Roundup: How To Cool Off Tips ...Without The AC

While last week we were hoping for warmer weather here in LA, it seems we've gotten our prayers answered in spades--ninety-six degrees today (which happens to be a record breaker)! While we're sweating away in our apartment, we've been rounding up ways to stay cool (without having to pull our portable AC unit out of the closet).

Wikipedia has a great article on how to beat the heat and Sarah C's post highlights her top picks.

Open windows and use fans to create cross-circulation currents.
Turn off electric appliances, like lamps and stoves, that are sources of heat.
Eat small portions of food throughout the day and drink lots of water.
Use mint (in a glass of water or in skin care products) to refresh yourself.
Apply cold water to your pulse points.

And of course, our AT readers provided great ways they keep the temperature down at home in the comments. Some picks are;

Install a ceiling fan.
Take cold showers.
On any windows that get direct sun, line the curtains with white (or use a pull-down shade) during the day. The heat will bounce off rather than absorb.
Go barefoot whenever possible.

While our laptop is a constant source of added heat during the summer months, Unpluggd posted 5 ways to keep cool while computing. Some suggestions were to move your desk next to an intake vent so the heat from the computer is circulated (instead of going right back in).
ReNest tossed up some great suggestions from a DIY blog on how to keep cool. One we're going to try is to freeze our pillowcases before bedtime.

Any more ideas or tips to add to the list? Let's hear it?!

[Image from Lance Catedral]

Comments (17)

6" of snow last Friday here but 60 degrees today. That is what I love about Colorado. I won't need to worry about cooling off for another month.

95 degrees at 4 in the afternoon... no amount of mint or water on my pulse points is going to replace the AC today...

It's 91 (broke the previous record for April 20th by quite a bit) in San Francisco, I'll undoubtedly be using some of these tips when I leave my air conditioned office! But I'll also be savoring the brief flash of heat before the fog rolls in tomorrow or the next day.

I hang laundry to dry in front of an open window...the breeze is a little cooler when it comes in.

Fog I am looking forward to seeing you again.

Fan is on full blast and I took off my flannel sheets that I put on Friday and put on white cotton ones. I will miss my flannel sheets deeply.

My father used to love to tell us that when he was a kid an air conditioner was a block of ice sitting in front of the running fan.

I find that opening windows on a hot day is not the thing to do. I close the window , and the shades, and try to keep the sun out. This will generally keep my apartment about 15 degrees cooler on a hot day like today.

An old boyfriend, who was a starving musician without A/C, always took cool showers with Dr. Bronners peppermint soap (bar, not liquid) right before bed, then cranked up the kick-ass industrial fan.

He had lots of bright ideas for living simply but comfortably.

Miserable day (yesterday too). I'm not ready for the heat yet!!!!

any sort of spongy bedding seems to make me hotter by like 10x, I try to just sleep with sheets. The only problem is that living in Vegas is like a burning hell when you're outside. You can't really do much about that except stay indoors during the day, at night it's really nice.

If you have a big window or sliding glass door overlooking a sunny patio, balcony, yard, etc., invest in a large patio umbrella to block direct sunlight. Boom - ten degrees cooler inside my stuffy pad.

If it's more than 80 out, you'll find my apartment with the air conditioning on and me being able to lounge in jeans and a shirt rather than shorts and a tank.

my bedroom gets direct sunlight from 12:30-sundown.
i've been keeping the window closed, blinds down, plus a thick blanket covering the window to keep out the heat.
then once the sun sets, fans go in the window.

It's 98 degrees today in Tucson. Yeeeehawwww! Here's my trick to stay cool.

It still gets down to about 55 degrees overnight, so open all the windows, and put box fans in them. Once it starts warming up, close the windows and turn on the ceiling fans.

I did this yesterday, and it never got above 75 degrees inside, even though it was blazing outside.

Also in Tucson - switch to traditional summer decor to visually cool your house. White, silver, blue and green, not gold, red, yellow and orange. Furniture covers in cool fabrics such as cotton or linen. Use glass instead of brass, grass instead of wool, flowers & plants instead of candles. Hang cooling art - icy fields, sea or skyscapes, trees, waterfalls, mirrors. Replace wool rugs with cool cotton or none. Put a seersucker or plisse coverlet on the bed, instead of a quilt. ... Find storage space for the sheepskin rugs, red and gold pillows, fluffy quilts, and other winter goods.