86 degrees in my house? Ohhhhh, no.
Recently, I read about a blogger who sets his thermostat at 86 degrees during the summer and I'm not gonna lie: I was kind of horrified at the thought.
I am an unabashed air-conditioning lover and I am frequently grateful that I was born after this blessed invention.
I tend to run on the hot side (it doesn't take much to make me feel overheated), and humidity makes me feel unbearably crabby.
There aren't really even words to describe how much I hate the feeling of humid air.
(Mr. FG and Sonia seem to barely even notice it! It has to be almost 100% humidity before they say, "Hmm. Feeling a little humid out there today.")
I wish I felt more tolerant of heat and humidity, but here we are.
What's my thermostat at?
When money was a little tighter, I kept the A/C set at 80 (that does at least knock the humidity down vs. no A/C), but now that we have more wiggle room in our budget, I set the thermostat at 76/77 degrees.
(a full ten degrees lower than said blogger!)
Does this cost more than keeping it at 86?
Yes.
Is it worth it to me?
ALSO YES.
When the house is hot and sticky, I feel irritable.
I also don't feel like doing anything.
And I really hate sleeping in hot and sticky air.
If things get really tight financially in the future, I will consider raising the thermostat. But it'll be one of the last expenses I will cut.
I'm also quick to turn the A/C on.
Some frugal people manage to push off the first spring/summer day of A/C for quite a while.
Me?
I'm over here pressing that button as soon as my house feels uncomfortable. I am not interested in suffering.
I also don't hesitate to turn the A/C on if the temperature is somewhat low, but the humidity is high. If I run it just enough to get the humidity level down, my sanity makes a speedy return.
The saving/spending tipping point
I love to save money (obviously!)
And I'm willing to do a lot of things in order to save money.
But there are some things that are just so painful for me, they're not worth it.
What good is a few more dollars in the bank if I feel miserable all summer long? My future self might enjoy that money, but is that worth making my current self melt into a sad puddle?
For me, the answer is a solid no.
The juice is just not worth the squeeze.
I'm not being completely foolhardy.
I employ some energy-saving, heat-surviving methods, despite my somewhat spendthrift A/C habits!
- I open the windows when the weather is nice and shut then before the heat of the day.
- I try not to use my oven when the weather is hot.
- I keep curtains closed when the sun is shining on them.
- I make sure to keep doors and windows tightly shut.
- I take cool showers and wear light clothing.
- I make cooler foods in the summer.
- I run ceiling fans when I'm in a room, to help the air feel cooler.
Those tactics all feel manageable to me, so I'm able to use them cheerfully.
But there is no way on God's green earth that I will ever set my A/C at 86 degrees and retain any semblance of cheerfulness.
And that's that.
Tell me about your A/C habits! Are you like me, or do you not care that much about A/C?
P.S. It should be said that I live in a climate that is quite hot and humid in the summer. There's usually no really tolerable air outside for a solid 3-4 months. If I lived further north or somewhere more dry, I'd be much less addicted to my A/C.
P.P.S. Un-air-conditioned air is rather terrible for the health of a piano. So, I could try to tell you that I run it for the benefit of my lovely piano. That would be a bold-faced lie, though.
I'm in an interesting position about the AC. I don't mind warm air but, like you, I strongly disfavor humidity inside. I wish there were some way to dehumidify a large space without having to run the AC. Since there isn't, I keep my place at 74-76F during the summer and kick the AC on if it gets unpleasantly humid inside.
Today's Fun Fact: Did you know that Willis Carrier developed his machine to control humidity? Cooling the air was part of the process, not the goal.
I love in Syracuse, NY, home of Carrier Air Conditioning and the Carrier Dome, which, ironically, DOES NOT have air conditioning! It can get powerful warm in there. Like the Dome, we don't have central air either, and many older homes here don't. We do use window air conditioner s in the bedrooms at night for comfort and fans in the rest of the house during the day. I would never keep my thermostat at 86. In the winter, we keep it at 62! We can take the cold.
I *live* here! Love, too, I guess!
I live in the Poconos, we do have several really hot, muggy days when it hits the upper 80’s/low 90’s and then I run the AC at 75 degrees. Usually I open the windows and get the breeze and turn on the ceiling fans. August is nice as we get lower humidity levels and temps in the 50’s at night. I did spend time in Texas, Florida and a number of southern states. Rules change when the low temperatures at night stay in the 80’s and muggy. In the winter, I keep the thermostat at 60, put on a flannel shirt when needed, it is far better and healthier for sleeping as well. Setting the AC at 86 would not do much for me.
I also despise heat and humidity. Humidity is the worst!! I refuse to be uncomfortable in my own home. We can save in other ways. Our AC is on 72 during the day and 68 at night. I can't sleep if I am hot. 🙂 Our electric bills are not bad at all. It is NOT worth it to me to be cranky and hot to save a few dollars a month.
I also can't stand an overheated home in the winter. It feels stifling to me. Our heat is on 65-66 during the day and 62 at night. 🙂
I could handle a house on the chillier side in the winter, but Mr. FG and Sonia are as tolerant of cold as I am of heat. Which is to say, not very. Ha.
Oh well.
Our house is similar. In summer, we keep it 75 during the day and 69 at night and make use of ceiling fans. In winter, its 65 during the day and 62 at night. I sleep so much better when its cool in the bedroom. I wish I could open the windows on nice nights, but it aggravates my son’s asthma and my husband’s allergies.
