Keeping a residence comfortably cool can be a financially frustrating exercise, particularly during the summer months and for people who live in areas with hot weather year-round. While there’s no denying that home cooling costs are rather pricey, many of us increase these costs without even realizing it. Although there’s no magic wand solution for high cooling costs, there are numerous steps you can take to make them more manageable. In the interest of keeping the old homestead nice and cool without leaving a hole in your finances, take care to avoid the following mistakes.

Refusing to Schedule Annual Maintenance Visits

If you’re not having your central air conditioning system serviced on an annual basis, you’re setting yourself up for inefficient A/C and costly repairs. Because annual maintenance checks entail spending money, many households opt to avoid them altogether. Unless something is noticeably wrong with their respective A/C systems, they see no need to call in professionals. While this rationale is somewhat understandable, it’s also detrimental to the health of your A/C and is likely to facilitate exorbitantly expensive repairs down the line.

Committing to annual maintenance visits can help keep your system running at peak efficiency and prevent a host of serious issues from taking hold. Seasoned heating and cooling technicians will be able to identify a wide range of existing problems and developing issues and remedy them in a timely manner. Of course, this isn’t to say that annual maintenance visits will prevent every conceivable A/C issue, but they will dramatically reduce your system’s risk of being afflicted by an expansive array of problems.

Leaving Curtains, Blinds and Drapery Open

Many of us use the sun as a source of natural interior light. Instead of turning on assorted lamps and overhead during the day, we simply allow the sun to handle our indoor lighting needs. Unfortunately, leaving curtains, blinds and drapery open during the sun’s peak hours stands to increase the temperature of your home, thus facilitating the need for your air conditioning system to work even harder. With this in mind, take care to close your various window dressings during the sun’s peak hours – at least during the summer months.

Never Using Ceiling Fans

While it’s easy to see why many people regard ceiling fans as a second-rate alternative to air conditioning, this line of reasoning is incredibly flawed. For one thing, high-quality ceiling fans can efficiently distribute the cooled air from your A/C to every area of your residence – provided, of course, you have a sufficient number of fans installed throughout your home. Secondly, when their blades are adjusted to spin counterclockwise, ceiling fans are able to produce downward-flowing cool breezes.

Running the A/C Unnecessarily

Some of us become so accustomed to running the A/C indefinitely that we neglect to shut it off when temps start to cool down. For example, in many areas, summertime temps undergo a noticeable drop during the overnight hours. So, instead of continuing to needlessly run your air conditioning, you should take this opportunity to shut off the A/C, open some windows and allow ceiling fans to distribute Mother Nature’s gift throughout your home.

Failing to Address Problems as They Surface

Allowing problems with A/C systems to linger for extended periods stands to destroy both your air conditioning system and your personal finances. Even if you have an aversion to spending money on minor problems, you need to remember that small issues will become large issues if given enough time in which to do so. So, even if an issue strikes you as inconsequential, letting it go unaddressed is unlikely to work out in your favor. For example, if you’re wondering why your air conditioner turns on and off right away, a knowledgeable pro can provide the answers you seek.

As many homeowners will tell you, effectively cooling an entire residence can prove draining to one’s finances. However, if you live in an area that’s prone to uncomfortably warm weather, you’re liable to feel as if there’s simply no alternative to cranking the A/C around the clock. While it’s true that air conditioning has an essential role to play in every household’s cooling setup, it shouldn’t be the only tool you make use of. To help prevent yourself from needlessly adding to your home cooling costs, take care to avoid the blunders discussed above.