Beating the Heat
By alaskanray
@alaskanray (4636)
United States
July 10, 2012 3:15pm CST
I just got my a/c worked on...both my car a/c and my home central a/c...and neither one works now that the triple digits are here. Unfortunately, at the same time my budget has taken a huge loss so even though I have found a nice portable air cooler that is reasonable (about $110), I can't afford to get it! So...we are having to get creative to beat the heat this summer.
We have two electric fans to our name but once the temperature rises above 85 degrees, they're just blowing hot air at us! One thing that I've started doing is keeping a cold wet wash cloth handy to swab my face and lay on my head, neck, and anywhere else that feels a little too hot.
Last weekend we held a garage sale and made enough to purchase an inflatable pool which we have found goes a long way toward cooling us off, plus we are taking cool baths in the tub when it's too cool outside for the pool. The house doesn't cool off for several hours after the outside has started to cool so bathing is a good option.
We have also started putting ice in our bucket to keep our water bottle in so the water in the bottle stays cool.
In the meantime we are busy trying to make some extra cash and save it up to buy that portable cooler so we can keep at least one room in the house cool enough to live in. We can't sleep if the house is too warm so we are keeping late hours. Last night it didn't cool off in here until 1am! And then by 9am it was already heating up! I have come to the conclusion that I was not made for triple digit weather! Yikes!
How do you keep cool on a hot day without a/c?
How do you keep cool on a hot day without a/c?5 responses
@cher913 (25782)
• Canada
10 Jul 12
well, we only have a portable a/c which really only cools one room as we live in a 5 level condo. we have a number of fans and what i do to keep cool is take lots of showers during the summer and eat a lot of cool stuff like salads, ice cream and freezies. also, avoid excessive movement when its hot and try to seek out cooling centres (places with central air like grocery stores, libraries or the mall).
1 person likes this
@alaskanray (4636)
• United States
11 Jul 12
That's the kind of cooler I want to get. I have it picked out online at Amazon but don't have the money for it yet. I figure with shipping I need at least $120 and I only have around $50 so far. Here's hoping I'll be able to pull it off soon!
@RitterSport (2451)
• Lippstadt, Germany
16 Jul 12
pulling the blinds down and shutting the curtains helps here. I dont drink cold drinks as it provokes coughing but I leave most of the stuff at room temperature.
Right now I wear underwear and a stained t shirt and thats it. Its 1:30 am here and I should be in bed soon any ways.
1 person likes this
@Shellyann36 (11384)
• United States
12 Jul 12
Another thing you can do is to wash your laundry and hang it over the windows in your house. This will keep the heat out and be a sort of swamp cooler at the same time. Years ago when our dryer broke and we didn't have enough space on the clothes line for our clothes I would hang ours like this. It works so well.
@alaskanray (4636)
• United States
12 Jul 12
I had not thought of that, although we don't really have too many windows, which is part of the problem, and the ones we do have aren't in very good shape...only two open, which is another part of the problem. lol
We have clothes racks that we dry our clothes on but I want to get a line put up in the back yard.
I have discovered one drawback with the little inflatable pool I bought in that it gets very dirty very quickly and we have to drain it and refill it in order to clean it. So we have quite a chore to keep us busy all summer as we try to keep cool by soaking in the pool. lol 
@burrito88 (2774)
• United States
12 Jul 12
I'm lucky in that I live in the mountains and there are a lot of trees around my house. The shade from the trees tends to keep the house inside temperature down (while they also keep me from getting satellite TV by blocking the satellite that has local network TV.) I've run the a/c now when the humidity gets high or my dog's tongue starts to hang out more.
This past Monday I started a new job where I have to drive over an hour. Since the check engine light came on in my car, I used my 1999 Durango to go to work. The Durango's a/c isn't working and I when I tried to charged more coolant Sunday it didn't seem to leave the can and get into the system. Driving home Monday afternoon, I was fairly burnt out by the time I got home.
Despite being wiped out, I was happy to hook up with my neighbor that night. He's a mechanic for a dealership and was able to check out the check engine light to find that it was no big deal and he reset the indicator so the past two days I could use the 2002 Malibu to drive to and from work and have a working air conditioner. (of course htere had to be a truck fire that made me late getting to work. Not good for the first week but they didn't seem to upset, yet.)
Now I just have to worry about what the temperature will be during the day to see if I need to run the a/c in the house just for the dog. And he'll probably be upset because he won't get as many rides in the car this summer.
1 person likes this
@alaskanray (4636)
• United States
12 Jul 12
Well, I have to admit that I miss living on the coast. I much prefer the more temperate climates to these extreme inland ones. Although Pendleton isn't quite desert, it is pretty extreme in the summer. The winter wasn't too bad but the summer is shaping up into a really hot one.
@alaskanray (4636)
• United States
11 Jul 12
Me too! Gotta think of some way of getting that money! It's less than $100 that we need...we just need to start scraping it together. Gotta remember to recycle this week.