I also do a lot of closing of curtains during the summer and opening of them during winter days. I try to minimize use of the oven and dryer during the warm months. Our house has a lot of windows, so we typically don’t even bother with turning on many lights during the day.
Humidity is my downfall and I live in a very. humid area. Our air con runs for months from probably September to May. Winters are generally mild here and getting hotter.
Our aircon is run at which 80. The big aircon keeps the main part of the house comfortable. The bedroom systems are not as efficient and are run at a lower temp. But when temperatures are near 100 day after day with nights around 80 I find it essential.
I also dislike feeling overheated in winter. In our part of Australia homes are not heated and people just get on with it. We had a Swiss exchange student and she really suffered without the place being kept at a constant 72.
If there is no humidity I can do quite well. The hottest I have been out and about and being a tourist was 110. I didn't mind it at all. I was covered iwht a hat, long sleeves etc so I did not burn.
We have a split level with crappy circulation... Our window layout on the house is not the best so unless everything lines up perfectly.. we can have almost no airflow at times with windows open..Humidity is the worst thing ever for me.. I walked Yellowstone and burned horribly b/c I was not feeling the heat.. because it was wonderfully dry!! It makes my husband laugh that at 60* I can be pouring in sweat trying to get ready for work due to the humidity...
So our summer a/c is kept around 72*, minimal oven use, covered windows, ceiling fans on...
I keep an afghan on the couch for when 92y grandpa comes over and yells at us for not enjoying the weather and freezing inside! lol
YES. I can get so so sweaty even when the temperature isn't high...it just takes humidity and I'm done for.
I am in the northeast, (don't think far from you!) And like you, I run on the warm/hot side! Always have always will. I keep my air at 72, would like to keep it lower, but those people in my house freeze at 72 (LOL) At night its still at 72 and I run the celling fan, and a stand fan, and sometimes I am still hot! I do not sleep well when I am hot!
Hey I have to pay to heat it in the winter, why should I suffer in the summer?
We have the A/C on all summer. We keep it between 75 and 77 degrees, coolest overnight. If I'm hot I bump the temperature down. I try to "save the planet" in other ways.
Oh man. I have so many words on this subject. Short version is that climate-controlled houses have not been my lot in life since becoming an adult. For ten years I lived in a house in upstate New York that had essentially no heat or cooling in the bedrooms upstairs. Like, there was literal frost on the walls in the winter and in summer there was just no sleep and fitful tossing with a wet washcloth in a vain attempt to cool down.
When my second son was born in the middle of the worst heat wave ever recorded, my husband bought a window unit air conditioner the day we brought him home, and I think I might have cried in relief. Of course, it was cooling like four rooms upstairs, so it's impact was not what it might have been in our actual bedroom, but it helped at least a little.
Our current house unfortunately has some of the same problems as that house, although not to nearly the drastic extremes. The living room last winter got to 58 degrees, thanks to drafts and a far-away heat source, and it gets to about 82 for a few hours in the afternoon. No A/C here, either, except for a couple of window units that we don't use because it seems silly to use it for just a few hours before it starts cooling down.
The real issue here is that I LOVE climate control and having a steady temperature--I don't like either heat or cold, though I tolerate cold a little better--and my husband can handle both with no trouble and LOATHES A/C. He actually doesn't like how it dries the air and prefers swamp coolers. What? This should have been brought out in our marriage counseling.
All this to say that I function at a low level of discomfort most of the year, but at least where I live now mostly gets cool at night, which is the biggest benefit. Because sleeping at 86 degrees? I've done it, and there's precious little sleeping that actually happens.
`
I live in the same area you live, so hot and very humid in the summer. We keep the A/C on all summer set for 72. Up until about 2 years ago, I could handle the humidity and didn't want to use A/C unless the temps reached 90 degrees (however, the kids insisted we use it more frequently and I acquiesced by late summer to turn on and keep on the A/C). However, since hitting 40 about 2 years ago, I run much hotter. The AC comes on in late spring and stays on throughout most of the Summer. We also head north for our summer vacations.
How did people live without air conditioning?? My mother informs me that she never had it growing up. In Lubbock, of all places, we had ONE window unit and it was in the kitchen. I never even noticed as a child feeling miserable, but I bet my mother spent 90% of her time in the kitchen! Lubbock is very hot and dry in the summer, so humidity is never an issue. However, we also lived in Galveston and the humidity is extreme. If your sweat cannot evaporate off your body, you will suffer!! As adults, we bought a new A/C a couple of years ago when our old one was about to croak. Austin summers can be brutal with that heat and humidity combo, so it was well worth the 6K we spent, not to mention that our bills are much lower and so is our thermostat setting. A/C all the way!!
I live in Florida where the humidity is really a problem. But since I work from home and sit at the computer all day, I leave it at 78 degrees, which is very comfortable. However, at night for sleeping, I knock it down to 70 because my husband is a furnace. It was nice when we lived in Upstate NY in winter, but not in Florida during the summer!
I live in the South East, hot and humid all summer. Because I have heat induced asthma I MUST run the AC. I keep it at 78 unless the humidity is really bad (90% or higher) then I drop it to 76. That seems to pull the humidity in the house down.
I do run hot so I use a cooling mattress topper on the bed and I sleep under only a sheet and with the ceiling fan on. The topper was pricey (over $200) but it's made sleeping through the summer nights much easier.
