How to cool off your house with no air conditioning for cheap! A long stretch of heat is coming to the Colorado Springs area

How to cool off your house with no air conditioning for cheap! A long stretch of heat is coming to the Colorado Springs area

Starting this upcoming Tuesday June 2nd, it looks like our temps won't get below 75 thought the 13th of June!

If you don't have an aircondiditoner, there are lots of things you can do to get ready.

1). Cover all windows that get afternoon heat with these blackout velcro curtains. Here's link from Amazon.  I put them up on two windows in our living room and it dropped the temp about 20 degrees!!!! You can also cover any skylights with them. Since they are just velcro, you can just take them off when it's cool outside and you want a cool breeze. Sumobaby Portable Blackout Curtains for $15.79  I got the 50W x 59 H and it was bigger than I needed, so be sure to get a quick measurement so you're notwasting time triming off the extra.

2). You can get a different type of airconditioner that doesn't need to vent out a window, costs very little to run using electricity and can be set up and ready to go in less than 5 minutes. Pretty much you just have to get it out of the box, fill it with ice water and plug it in.   Around $100 Amazon will probably deliver tomorrow or between 10 PM tonight and 4 AM tomorrow : ) Swamp Cooler, Portable Air Conditioners with 4 Wind Modes, 3 Speeds, 3.5-Gallon Water Tank for Evaporative Air Cooler Long Cooling, 45 dB Windowless Air Conditioner 120° Oscillation 4 Ice Packs  I fill sandwich bags with water and put them in the freezer so I can keep this full of ice cold water. IMPORTANT - there is a little window on the bottom, on the front. Don't run this unless it has plenty of water, and don't let it run dry. Make sure you always have a gallon or two of water in the fridge at all times so you can keep it full.  You can also use a regular fan to help circulate the cool air.

3). You can also cover all your windows with this special window film. It really blocks the heat of the sun! You can get clear, decorative, frosted.. just be sure and read how many feet you get for the price because they are all different. If you're short on cash, start with the windows that get the afternoon sun.              Heat Blocking Window Film 

4). You can use a plain fan, and blow it across a large bowl or pan of ice and water.  

5). If you have a cool mist humidifier, fill it with ice and water

6). After the sun goes down and it's really cool outside, open windows and use fans to pull in the cool air and cool off your whole house. Be sure to get up really early, by 8 am to get all the windows closed and covered before it gets hot outside. 

7). The Dollar Tree has styrofoam poster boards, they are fantastic for shoving up in the skylight. Light comes in with very little heat. It does take a little skill to tape to posterboards together end to end and use a broom and mop to get them up there. You can't make them stay unless you shove them up there in the shape of an upside down letter V

8). Eat more foods that are cool and don't require cooking, or that can be heated with little or no effort. Try not to run the oven. If you do need to, do it in the late evening after the sun has set and it starts to cool off outside. Then you can open windows and doors to cool off. Peanut butter sandwiches, deli meat, refrigerated fruits and drinks. 

9). Turn off TVs and electronics not in use. They put off a lot of heat!

10). Watch this video. There's a DIY super cheap air conditioner fan you can make. https://youtu.be/yCGcVYxLKho?si=5BYrPPr0uEw2TxTk

11). Sleep closer to the floor - heat rises.

12) Use wet cloths to wet your skin so any breeze will cool you off a little. Eat plenty of popcicles too!

We don't have airconditioning and live in a house with a basement. The basement is always the coolest part of the house so we can work down there without needing air condidtioning at all. I prefer to keep the rest of the house cool to so I have used almost all of these tricks. The best ones are the black out curtains with the silver backing, and the kind of swamp cooler I can just fill with ice water and plug it in. Some times I even sit it on the couter top. It has a few different settings so you can set it to blow up and down, or to swing. It will start cooling immediatly. 

We have survived 90 degree days doing these things and were very comfortable.