There has been a lot of talk about thermostat temperatures recently because of how hot it has been where I live. There are Department of Energy images circulating that say keep your home at 78 when you’re home, 82 when sleeping, and 85 when away from home. Personally, I need it colder at night than during the day, but that’s not the point. My goal here is to make you stop and think about your actions. This applies to several areas of your financial life, but this post specifically will be regarding your heating and cooling process.

THERMOSTAT SETTINGS

In our house in the summer, we keep the thermostat at 75 or 76 during the day on the 1st floor. It usually starts at 76 and then if someone feels hot, they bump it down to 75. Upstairs, it sits at 77 for the day, is put at 76 for when the kids go to bed, and then 74 when we go to bed. When we leave the house, the thermostats are at 78; if we leave for extended periods of time, it’s set in the 80s. In the winter, the heat is set at 65 during our waking hours and 64 or 63 at night.

As a quick aside, our third son was born early and was having trouble breathing and regulating his temperature those first few weeks. We were told to keep the house at 70 or greater for him. We struggled! We made it to 69, but everyone was uncomfortable and hot. I mentioned this to the doctor and he said it was fine to be at 68 if that’s what everyone felt more comfortable at.

While we know these numbers now, we spent a lot of years working on different settings. We didn’t just assume that these were the numbers we wanted to be at. There were winter months where we set it at 63, but my fingers were hurting because they were so cold while I typed on my keyboard, working from home. I was at a friend’s house recently; they had it set at 70, and I was cold.

That brings me to another point. What’s the thermostat temperature where you’re comfortable in the summer while wearing shorts and a tshirt? If you’re wearing a sweatshirt and have the temperature set at 70, is that worth the extra cost to run the air conditioning at that temperature?

TIPS TO SAVE MONEY

This image was shared by a local meteorologist, but a citation wasn’t given, and it differs slightly from the numbers that the Department of Energy published. According to this, we’re saving 19% in the winter by keeping our heat at 65, but then we’re spending 32% more in the summer based on the recommended setting.

While you may have your expected temperature setting, you may want to consider is how hot (or cold) it is outside. If it’s going to be 100 degrees, maybe set the thermostat slightly higher on those days. It’ll feel comfortable at a higher temperature because the unit is going to be running more, therefore pumping more air into the room than on an 80 degree day.

In the summer, another option is to keep the blinds closed. If you keep the sun from peering into the house, especially during the heat of the day, it’ll help keep the temperature lower so the unit won’t want to kick on as often.

My local electricity company provided suggestions to keep your bill lower. Their article said to grill, use a slow cooker, and make sandwiches instead of using the oven and stove, which create more heat for the air conditioner to have to counteract. You can also use fans in rooms where you’re sitting so that you feel cooler while the thermostat is kept a degree or two higher. Make sure your filters are changed regularly so that your unit is working efficiently.

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I implore you to increase your cooling temperature by one and see how that feels. Live with that for a week and see if going one more degree helps too. It could be that the cost to run your heating/cooling is worth the level of comfort you feel, but it could be that you find a setting that is still comfortable and it’s worth the savings you reap.