I also live in Florida. We keep our air at 80 degrees, but we have a ceiling fan in every room. That really helps. Without the fans, I'd be in real trouble.
I live in coastal Texas so it’s a/c all year round apart from the few days we need to turn on the gas fire!
When we first moved here 20+ years ago the thermostat was set at 80 degrees, now that we have acclimatized it’s down to 75!
Thank heavens for a/c but I’d still rather live in a more temperate climate.
We keep ours at 76 in the summer. I used to have it at 78, but our upstairs bedrooms get so warm, that it is uncomfortable to sleep even without any covers. I can't open the windows too much because of my husband's seasonal allergies. One blogger I follow keeps his heat at 50 during the winter (he raises it a bit when the rest of his family is home). We keep our heat at 68 in the winter and I can't imagine lowering it much more. I would have to have thick socks with shoes and layers and layers of clothing to be warm. Even at 68 I have to wear socks to bed with fleece pj's, a sheet, a blanket and thick quilt and it still takes me a while to warm up.
I was wrong, he actually keep the heat more like 55-58 during the day. That's still very cold to me.
I am the opposite and I am always freezing! I always try to sneak the thermostat up to the 80s and run fans, but my roommates (aka kids and hubby) switch it down. During the winter I like to be warm and cozy, but our heat is gas which is crazy expensive, so I live in a heated blanket (it's much cheaper to run a plug in electric blanket than it is to heat the whole house) and layers.
I've always been hot natured, but I had a stroke about a dozen years ago and since then I can't regulate my body temp very well. We are in the 100+ degree days here in Oklahoma with 50-65% humidity. My a/c stays at 68! I have to stay cool to be able to function.
I work for our area electric co-op and the recommendation is 78, so you’re in the ballpark. Each degree below that is a 3-4% increase in your bill. I love in FL, the humidity capital of the world it feels like, lol, so not many people keep it at 78. I don’t, lol! I keep mine at 75. But you’d be surprised at how many people keep it at 68 and wonder why their bill is so high!
Yes, very humid here as well! We keep it on 76/78 and my husband still gets a little hot some days but he can jump in the pool 🙂 LOL. In winter, I keep it on 68....and recommend socks/sweatshirts if anyone is cold. Our electric bill is not too bad with these settings....
My husband works in a very hot environment and needs home to be cool and comfortable. My son is allergic to grass and other parts of the great outdoors, so ac is a necessary for us. Ours is set at 70. My husband says he will gladly pay extra to not be uncomfortable at home. When we moved into this house it had no ac and we moved in in September. It was still a hot few months, but we didn’t get ac until the following summer. I was pregnant and insisted that we get central air. I’m glad we have it.
Another Floridian here. My husband has poor circulation so we keep the A/C at 78 or 79, which is too hot for me, but I deal with it. I am one of those who waits until it's almost miserable in spring before I turn A/C on, because once it's on, I know it will run the next six months solid. We have a separate unit for the upstairs, but since no one is up there during the day I programmed the upstairs A/C to keep it at 85 during the day, cooler at night and early morning.
Kristen, it can be frugal to keep your A/C on. We've had some periods where we had to go without A/C for a while for various reasons and here's what I discovered about not running A/C in a hot, humid climate: mold will grow everywhere, and it's a fight to keep mildew out of your clothes. I got mildew in some washcloths and dishcloths and had to toss them. The food in our refrigerator spoiled so fast -- every time we opened a door, the refrigerator took a gulp of hot air. Fruits in our fruit bowl were decomposing in a couple of days. There was mold in the showers and I had to work to get rid of it. There was no such thing as using the oven at all, and even stove top cooking was miserable, so the temptation to grab something out to eat was incredibly strong. We took more showers, two a day. We also changed clothes more, since we didn't want to put sweaty clothes back on after a shower, which meant, more laundry. I tended to hang out in stores longer, for the cool air, which meant I was tempted to buy more. We took more car rides, just for A/C, which used up gas. In my opinion, you are spending more to have A/C, but it's not as much as you might think.
JD: Yes to all of that in the last paragraph. I used to joke--without much humor--that I seasoned our food with my sweat while cooking in the summer. And so much mildew. So gross. That was my experience on a lake in upstate New York, where the humidity was punishing and our towels never dried before they started to smell. We didn't have a lot of water there in the summer, either, for the house, so there were no extra showers. Laundry was always an issue, too. Also, I hated how the Q-Tips in the bathroom were always bendy. A small thing, but incredibly irritating. 🙂
I live in Minnesota which gets surprisingly hot/humid. People are surprised to hear this as they assume it's cooler here in the summer since our winters are so God awful. But it can be God awful humid the summer, too. We don't run our a/c all the time but if it's too hot/humid to sleep with the windows open, which is probably 60% of the time, we run our a/c at night. We do not run it while we are gone during the day since we are out of the house for 10 hours between working/commuting. We ran our air less before we had our son but he is such a hot, sweaty creature so for his sake, we run the air when it's warm/humid. When we run it, we set it at 76 usually.
I grew up in a house where the thermostat was set at 72 in the summer. That is WAY too cold for me and I was always freezing. But my dad worked outdoors so he deserved to come home to a cold climate!
In the winter, we set our thermostat at 66 most of the time. We will turn it up to 70 when we have guests over. Because our son runs so warm and sleeps in a sleep sack + jammies, I don't worry about him being too cold. Before we had our son, my husband preferred to set the thermostat at 63. Burr. That was a bit cold but it was tolerable and does really save money!
