This is our 4th summer in our home & we’ve never had to turn on our air conditioning once. With a few tricks and some helpful shade trees, our home stays comfortable inside even though it’s usually in the high 90s here all summer. Here are some of my favorite ways to keep your home cool without AC.
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Tips to Keep Your Home Cool Without AC:
1. Keep blinds and curtains closed during the day. About a third of unwanted summer heat comes into your home through the windows. Invest in black out curtains. You can also add UV-blocking film to the windows that get the most sun.
2. Open your windows at night when the air gets cooler outside.
3. Use fans! They aren’t the most glamorous home accessories, but they’re essential to beat the summer heat. Make sure ceiling fans are set to counter clockwise. Put fans in your bedroom window at night to bring in the cooler outside air. See my 30+ Favorite Vintage & Farmhouse Style Fans that will help keep your home feeling cool and looking chic.
» See my 30+ favorite vintage & farmhouse style fans «
4. To add a chill to the air, place a bowl of ice in front of a fan. The ice cools the air and the fan helps circulate that cooler air around the room.
5. Invest in a cooling pillow or pillow pad, mattress pad and sheet. These work wonders! They do a great job of cooling down your bed so you can sleep comfortably. Because nothing is worse than waking up in a hot sweat.
6. Plant trees or large bushes on the south and west sides of your home. Planting deciduous trees that lose their leaves during the winter will provide summer shade without blocking the sun’s warming rays in the winter. Shade trees are one of the most important ways to keep your home cool without AC, so they’re definitely something to keep in mind any time you’re shopping for a new home.
7. Take advantage of high ceilings if they’re available. Old homes in particular were built with 9-14 foot ceilings that allowed heat to rise all the way to the top, but drop ceilings were often added by residents decades later. Removing these not only helps with cooling costs but restores rooms to their original splendor. Doing this may cause your heating bill to rise in the winter, but it’s a good trade off if you live in an area like mine where cooling costs are typically higher than heating costs.
8. Turn off electronics when not in use. Large electronics like TVs can release quite a bit of heat into a room.
9. Do your chores during the cooler times of the day. Using your washer and dryer can also release lots of heat, so do your laundry in the evening or early morning when it’s cooler. The same goes for using the oven. Avoiding excess heat during the day will help you keep your home cool without AC.
10. Cook outside. Speaking of cooking, there’s a good reason why many houses had summer kitchens 100 years ago. To prevent ovens from heating up an entire house, cooking during warm seasons was done in outbuildings. We don’t have summer kitchens today, but we do have grills! Cooking more outside on a grill during the summer will help keep the inside of your home cool.
Absolutely need air conditioning? In some climates, it’s a must. Here are a few bonus tips that will still help lower your AC bill:
- Instead of paying to cool your entire house, use a portable or window unit to cool your main living area (if you’re home during the day) and your bedroom at night.
- If you already have central air, using a programable thermostat will save you money by knowing when to cool your house based on your schedule. This smart thermostat is my favorite!
- Try setting your thermostat just a few degrees higher. You will probably find that your home is still plenty comfortable without being super chilled.
A few things to keep in mind:
- In certain climates, using these tips might not be enough for you to go without your AC completely. But you’ll still be able to lower your bill quite a bit by using some of these techniques!
- If you have pets at home, make sure the inside temperature is still plenty tolerable when you aren’t home. Leave them plenty of water. A cooling pet mat or elevated cooling pet bed also helps keep them comfortable. Keep in mind that cats prefer warmer temperatures, but certain breeds of dogs do not. If you crate your dog, be sure to keep them in a cool area of the house like downstairs and away from south-facing windows.
Great tips Meg. We have a holiday home down on the south coast of South Africa and summers can be unbearable without an AC but it gets expensive too.
Never heard of cooling pillows before so thanks for that tip.
Nice trips – pinned
Great tips. I live in Florida so AC is a must in the summer but you gave good suggestions to lower the bill.
Good suggestions. I like the idea to clean during the cooler parts of the day. A while ago, I noticed that our vacuum gives off hot air, which is fine most of the year, but not in the heat of the summer. Now I vacuum less during the summer and always try to do it in the evenings, when the temperatures are lower.
Love these tips. Our A/C just went on the fritz and we’re doing almost everything on this list already :-)
Such great tips!! Thanks for linking to The Gathering Place!
These are great ideas! I especially love placing a bowl of ice in front of a fan. Thanks for linking up at Pieced Pastimes :)
I had to read your tips because one of our AC units went out almost 4 months ago and its been rough. My husband and I both though “you don’t live in Alabama heat”. =) Great tips!!
These are great ideas! I live in North Carolina, where the summertime heat pretty much demands the use of A/C, but I’d love to cut down how much we use ours. Thanks for the ideas!
These are some awesome tips! Thank you for sharing!
These are fantastic tips! I drive my family crazy because I won’t turn on the air until I absolutely have to. The ice idea is genius. Definitely going to use that one! Thanks for sharing your tips with us at Merry Monday this week!
Some fab tips, however living in a city where it is pretty much guaranteed to rain every day, AC is not something that is needed in my house! Sim x #manicmondaybloghop
Great ideas!
I’m just stopping back by to say thanks for joining the Grace at Home party at Imparting Grace and to let you know that I’m featuring you this week. :)
Wow, that’s amazing that you haven’t needed to use AC with temps that high. We do keep ours higher, 75 and it keeps our home plenty cool. Thanks for sharing with SYC.
hugs,
Jann
Great ideas! Do you miss the summertime views because the curtains/blinds are closed? I guess it’s all about prioritizing, but I would miss the beautiful summertime flowers and foliage.
Good tips. We use most of these, but I will have to try putting a bowl of ice in front of a fan. That sounds smart. We don’t have an AC, but we have a whole house fan that pulls in cool air at night.
[…] 10 Ways to Keep Your Home Cool Without AC […]
We set or a/c at 77, live in North west Fl. It is almost free solar panels.
Thanks for sharing! Fans really do help! They are becoming a lost art!
i was doing a 3 day craft shows Mother’s Day weekend in upper n.c about 20 miles from the Virginia border. It was in the 90’s. It has never been that hot there before that time of year. We opened the cooler with ice in it and put it in front of our fans. It didn’t take long for the ice to melt. But it worked for a while.
Good tips. I will share this with my family. WE keep our thermostat at 72F at night & 73 during the day in Ontario; It saves a bit. Certainly fans are worth trying.
I am old school so I already do those things,but thought of one more thing that might be worth a mention to your readers. I use a stand fan in a room that is not by the bedrooms, and set it at the fastest setting to blow air out of the house. By doing this the cooler night air is drawn in from the open windows where there are no fans. It helps to cool the whole house while you sleep, then of course close all windows and doors before the sun rises and tempatures start to rise. Just a thought someone might like to try.
Thanks sharing this article about the keep your home cool