of fluids and avoid both caffeine and alcohol.
Find cool spots in your home to gather. Do you have a cool basement that can be turned into a playroom or family room? Is there a room that tends to be the coolest in the house? For us it is our family on our main floor. It tends to get the least amount of sun during the day and therefore stays nice and comfortable, reducing the need for home cooling. We can spend much of our time in this room in the summer to feel comfortable. (In the winter, we spend much of our time in the sunny living room.)
Take advantage of outdoor living. Sometimes when a house is stuffy, you can head outdoors to some nice breezes. Sit out on a covered porch with an ice cold drink. Some folks even convert their screened porches to sleeping porches in the hot months.
Set up the kiddie pool and get in it with the kids while you leave the air conditioning off. Head over to a local park with lots of shade, or a community pool. If you are really desperate, take a trip to the mall to cool down, although ice cold air conditioning may affect how your body acclimates to the warmer weather.
Happy summer weather!
Mary Ann Romans writes about everything related to saving money in the Frugal Blog, technology in the Computing Blog, and creating a home in the Home Blog. You can read more of her articles by clicking here.
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