One funny little story about air conditioning/heat. My husband had an aunt and uncle who lived in Savannah, Ga. They were constantly changing the thermostat up and down. On the way to visit them one time, I read a newspaper column where the writer said in every marriage only one person will be comfortable at any one time, so it's best to choose which one of you it will be from day one and set the thermostat for that person. The other person then either wears more or less clothes, as needed. His theory was that it would prevent a lot of arguments. My husband's uncle said if he'd known that previously, he would have just sucked it up and let his wife be the one to choose the temperature. It would have made them both happier in the long run.
The person who runs hot could easily end up naked, though! There are only so many clothes you can take off, and even once you are wearing nothing, you can still be awfully hot and sweaty.
Maybe the person who hates A/C could put on a blanket so that their partner doesn't need to be starkers. Heh.
Maybe they want their partner to be starkers. Heh.
I keep out air 79 or 80. Nut we live in an older house with lots of mature trees and we have ceiling fans in virtually every room. In the winter we are at a minimum of 72. I will be cold for no man or woman.
I was resistant to getting an air fryer, thinking my convection oven was just as effective. But I came around this spring when it got hot out, and didn't want to use the AC.
I have been getting more into cooking outdoors, since my wife and daughter don't appreciate thai curry, and specifically, the smell in the house when making it. So for that I use a standalone induction burner I got for xmas one year.
I've added to the arsenal now to include the air fryer, so I can bake various things outdoors where it won't heat up the house. And now I basically have a full complement of gadgets to let me cook outdoors and not stink or heat the house up.
I don't know about anyone else but (early) menopause had made me so heat/humidity intolerant. I like my air on 68° (only one in bedroom) which my husband pointed out is also when the heat is turned on. I say as long as everyone is comfortable to sleep I can put up with being mildly uncomfortable, sometimes, during the daytime.
Oh no. So I'm going to get even hotter than I am now? That is a scary thought!
We only have a couple of window units in the bedrooms and a dehumidifier in the basement (though my wife would kill for central air.) We turn them on if it's hot out and turn them off if we're comfy. The heat doesn't really bother me all that much but the cold I hate, loathe, despise and abominate! So in the winter, the heat is on and I'm comfy. Summer is much more enjoyable for me than winter.
We live in a tiny community of Thermal CA and it just as hot as it sounds (Monday we set a record 123 for that date). For the most part it’s a dry heat, but once it’s that hot it does matter it miserable.
We set our A/C at 76 and that works for us, we do use ceiling fans and if it’s really hot we have stand fans I turn on.
But when the humidity comes in mid to late August that is the worst. We have a Date Farm and harvest is mid August to late Sept. so when we get done harvesting for the day the AC feels so nice. Doesn’t matter what it’s set at.
What is the point of even having AC if you're going to "set"it at 86???? That's MUCH higher than any heat would ever be. I wonder what he sets his "heat" to in the winter months--48?? LOL!
I'm with you--I will pay ANY amount of money for AC. We typically have ours at 75/76 during the day and 72 at night. I work from home so I try to keep it up as high as I can stand without being uncomfortable. And, I am in the unlucky "hot flash"stage at night so it has to be 72 at the most with the ceiling fan blowing away!
ETA: We live outside Charlotte, NC, and the heat can be BRUTAL but the humidity is a thousand times worse!
I live in a old home in Chicago, so I don't have central AC. Generally speaking we don't have that many bad days in the summer here in Chicago. I don't think my house even gets to 86 with nothing on ever....so I can't imagine having central AC and setting it at that (haha). We do have a portable unit for our bedroom on those summer nights that are horrible. Winters are brutally cold here.....I would like to set my heat at 70 plus but it would cost me hundreds a month so we do 65 when not home and sleeping and 68 when we are home and active.
Ha! I'm the opposite. I HATE to be cold. I can easily tolerate up to about 80 in the house, but come winter (in California, no less), I use the heater. Anything below 68 puts me into the cranky zone, no matter what I'm wearing.
Fortunately, our home is fairly energy efficient. This summer, we had a heat wave and turned on the A/C. Whoopsie, it didn't work. We apparently never turned it on last year. The house got up to 88 when it was well over 100 outside. It was pretty miserable, IMO. By the time Amazon delivered the part and DH installed it, the heat wave had broken and we haven't turned it on since.
Luckily, this is a First World Problem. I am so grateful for the home I have.
I live in Florida and I have no AC or heat. I live by many fans (or an electric blanket in the winter). I also have a huge forest of a yard with loads of trees. If I DO need AC, there's always the library nearby.
I live in the Sacramento, CA area and summers here start in early May and last until Late September, 90 degree days are considered a cooling trend! having 2 weeks straight of 100+ days is typical. I keep our house at 75 with the AC when we're home. Plus with two kiddos under 3, I can't risk them overheating! Like another poster said, we "save the planet" in other ways!
No humidity here. We have two zone air conditioning. It's only turned on if people are in the living area zone or the bedrooms zone. 78-80 during the day and 79 at night in the bedroom areas. We are high in the hills of Los Angeles and will get a decent summer breeze so sometimes we can shut it off at night. We also use fans in the bedrooms to help circulate the air. If our family is leaving the house, we make sure that the air conditioning is turned off.
