As summer’s heat and humidity rises, a little strategic cleaning can go a long way to easing the physical discomfort, especially if you prefer not to run your A/C all season long. Here’s a quick list of stay-cool cleaning strategies.

1. Clean blinds and other window treatments: The best way to keep a room cool is to prevent sunlight from ever entering, especially at midday. Even if you have A/C, darkening rooms will help the system to run more efficiently. And crisp, clean window treatments make the prospect of blocking outside views more palatable.

2. Dust fans: Nothing collects – or spreads – dust faster than a constantly running fan. Most tabletop and floor fans can be safely disassembled for easy dusting or washing of filthy blades and grills. For ceiling fans, use a high-quality microfiber duster with an extension pole. Don’t forget to also clean bathroom exhaust fans, which will likely be working overtime as summer hits peak humidity.

3. Declutter: When it’s cold outside, having more things around you can feel cozy. The opposite is true when it’s blazing hot out. Decluttering and then keeping living spaces extra tidy will create feeling of airiness, enable air to move more freely, and present fewer opportunities for oppressive dirt and dust to collect. If you have hard flooring with area rugs in your home, summer is also a great time to send those rugs out for professional cleaning and let your floors go naked for a few weeks.

4. Ban bulky bed linens: If you have the space for it, clean and stow away all heavy comforters, blankets, and bedspreads, plus any extra sleeping or decorative pillows. As with decluttering other living spaces, this creates a feeling of airiness and extra space to beat the heat while you sleep.

5. Increase laundry frequency for bed linens and towels: You know that delicious feeling of slipping into a bed with freshly laundered sheets and pillows? That rises exponentially when it’s as hot as Hades outside, especially for anyone who tends to perspire when sleeping.

6. Avoid hanging wet towels to dry: If the air is already humid, wet towels will most assuredly contribute to the unpleasantness and can quickly become breeding grounds for molds, mildews, allergens, and other yucky stuff. Especially if not laundering with each use, at least toss wet towels into a clothes dryer on the air-only setting to send extra humidity outside via the dryer’s venting system.

7. Shift large-appliance run times: Plan to run large cleaning appliances such as washers, dryers, dishwashers, and vacuums – all of which throw heat from their motors – either later in the evening or early morning when temperatures are cooler and electric power is less in demand.

8. Clean or replace A/C filters: Finally, if you’re running A/C, be sure to regularly remove, inspect, and either clean or replace A/C filters, as these can also be breeding grounds for mold, mildew, and other allergens, which will only serve to compound the misery of summer’s high heat and humidity.