What Can You Do In This Heat…. If You Don’t Have AC?

Me, I'm lucky. I know I'm lucky. I have my own place, and the air conditioning works.
And with the weather forecast calling for us to be in the 100's pretty much all weekend (might get some rain Sunday night, but.... it might not cool us down a whole lot), that's something I'm personally pretty thankful for.

I mean, I'm a huge baby. I acknowledge that.  I went on a tour of Bothwell Lodge the other weekend (pretty neat, by the way, you haven't been in recent years.  They've done some renovations and opened up more of the house for tours) and there was, of course, no air.  It wasn't so bad because you know, there were fans and we were moving from room to room, but I can't imagine what it's like to have sit in the heat with no air conditioning relief.

So what if you're in that position?  What if you have AC but it's busted, or if your house only has a tiny window unit, or even no central air at all?  There are, in fact, a few things you can do to help alleviate the situation.

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1.  Keep your windows closed and covered.  If the air outside is hotter than the air inside, keeping the windows shut will help the inside of your home stay a little cooler. Curtains might also be a good idea. Then, at night when it's cooler outside, open them.

2.  Install window film.  Some window films can prevent a TON of the sun's heat from entering your home.  And it's cheap... about 30 bucks on Amazon.  I did this on an old apartment I had with terrible insulation.  It brought the place down a few degrees, even though it DID have a working AC unit.

3.  Shut and insulate your doors.  If you're spending most of your time in one room, close the doors to the rooms you aren't using, like bedrooms or bathrooms.  That keeps the cooler air concentrated in a single area.

4.  Use fans the right way.  Creating a cross breeze with fans is the best way to circulate cooler air and push hot air out.  Find the coolest part of your house, and angle the fan towards the hottest part of your house.  Or, set up a make-shift air conditioner by putting a big bowl of ice in front of a fan.  I've heard that works, but full disclosure, I've never tried it.

Or if you're like me, you can just sit in your bathtub with some ice cubes in it and cry. Or, you know, drink a ton of cold beverages.  Read: water.  I know you're probably thinking more like Margarita, but you should probably avoid that.  Sorry guys, hope this helps.  The summer sucks and I hate it.  /Unpopular Opinion.

Hotly yours,
Behka