5 Ways To Keep Your House Cool This Summer

In the hot summers, air conditioners can take up to 60% of your electricity bill, quickly racking up hundreds of dollars before you even know it. Cool, conditioned air is a luxury in most houses, so it’s important to keep your house cool with cheap and natural alternatives.

To help you cut costs and save money on power this summer, here are the top 5 ways to keep your house cool without using your air conditioner!

1. Be Smart with Curtains and Blinds

Open windows that welcome the hot air and the sun’s rays into your house are the main culprits of insistent heat in your home. To keep the heat from the sun’s heat rays at bay, cover your windows with heat-blocking curtains. Blinds that let the light in but keep the heat out are also great cooling solutions if you don’t like a dark house.

During the cool summer evenings, make sure to open windows and doors to allow air to circulate freely, letting the cool breeze in and the warm air out. 

2. Play Around with Fans

Fans are your best friends in the summer. Pointing box or standing fans out the windows will push hot air out – a handy cooling hack! Additionally, adjusting ceiling fan settings so the blades run counter-clockwise will pull hot air up and out, creating an almost tornado circulation that sucks up the warm air. Instead of circulating the hot air as it normally would, doing this simple trick will efficiently cool your home. 

The trick of placing ice cubes in front of fans is an oldie but a goodie, perfect for those excruciatingly hot summer days.

3. Turn off and Unplug!

As a natural by-product of electricity, most home appliances will generate heat. Some electric appliances are heat sources and heat traps, so making sure they are turned off and even unplugged when not in use will ensure they don’t generate any extra heat. Plasma TVs and computers, in particular, generate heat when they’re turned off but still plugged in – you’ll generate less heat and save power at the same time by simply unplugging!

Stoves, ovens, dryers, and even lights are also notorious for contributing largely to the room’s temperature, so minimal usage and keeping these turned off will help your house cool down.

4. Use the Right Bulbs

This should be common knowledge for every seasoned home owner – some light bulbs release more heat than others. Incandescent light bulbs in particular release 90% of their energy, making them fairly inefficient compared to compact fluorescent lamp (CFL) bulbs. Turn off incandescent bulbs, or better yet, replace them with CFL Lightbulbs or LED lights.

Furthermore, both CFL and LED bulbs are more cost-efficient, actually requiring less energy to run. Ditch the incandescent bulbs this summer to save money on your power bills while staying cooler.

5. Sleep in the Right Bedding

Having trouble sleeping during warm summer nights? Make sure you’re sleeping in the right bedding: use light-coloured cotton bed covers to achieve a good night’s sleep. Comfortable and breathable fabric is necessary, especially linen sheets, as they wick away perspiration by letting air circulate and creating a natural cooling effect.

Cotton sheets also feel great against the skin, and lighter colours will reflect rather than absorb light, helping you sleep better even in the hottest of nights. 

Simply follow these 5 top ways for staying cool this summer and avoid paying ridiculous amounts for your power bill. Don’t forget to use glimp’s free tool to compare power prices NZ wide, so you can find the best power deals from the best power companies, and get even more savings on your electricity bill this summer!