Oh man, I HATE the heat and I sweat a ridiculous amount. We've been keeping ours set at 73 during the day and 66 at night. This is the first time we've had central air though. Our old house had evaporative coolers, which are much cheaper to run. I may change my mind about what I can handle once the first bill arrives. Lol
86 degrees is far beyond my capabilities, but I did find our first summer in Sacramento after years in the Bay Area (where it's never hot) that if I keep the temp a bit warmer inside I'm more acclimated outside. It's hot but relatively dry here, and our house is very shaded - and was built in 1919, so designed to stay cool in an era pre-A/C. We have central air now but keep it around 80 or 78 if I'm doing chores and feel warm. Evenings in the summer are usually super pleasant here in the summer (the Delta Breeze) and we open everything up. It'll be in the 60s in the morning inside!
My wife could never be warm enough. She kept the A/C at 80 and she would still sit with a blanket over her legs.
Unfortunately she died recently. I would be happy to have it at 100 if she were here!
I keep it at 79 now - feeling if it is under 80 that is better! I need to save every penny I can now I don’t have her Soc Sec check!
David, I'm sorry for your loss. May her memory be a blessing.
I'm a Seattle native and have lived in the area all my life. Something that shocks many newcomers is that only 33% of Seattle homes have air conditioning. It used to be okay---the normal number of 80 degree days in Seattle was 25, 85 degrees was 10 days, and 90+ was 3 days. And the days would be spread out, usually never more than a few hot days in a row and then it would be back down to 75 outside and lovely. (Personally, I prefer the rain!!) But in the last 5 - 6 years, we've started having many hot days and long streaks of them---12 days of 90+ degrees in 2015 for example. So it's quite miserable without A/C. We've just had 4 days of temperatures in the high 80's and it was 78 degrees downstairs last night, 83 degrees upstairs where the bedrooms are. All we have are fans. I double-fan it---a ceiling fan and a fan on the nightstand. I can't even open my window overnight because we live on a busy street. I try to get up extra early and open the windows to air things out as much as possible before it gets too hot outside. Luckily, it's almost never humid. But for the last several summers, we've had smoke from wildfires in other parts of the state and our neighbors in British Columbia come to Seattle and make the air quality terrible. We couldn't open our windows at all because the smell of smoke was so strong. This summer has been relatively mild (knock on wood) but I'm sure things will only get worse as climate change progresses.
In case there are any fellow weather nerds out there, I just found this blog post from scientist Cliff Mass, a professor at my alma mater, the University of Washington. He says by the 2090's (when my son will be in his 90's), there will be an average of 17 days of 90+ degrees per year here, again that's up from 3 - 4. That's terrifying. https://cliffmass.blogspot.com/2017/05/are-air-conditioners-needed-in-seattle.html
I live in Nebraska, land of extreme temperatures! 😛 Hubby runs hot, and I'm usually cold. My boys are somewhere in between (ages 7&5). Both of us want to be comfortable at home. During the summer, our thermostat is set at 76 during the day and 73-74 at night. This is comfortable for me, a bit hot for hubby. During the winter, our house is at 69-70 during the day and 67 at night. This is comfortable for hubby and too cold for me. I'm usually wearing several layers and moving around, drinking hot drinks, and/or under a blanket. In fact, the only 2 winters I've enjoyed were the ones when I was pregnant and running hotter than normal. Haha.
I've always been hot as well but menopause is a heat I never imagined.
I keep my AC anywhere from 68 to 74 during the day & 60 to 65 at night. I do use window units which are super efficient & keep things super cool at a low cost.
amen sister to every word. I live in ny and it gets so humid and disgusting every summer.i hate the heat.i am .grateful every day for being born after air conditioning was created.
I can't stop laughing at this post. I live in Southern MS. We have close to 100% humidity every day! Feeling hot and sticky is the worst for sure, though my tolerance to it has been increased since moving back again. I agree with this, but also I do think you get a little used to it after awhile. I've lived all over the US and in drier climates I find that I don't tolerate humidity as well when coming home to MS for visits.
I live in Alabama so A/C is a necessity! It is extremely hot and humid here for many months of the year. We keep our A/C on 72 during the day when we're home but down to 69 at night because I can't sleep when I'm hot. The humidity today is only 65% which is lower than it has been most of the week. The humidity is so bad here that I purchased a small dehumidifier to help the A/C keeps up! My family was just discussing how miserable we were growing up because we only had two A/C window units in the house - the kitchen and our parents bedroom.
All I can say is you are good. I'm very hot natured and cannot tolerate my house at 76 degrees. Here at my deep south home, we have the air on 71 in the day and 70 at night. I just pay the bill and make sure we keep the lights turned off. Ceiling fans run constantly here. I would love to keep the air on 67 or 68 but that might be too costly.
Hi,
Try SEER 19 with this AC it’s easy to have lower Temps. Lower bills plus it’s super quiet.
I am in Idaho, and our air is lovely and dry, so not much humidity, at all! We have taken quite a few trips to Florida, but NEVER when the humidity is high. I could not live in a humid climate.
We do get temps up in the 90's (it's been that way the past few weeks), but it is bearable to me if I can stay inside in the late afternoons. I keep my AC at 73-, but our temps often drop in the 66-70 range in the evening and since I wake up a few times a night I often open my windows. I like fresh air! I also open them in the mornings, then close when the AC kicks on.
That said, the humidity contributes to all the lovely green landscaping and trees you have. We are mostly desert, but I live in a subdivision so we all have automatic sprinklers which keep our lawns green and the air a bit cooler. We are also fortunate to have plenty of irrigation water which is relatively free.
