The Vital Tip That Will Help Keep Your Upstairs Cooler This Summer

Summertime means longer, sunnier days, which is great for cookouts and afternoons spent at the pool. It's less helpful, however, for keeping your home energy costs affordable, which are likely to skyrocket with those rising temperatures. While hotter temperatures outside mean that it is more work for your HVAC to keep your home's interior cool, you may also be making a common blunder that is making the upstairs of your place hotter than it needs to be.

Simply put, after the heat of the day hits (which may vary depending on your geographical location), avoid running heat-generating appliances before 8 p.m. on days that are especially hot. Making this a top priority can be an excellent and easy way to save on cooling costs. As great as modern appliances and conveniences like dryers, water heaters, televisions, ovens, and so forth are, these are also heat-generating machines. As you may recall from elementary school science classes, heat rises. By running these devices, you're creating more heat in your house and making your upstairs a good deal hotter. And the warmer you make your house, the longer and harder your HVAC has to run in order to reduce the high temperatures.

Since many essential daily activities like cooking dinner, doing laundry, or bathing little ones take place before 8 p.m., shifting when you handle certain tasks to earlier in the day can help to maintain your quality of life while saving electric costs. If, however, you work in an office and don't have the luxury of cooking tonight's lasagna at 10 a.m., you might need to get creative. Many small appliances generate less heat than their full-sized counterparts, which may be a good reason to use an air fryer, instant pot, or microwave for meal prep.

As far as other needs go, remember to do whatever you can to mitigate the heat that you and your family produce during the hottest times of the day. Taking a hot shower is fine, but use the exhaust fan afterwards to help dissipate lingering steam. If you have to use your washing machine and dryer, consider running them on cool or low-heat/tumble dry settings, or hang-dry your clothes when possible (air-drying your laundry on an outdoor clothesline can eliminate the need for any appliances). Even though these approaches might be different than your routine methods of household chores, they will give you the same end product without unnecessarily heating your home.