Each day as I do my morning routine, I am always happy to pick up our home with beautiful sunlight beaming in the windows. I see the cat laying on the top of the couch basking in the warmth of the sunlight, and envy her lazy day. My goal as a frugal home mom is to capitalize on the natural sunlight in the home. All of my curtains are opened to face the sun, so that it can start to warm up our living spaces.
Standing in the path of the sun rays as they cascade down over the top of the couch to touch the floor, I can’t help but feel the warmth. Before I did my research on frugal home saving tips and discovered all of the wonderful attributes natural sunlight offers in the winter, I kept the curtains closed. Covering the windows would stop allowing cold air in. I wanted to keep the heating bill down, and this was my solution. I was wrong. Our upstairs stays so much warmer since I have begun to capitalize on the natural sunlight.
Sunlight is Economical for a Frugal Home
Harnessing sunlight is going to bring down the heating bill. On cold winter days’ having the sun help to heat our home has been so beneficial. The upstairs rooms stay much warmer, and I have been able to turn down the thermostat. It has been a couple of years’ that I have noticed our windows facing the sun bring in heat. From this deduction I started my research. Leaving our doors open to let the sunlight in through our storm doors would help also, but this isn’t very safe. Usually, I only leave open the storm doors when my husband is home.
Some people have chosen to have solar panels or skylights installed to bring in more sunlight. Our skylight will have to wait until we are able to do some remodeling to our roof and add on a room.
My Experience with Natural Sunlight for Heat
Lately, I have been opening our curtains that get the most sunlight throughout the day. I close the curtains on the opposite side of the house that do not get sunlight. My little experiment has been working. In addition to this experiment, I have turned down the heat two degrees cooler. Prior to this arrangement, I was cold. Needless to say, I stayed in the basement with one of our space heaters on to stay warm. If I came up to sit in the living room to read, I had a heavy blanket on me, or my heat blanket.
Since I have started to allow more sunlight into our living room through the picture window it has been warmer. I checked today, and the thermostat had not been touched, but registered two degrees warmer in the house.The other day, I decided to take a nap. My recliner is in direct proportion to the picture window and gets a lot of sunlight. After I had dozed off for a few minutes, I woke up thinking that I had the heat blanket on too high. As I realized when I was fully awake that it was not a heat blanket, because I didn’t have a blanket on me, it was the sun. I was so hot from the sun beaming in that I had to shut the curtain.
The intensity of heat that comes through our windows is eye opening. My hypothesis on this experiment was correct and we can save money on the heat bill on a sunny day. Cloudy days do not bring as much heat, but the living room still stays warmer with our curtains open in the late afternoon.
Psychological Benefits of Sunlight
During the winter, sunlight is necessary. Our bodies become deficient of Vitamin D without doses of sunlight. For me, if we have too many days of gloomy it begins to affect my mood. Depression can set in easily without sunlight. Bringing in more sunlight to your home assists with the winter boredom and gloominess.
Generating Heat with the Sun
There are two ways to use natural sunlight in your home on a greater level. One, would be solar panels. I do not have much research on those but have not heard bad reviews. Another way is to put a sky light in to pull sunlight. This idea is up for discussion when we remodel our home, in the future.
In my previous work where I cleaned homes, several homeowners had skylights. They worked well to generate natural sunlight for heat. Noticeably their homes were warmer, especially the room directly affected.
Five Ways to Let More Sunlight In Your Frugal Home
First, wash all the windows. Clean windows let in light. Second, open the curtains. If at all possible open a door to allow more sunlight in through the storm door. Third, install a skylight. Not only is it a cool part of the decor and trendy, but it will save on the heat bill. Fourth, removing walls and adding glass block attracts sunlight. Next, install a picture window or more windows on a sun facing side of the home. Finally, add some shiny objects on the walls or hanging from the ceiling to attract sunlight.
All of these tips may not be possible at once. But, adding one at a time can make a significant change to be noted on future heating.
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We have a whole wall of windows in our house that get full sun nearly all day long and we have always referred to it as our “solar heat,” It works wonderful on any winter day where the sun shines! One day we’d love to install real actual solar panels to harness even more of those sun rays for more than just heating.