Could not live without AC!!
Even when my debt was twice the amount of my yearly income I ALWAYS prioritized heating and cooling. Like you, I am not foolish with my energy use but I always paid to be comfortable. TOTALLY WORTH IT. Every last penny. Plus, being comfortably cool (or warm) made all the other sacrifices associated with that debt pay-off much more tolerable.
I have the same situation, only with heat. I used to be militant about not having the house warmer than 64 degrees in the winter. We lived in a drafty house we had just purchased and were fixing up. My husband would try to explain that against the walls it was far colder, and that since our bed was against one of the walls that, really, we were sleeping at a much lower temperature. I held my ground. Well, it hit 45 below zero one night and I woke up with my very long hair literally frozen to the bedroom wall. Plus, the plumbing in the bathroom froze up that night, too. Lesson learned. The heat went up to 70 degrees until summer, when we were able to tear down and insulate walls (and discovered that the guy who built the house, in 1948, had used newspaper for insulation!!). Plus, now that I have gotten older, I like to keep the house at 68 anyway.
Lindsey: My pillow used to freeze to the wall, too. And that was in the same room later used as a nursery for my sons. We did put in a space heater for them, though, and eventually we put insulation on the walls. Still, it was cold in there. Hardy children, my boys. 🙂
I grew up in eastern CT and my parents didn't make much money at the time. My bedroom was on the 2nd floor and the only heat we used was a wood stove in the basement. I woke up many mornings to seeing my breath. Alternatively, we had no AC and it was miserable in the summer.
Now, I live in an old 2-family in the Boston area. The upstairs folks have AC; we have none, but the draft from the walls cools our condo great! During the winter, we keep our heat at 62 during the days and 58 at night. I love it but my partner wears a hat and fingerless gloves all winter in the house. And, we just found out that the dining room, living room and foyer have no insulation at all....
I live in PHOENIX ARIZONA so A/C is pretty much necessary for survival,lol! We all have our strategies out here. Our electric provider has a "time of use" program where you save money by using less A/C during some peak hours.I keep my house at 78-80 during the day.It is pretty comfy with a ceiling fan on.But I need to be very cool when I sleep, and that is the CHEAPEST TIME to run the A/C too--so I crank it down to 76 and sleep nicely. We are dry here and it makes a big difference, no humidity. I can also tolerate being a little warm in the daytime but at night I HAVE TO be cool to sleep.We all make our life priorities, and being comfy in one's own home is so important esp. when we stay home a lot, like I do!!!! I believe QUALITY OF LIFE guides how we spend our money.. so we splurge on what's important and skimp a little on things that don't matter so much..
We have a programmable thermostat and set it for different temps based on if we need heat or AC. For AC we have it set to 73 during the day and 71 at night. We could probably increase it during the day but I don't want to be hot unless I'm in a room with a fan running. Our kitchen and dining room don't have fans and I spend a good deal of time in there so 73 it is! During the winter we do 68 during the day and I think 62 or something at night. I LOVE having a big warm blanket on the bed int he winter and we sleep better when it's colder so the temp goes down a BUNCH then!
I absolutely agree with you! I also "run hot" (as does my hubby) and we keep it at 76 during the day. I am slightly ashamed to admit on a frugal blog that it's at 73 at night because we both LOATHE being hot when we sleep. Like you, we prioritize this spending. Also, we've worked really hard to have an energy efficient A/C and well-insulated home to minimize waste.
Now in winter, I can keep the house plenty cool. We usually run around 64. We both like sweaters and cuddly blankets.
To each their own! I say let's not judge each other 🙂
I live in hot, humid Virginia. Heat and humidity make me literally nauseated and hypotensive. In the summer I make a concession to frugality by setting the thermostat to 74 during the day and 68 at night. Anything above that and I am miserable. Furthermore, I rarely take advantage of nice days because I have numerous allergies. Open windows = can't breathe. Nope, environmental control is my Achilles heel. I have to pay for it.
I'm writing this with goosebumps in my over-air conditioned office--I have no control over the office thermostat.
In our slightly inland area of Northern California, we sometimes have some beastly hot days were the temperature is well into the 100's. But they are very rare. We have more 90 degree days, but still not common. Mostly during the summer we range somewhere in the 80's. Most evenings our "natural air conditioning"--fog--comes in and cools us down to the 50's during the night. And the humidity is always tolerable ("It don't rain in California in the summertime.")
On those hot 90 and 100+ degree days I long for air conditioning, but it's not really needed 355 days of the year--that wouldn't be a frugal investment at all. We open up the windows as soon as the temperature outside falls below the temperature inside and close things up in the morning while it's still cool. It never seems to cool off inside on those really hot, hot days, but after a few days of that we look west and see the fog rolling in and know that blessed relief is on it's way. Occasionally skunks are around at night and we have to close the windows because of the stink (UGH!).
My husband would never tolerate AC. When we stay in motels with AC but no windows to open he has terrible allergy issues. So I have a fan that blows on me all night and I sleep by the open window. And I wish for AC for a few nights a year, otherwise we feel grateful for our temperate paradise.
Ha! I suspect we might be neighbors. I had all the windows open tonight to cool the house off, exactly as you described. Suddenly, a skunk got very, very angry. We ran around closing all the windows, but missed the one in the laundry room. Oh, the house reeks! Worst of all, the house had only cooled to 79 degrees when the skunk did its skunky thing. I'll open everything up again early in the morning to try to knock it down a few degrees naturally.
