Yahoo Finance 10 Ways To Beat Severe Heat – Without Running Up Your Bills
According to CNN, July 2024 will continue to be warm. The summer started with unusually hot weather and based on forecasts, it looks like it will remain that way. Excessive heat advisories and warnings have impacted over 100 million people since the first day of summer from Chicago to Caribou, Maine, and it doesn’t appear to be cooling down anytime soon, per USA Today.
This serious heat wave is leading to huge energy bills, costing folks a ton of money in the process.
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As dangerous and record-breaking heat covers much of the country with higher temperatures, here are a few free tried-and-true household tips that will help you stay cooler during this period of excessive warmth.
1. Blinds Closed in the Day, Windows Open at Night
Common-sense remedies are often the best. Intense heat will enter a home no matter what, but keeping the sunlight out of your house is simple and can make a difference.
Keeping curtains or blinds open when the sun is blazing can make a poorly ventilated room extremely uncomfortable, so remember to shut them during the day. If you are missing window coverings, pin up anything to block that sun — even a blanket can serve this purpose.
At night, open all your windows since it’s normally cooler and you want to get as much air circulating throughout your place as you can. It’s the sun that you want to avoid during the day, but if it’s scorching at night, don’t block the moon. Keep windows and coverings open and take advantage of any breeze or dip in temperature overnight.
2. Dry Your Laundry Inside
As USA Today reports, setting your wet laundry on drying racks in your house or apartment can actually lower temperatures inside. As water evaporates and leaves the house through open windows, it can produce an unexpected cooling effect.
3. Use Your Bathroom’s Exhaust Fan
USA Today also suggests you run the exhaust fan in your bathroom during a shower for longer to ensure that the hot air ends up outside.
4. Use Ice Packs to Cool Yourself
Not everyone can afford the luxury of central air or even a window AC unit, but most people have access to a fridge and freezer. Ice packs, or an icy water bottle, will work wonders to cool you down.
It’s also possible to create an impromptu personal homemade AC unit by placing a frozen water bottle in front of a fan. The effect should cool you down during the uncomfortably hot days.
5. Heat Up to Cool Down
You can trick your body into feeling hotter or cooler, regardless of what the temp outside says. For these ultra-hot days, research suggests a hot shower or bath before you sleep at night will help you cool down.
Cranking the cold in the shower will tell your body to conserve heat, constricting blood vessels in your skin. Cold swims will feel amazing immediately and eventually cool your core, but a tepid soak boosts blood flow closer to your skin’s surface, pushing the heat out.
6. Drink the Recommended Amount of Water
The single most important thing you can do during a period of extreme heat is to drink more water.
As National Geographic explains, “When people can’t drink enough water, dehydration sets in. Blood flow to the skin decreases, along with the ability to sweat. Body heat builds up. A body temperature of 104 degrees indicates danger; 105 degrees is the definition of heat stroke; and a temperature of 107 degrees could result in irreversible organ damage or even death.”
7. Only Use Large Appliances At Night
If you want to keep your home, it’s advisable that you only use large appliances like a stove in the evening when the sun goes down. [x] You can also prepare your meals the day before to ensure that you don’t have to run the appliances.
8. Start Grilling More
Another way to keep your home cool and bring your electricity bill down is to embrace grilling in the summer months so you don’t have to run the oven. Hopefully, your backyard offers shade, so you’re not standing in the sun.
9. Sleep On a Lower Floor
Since the heat rises, you may want to consider sleeping on a lower floor to stay cool during the heatwave. You can set up the air mattress in the basement or test out how comfortable your couch is.
10. Moving to a Cooling Center
According to Time, knowing when to move to a cooling center is crucial since air conditioning is the best way to fight extreme heat waves.
If your home doesn’t have air conditioning, you’ll want to find a public place that offers relief, from a library to a local cooling center, so that you don’t risk any health concerns caused by heat waves.
David Nadelle contributed to the reporting for this article.
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