This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Trane Residential. All opinions are 100% mine.

in what’s now felt like a month long heatwave here in LA, we have been more stuck inside than EVER (who thought that was even possible at this point?!) so this post is so topical! for those of you who have central A/C, happy to share some tips for keeping your house cooler and save money and energy.

i really need to follow these because you may remember just weeks ago our A/C was busted right in the midst of a 100 degree evening. luckily we were able to get a guy out to repair it within two hours but oh man that could have been really bad for us. we’ve actually now had some sort of A/C issue during almost every heatwave over the last few years so it’d be nice if i could actually monitor our unit and make sure this doesn’t happen every single time. 

we are those people who keep the thermostat between 70-73 and complain when we go anywhere where it’s slightly warmer (we run hot i guess). but it’s so bad for our bills!! trying to develop better habits for saving energy and money, so i thought this post would inspire me too.

change your filters

and in general, do maintenance checks seasonally. changing the filter, checking the fuses and making sure everything is running properly before your unit stops working and you have to pay a guy a bunch of money to check it for you is WORTH IT!! (trust me lol.) in the summer especially, we have to change our filters sooo often because sometimes they get black even within just a few weeks. ew. we figured out what filter we needed and then did a subscribe-and-save so we always have some in the garage when we need them!!

Trane Comfort Performance Filter

keep your house dark

make sure the windows and blinds are shut during the day to keep it as cool as you can. we keep all the bedroom blinds drawn when it’s hot like this. keeping the sun out with blackout shades makes a huge difference. our house is actually pretty cool, naturally, because we have a giant jacaranda tree in our front yard which covers the whole front half of the house. this is annoying because we don’t have as much natural light as i’d like, but it has for sure helped us save on energy over the years. don’t cut down those trees!!!

use ceiling fans

i couldn’t live without the ceiling fan in our bedroom. they can make a room feel 4 degrees cooler, which means you can turn up the thermostat a few degrees.

open your windows at night

if you’re able to, turn off your A/C at night and let in cooler air. then shut the windows and shades in the morning to trap the cool air in your house.

don’t use heat-generating appliances until after 8pm

don’t use your stove, oven, dryer or hair dryer until after 8pm to avoid heating up an already hot house. they can raise the temperature up to 10 degrees. WATERMELON SALAD FOR DINNER!!

gET a PROGRAMMABLE THERMOSTAT

when you’re not home, set your thermostat to 78 degrees to help cut back on energy costs in the summer. that’s definitely high i know, which is why i say when you’re not home haha. you want it to be a higher inside temperature that’s closer to the temp outside, because it slows down the flow of heat into your home and makes it easier for your A/C to work efficiently. if you set the thermostat 7-10 degrees above your normal setting while you’re away, you can save as much as 10% on your electricity bill.

arlo prefers to sleep without the AC going (it seems to blow the hardest in his bedroom), so it’s definitely encouraged us to keep it warmer during nap times, since i’ll do ANYTHING to keep him asleep as long as possible even if it means i’m suffering haha.

if you have a programmable thermostat you can setup a schedule so you don’t have to think about it everyday and have it auto shut off when you’re going to sleep.

replace your A/C unit if it’s 10 years old or not energy efficient

if your unit is over 10 years old, you prob spend more extra every month on energy costs. if you buy a new unit, invest in an energy-efficient one which can save you money each month for the next decade or two.

---

anyway, i hope this helped! stay cool!!!