Blech! I hate the humidity! Growing up, we lived in an old farmhouse with no air, not even window units. Before bed, when it was still light out, my mom would have us jump in the creek down the road. It certainly cooled us off enough to fall asleep...but we had to watch for leeches...aka bloodsuckers!
Later on, we moved to a different house...with a POOL! We were in it every night before bed...ahhhhh!
Oh...and I keep the central air unit at 72 degrees and the heat at 62 degrees in the winter. We live right outside Rochester, NY. where it is currently rainy and MUGGY! Blech!
I keep ours at 74 in the summer - though if it is not actually very humid I will push it to 76. Also, I have figured out that I often wake around 4 in the morning and am hot (a post-menopausal thing)- so I have my AC dip to 72 from 4-6am!
In the winter we keep it at 68 during the day and down to 62 at night and we are perfectly comfortable. I used to keep it lower at night (58) but have found that our new HVAC system has a hard time getting up to 68 if we go too low at night when it is really cold out (we live in MA where it can get 0-10 degrees quite often in the winter).
It's nice to know so many other people have cooling/heating issues. I feel like I complain year 'round! There are really only a few "perfect" days of the year anymore, where temperatures and humidity are pleasant and tolerable. I decided awhile back to just spend the money to be comfortable. I feel like it's an investment in sanity and even though I occasionally cringe at our electric bill, I never really regret the expenditure.
Chicago burbs here. AC @ 72 tops in the summer and it goes on early and stays on until the first frost due to family members with severe seasonal allergies. Our electric bill is about $100-120/month in the summer and worth every last cent!
I live 50 miles north of Houston where it was 100 today and 100% humidity. I left the air at 73 when I left for work this morning and I will turn it down to 70 when I go to sleep tonight. A bill worthy no matter what it is.
I'm with you, I can't stand to be hot. I would happily take -10 degree winter days over 100 degree summer days. We didn't have A/C growing up or the first five years in our first house and it was miserable. We keep our air set at 74 during the day and 64 at night. In the winter I am happy to put on layers and slippers and keep the house cooler. We set the heat to 68 during the day and 59 at night. I LOVE sleeping in a really cold house.
I like to keep mine at the lowest possible setting : 64!
I hate humidity, I hate being hot. My kids actually wear long pants pyjamas and a house coat because of me... Oops!
Our local utility provides excellent incentives for insulation and energy efficient heating and cooling. After new insulation/sealing my electric bill with the AC is only higher. It made a significant difference.
Also, setting aside a subsistence budget that many of us have had at one time or another, people make decisions about what is important to them. My cleaning lady certainly isn’t frugal but I make other concessions to afford her. I always say that’s the best money I spend all month because it gives me Saturday mornings.
I am so, so the same!! I despise sweating in my own house. BUT--I justify it by keeping it chilly in the winter, I figure that helps off-set it, right? 🙂 I love hearing others saying the same thing. Both my husband and I don't do heat/humidity well and we get grouch, so I'm thankful he understands and isn't upset when I turn it on, though I do try to push it and open windows when I can!
This is why I LOVE your website. You are real, you are honest, it made me feel better about some of the choices I make. Mine is vacation....I know renting a house is the cheaper option but hello, that’s why I’m on vacation, so I can eat someone else’s cooking every night. I am frugal in other categories in my life so that I can go out to restaurants on vacation! I am also a “ I will be cozy in my own house” kind of person. Line drying? Yes! Make supper at home every night? Sure! Sweaty in the summer and shivering in the winter? Non, merci!!
I might endure a bit of discomfort at home if necessary, and adjust with fans. But I will NEVER be without working AC in my car! How my parents took us on long road trips before air conditioning was the norm for cars, I do not know.
Opening car windows to have dry air blow in does not help. But then, as we weren't buckled in, let alone in car seats in those long ago days, we maybe could move around and not notice the warmth as much.
I am exactly like you. As soon as I start feeling overheated (which doesn’t take much), and the air feels humid, I get SO irritated about everything and I can’t do anything. My husband loves the heat and I can’t stand it. Our AC is on 74 during the day, and pretty much the same at night, and we do have a ceiling fan in our bedroom. I’d we had to live without air conditioning in our very un-shady house, I don’t know what I’d do. I would have to save all my exertions for morning/evening cooler hours. Or live in my nice cool basement.
Besides, what is even the point of setting he AC at 86?? Why even have it on??
I was never crazy about hot humid weather and now that I experience hot flashes I do use A/C when it's warmer than 75 degrees out or more humid than 75%. We live in a brick/cement apartment building that is like an oven when the sun shines on it in the summer, and there are no trees to shade it as we are on a high floor. Our electric bill is included in our maintenance fee and we pay a monthly surcharge for having two A/C units whether we use them or not so we don't feel the pinch money wise. However we do try to conserve energy where we can like turning the bedroom A/C off in the morning and the livingroom A/C off at night since we are not using those rooms then. We also turn them off if we leave the apartment for longer than an hour. We don't want to contribute to a blackout if we don't have to. We also try to go out to a nice shady park and take along some iced tea to make the hot days bearable.
