6 Ways To Save On Your A/C Bill
/Like everything else in the home – rent, mortgage, utilities, etc. – air conditioning costs a lot of money; and, if you’re on an extremely tight budget, you’re probably wondering how you can lower these costs.
Although nobody can control the temperature outside, the good (or at least, relieving) news is that there are things you can do at home to make cooling costs less intimidating for the wallet, and make your house comfortably cooler. Here are six ways you can save money and stay cool.
Photo by Jeremy Bishop from Pexels
Use A/C Economically
The generally recommended temperature for your AC’s thermostat is 78ºF instead of 72ºF. This saves you as much as 18% off your cooling costs. Turning the AC to a colder-than-normal setting will cause you to spend more than usual on your A/C bill. This is because the smaller the difference between indoor and outdoor temperatures, the less you’ll spend.
Plant Trees
Did you know that most heat accumulates into the house when the sun directly shines onto the roof or through windows? Thus, it’s easy for heat to be an unwelcome guest in the home. However, the good news is that we can look to nature… to combat nature.
Leafy trees can provide some shade for your house, even if you buy a 15- or 20-foot-tall tree from the nursery. At an average price of $300 including labor, the investment will pay for itself over several A/C monthly bills. And, shading your air conditioner increases its efficiency by up to 10%, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.
Clean Your A/C
To ensure your air conditioning unit is working well, make sure that you’re maintaining it. This means cleaning or replacing the filter when necessary. Having a dirty filter in your A/C makes your unit work harder to give you the best performance in cooling – this translates into you spending more money to keep your home cool. Instead, make it your job to maintain the A/C, so it can be efficient and save you money.
Set And Time Your A/C
Set your thermostat temperature and a timer to regulate the A/C. It is generally recommended to set the thermostat to somewhere between 22ºC and 24ºC (71.6ºF and 75.2ºF). Not only does this save you money, but it is also environmentally friendly.
Keep Curtains Closed
Closing the curtains, blinds and shades when you are not at home can help prevent solar heat from coming into the home uninvited. You can also invest in highly-reflective blinds, which help reduce heat gain by around 45% while still allowing light to shine in your home.
Also, when choosing what colors to have when buying curtains and shades, go for the light colors. Lighter hues will deflect more sunlight than darker colors. Also, hanging your shades as close to the windowpanes as possible can keep the heat from coming in.
Eschew Heat-Generating Activities During The Day
Home activities, such as cooking on the stove, and operating the clothes dryer, tend to generate heat in the home, causing you to crank up the A/C. Therefore, consider doing these activities differently, especially during the summer. For example, you can grill outside, instead of in the oven. Or, you can let your clothes air-dry outside by hanging them on a clothesline. Or, if you can, try to leave these activities for after dark when temperatures drop.
Conclusion
As you read through these simple tips, we hope that they’ll help you have a cooler home all while saving money. So, here’s to a hot summer, and having a cool head when the next cooling bill arrives in the mail.
Author: Ashley Halsey writes for Essay writing services and Gumessays.com. As a professional writer, she has completed many projects and taught successful business training courses throughout the country. In her spare time, she likes to spend time with her two children, travel, and read the classics.
