Slash Your Cooling Costs

Can you believe we’re already sliding into mid-July?  As we hit the hottest part of the year for many locations, the amount of electricity you’re using to cool your home is going to surge through the roof.  With energy costs on the rise right along with gas, it’s going to cost you more this year than it probably has in the past.  But you can put a stop to the waste of energy and the cash flowing right out of your pockets.

For every degree you raise your thermostat in the summer, you can slash a minimum of 3% off your total bill.  Experts recommend that you don’t cool your home below 72 degrees, the point at which things get insanely expensive and wasteful.  When you’re away from the house, they say you can set your thermostat between 80 and 85.  To make it even more simple, buy a programable thermostate from your local home improvement or hardware store.  They don’t cost much (between $30-$100) and can save you oodles of money by automatically maintaining your temerature settings.  We had one at a previous home we lived in and it was great at helping to control our bills.

You might also want to think about installing some ceiling fans if you don’t already have some.  According to Consumer Reports, they cost very little to run and can help you feel up to 7 degrees cooler than the ambient air temperature.  Just think, if you have your thermostat set at 80 the fans could help you feel like it’s 73 in your home.

Here in Flagstaff, daytime temperatures rarely climb above the 90 degree mark.  Most homes here don’t have A/C, so to compensate and keep your home cool you have to get creative.  At night, we open all the windows in our house and use two box fans to blow in the cool, nighttime air.  In the morning, we shut the fans off and begin to close windows on the sunny, warm side of the house to prevent having warm in flowing in.  We also shut the blinds on the sunny side.  But, we keep the shady side open to allow for the continuous exchange of air.  Once the sun shifts, so do the opened and closed windows.  While it may be chilly in the morning when you first wake up (about 68 degrees), we can prevent the temperature in the house from going above 78 degrees during the hottest point of the day.

Do you have any creative tips to cut down on your cooling bill?  Let us know!