I live in SC where it is incredibly sticky and hot with lots of humidity. (We are predicted to be 97 over the next few days) I would say that I use the same energy efficient efforts that you do. I love May and October when we don't need heat or air conditioning but if I'm too hot, I don't hesitate to turn on the air. We keep our thermostat at 76 if it's miserably hot outside or 78 for non heat wave days. My brother, however, lives in Southern Florida and he rarely uses his air conditioning - no need for heat ever - and his house can be about 86. I can't stay at his house and if I visit, I'm dripping in sweat immediately. He can handle heat but not cold and I am the opposite. I can always put more clothes and blankets on but there's not much you can do about sweating!
I spend the majority of my time at home, and I really just can't bear to be overly hot or overly cold. So I run the air when it becomes necessary, and run the heat when it is necessary ("necessary" being subjective, but "necessary" to the people living here). I can't open windows in the spring because of allergies. The oak pollen is so bad and my daughter and husband suffer with allergies to it, so it's best not to bring it indoors!
I just found your blog and so far love it! I am so glad to hear that someone else cannot stand the humidity/heat same as me. It is intolerable to me. I work from home and am blessed to stay inside during this time, but it is crazy. I keep my thermostat on 76-78 degrees and really don't go lower, but, I could not stand the 86 degrees!
Ahahahaha yep. I live in a stone Georgian cottage, so it doesn't get too hot in summer, but it's freezing in winter! I'm totally ok with spending more on heating just to get through the cold months. I REFUSE to be cold, and as much as we wear warm clothes/use all the blankets/etc I don't feel guilty about having the heater on.
86° too high? My ideal indoor temperature is 88° (good for reptiles) - I can slum it naked, spread myself on various pieces of furniture, and feel completely relaxed. But only summertime warmth. Artificial heat at those temperatures makes me ill.
girrl i kid you not my family tends to overheat more easily than others we blame it on the fact we were born and raised in england. our excuse lol. as it stand now i live with my ex boyfriend and his parents who are both almost 90. these people do not believe in opening windows or putting on the air conditioning. they say they are always cold. im like for the love of god its stifling in here at least open the windows and a sliding glass door to give a cross breeze. iam exactly like you. has to be a comfortable tempurture in the house so i set the air around 78 turn it on early before it gets hot so it doesnt fight the heat it has to push out of the house. see air conditooning displaxes heat it doen acutally cool. somehting i learned 4 years ago when i said hell no im buying a standing air conditioning unit for my room. running joke is i charge them per minute to cool down lol. with those standing air conditioners u want to make sure u dont use water and it has a de humidifier button on it makes a huge difference. the only thing worse than heat is humidity lord have mercy. i live in so cal sept 5th today it is 112 in simi valley where i live. never happens labor day time. i could feel that heat heat up last nigth 4am when i went to the bathroom unheard of it was around 90. i am exactly like you i dont know how in the helll my exes parents can breath with the way they keep the temperature. we live in single dwelling house not huge all he has to do is run the air at aournd 78 before it gets hot doesnt have to run it long and within 5 minutes its 30 degrees cooler thats when you close doors windows. keep it set at 85 if your cheap lol. its not bad dont decide to run it when your house is a hot box around 90 degrees your wasting energy. set it on aorunf 10am your set then open windows and slideing glass doors. opening one side of the house not the other you wont get that cross breeze. his parents are insane its so unhealthy. the few minutes i spent getting somthing to drink a few minutes ago i was dying i was dizzy and said see ya. i said dont ask me to anything today for you i will not live in a hot box 90 degrees it makes me sick. she likes help on the computer i said not your gal i cannot stand how hot you keep this house
Hi,
Get Seer 19 AC, I got New windows so my Electric bill is 10 dollars. With solar Panels it’s 30 dollars with bad windows and bad AC. With Solar Panels and New Windows and new 19 Seer AC 10 dollars.
With Global warming one can expect 35% more Humidity. I live in San Antonio, Tex just wondering what’s the average Temperature one sleeps in their Bedroom? I can’t sleep below 70, well I can but with more blankets.
Some studies state that sleeping at 60 to 69 are healthy. Lowers Cholesterol and other Health.
Do you know anything about lower temperatures for sleep?
I keep my AC in the Summer at 73 and winter 73 day and 71 night. Most everyone has there thermostat at 77 or 78. I agree Humidity is the engine for cold or hot weather. Much of Latin Americans live in Altitudes at 6,000 feet so they sleep at those temperatures with humidity. Lots of questions on Humidity and Temperatures and sleep. I’ve checked online study’s for me it’s not enough information on Humidity.
I live in the South now after 15 years of living in almost humidity-free Colorado. The humidity here gets awful. For example, outside right now it’s only 71 degrees, but our humidity is at 83% and when I checked my inside thermostat a few minutes ago it said the house is at 88 degrees! Which forces me to have to turn my central air on —-IN FEBRUARY! Due to my house being older (built in 1977) and large enough it has to have 2 central units (master BR/BA, utility/laundry room, kitchen, dining & LR on 1 unit and the back bedrooms, hallways & large bath on the other unit) I just can’t seem to catch a break on my electric bill. It’s like we have to go from running central heat straight to running central air. But, I can say that I can’t sleep hot, even with my CPAP & 02, and it seems like the higher the humidity the less energy I seem to have, so it’s not that it’s not worth the high electric bills these old Central air/heat units cause. But gosh I still would rather save that money or spend it on things besides giving so much to the power company! I’ve thought about possibly buying me a 110 window unit for my bedroom & just running it at night tho instead of cooling all these extra rooms that are so big & that no one is even in during the night. Has anyone tried doing this? And if so, did it seem to cut down your electric bill a good bit?