In such case you might want to use this thermal lag to your advantage. Set AC to cool your house as much as possible during the midday and you'll come back to h

In such case you might want to use this thermal lag to your advantage. Set AC to cool your house as much as possible during the midday and you'll come back to hopefully much cooler house in the evening ( so no need to run air conditioner ). Here essentially you would be using the thermal mass of your entire house as an energy storage medium. With washing, if you have to do it every day you might want to start it right after the sunrise when you're likely to to leave for work. If your kids are old enough you can instruct them to take the washing out and put into a dryer as soon as they get home. The point is you'll need to make some changes to your lifestyle and habits but these changes are not as severe and problematic as some people claim.