This spring in central Virginia has brought unusual fluctuations in weather, even for our area.  One weekend is sunny with temperatures soaring into the 90s, followed by several days of balmy 70s, and then a rainy weekend in the 50s!  With such big swings, it’s hard to keep temperatures inside our homes stable.  Use these easy tips to keep your home comfortable this spring.

Use windows to your advantage!  With milder spring temperatures, you can use your windows to let in fresh air and to regulate the temperature in your home.

• For evenings cool (but not cold) nights, leave your windows open overnight. If the next day is supposed to be hot, close the windows and lower the blinds to capture the cooler air in your house.
• Cool spring days are often still accompanied by cold nights. For those pleasant days when you open your windows, be sure to close them back up to avoid a chilly night or uncomfortably cold morning the next day!

Ceiling fans and ventilation can make a big difference this time of year.  In the summer, a ceiling fan can allow you to raise your thermostat a few degrees; this time of year, that ceiling fan may even mean that you can avoid turning on the AC at all!  Ventilation fans in laundry rooms and bathrooms can reduce heat and humidity in those rooms, keeping them more comfortable and reducing the need to run your HVAC.

Many programmable thermostats have a heat-cool mode.  This setting regulates the temperature in your home within a preset range, and the thermostat manages whether the HVAC heats or cools to stay within that range.  During this time of year, when you might need heat to warm the house overnight but AC to cool in the warm afternoon, this setting will save you from needing to constantly manually adjust the HVAC settings.

A common joke in this area is if you don’t like the weather, just wait five minutes and it will change, which seems to be especially true this year.  Try to use these tricks to easily keep your home comfortable so you can get out and enjoy the mild spring days before the heat of summer arrives!