5 Unique Ways to Keep Cool As The City Heats Up

5 Unique Ways to Keep Cool As The City Heats Up

ProTip: Blasting the AC full-bore all summer long isn’t the right answer.

The best way to get the chills this summer is to leave your air conditioning on all day and all night — the electric bill you’ll get each month will freeze your blood. Instead, here’s a few cheap and clever ways to keep cool as the city heats up around you.

Take Advantage of Your Freezer
According to the Second Law of Thermodynamics, you cannot in fact cool your apartment by opening up your freezer and leaving it open all day…which is a pity. What you can do, however, is freeze something and then take it out and lay all over it. The more conservative among you will freeze your bedsheets and then make your bed right before you lay in the brilliant coolness. The more daring might consider purchasing a few long rolls of Otter Pops or something similar, freezing them, and then laying on them until they thaw and starting over. (Get two sets, and you can set up a continuous cycle!)

Reflect Deeply Upon the Sunlight
…or rather, Reflect the Sunlight. With some big cardboard boxes, some aluminum foil, and some scissors, you can custom-fit reflectors into your windows for pennies. Cut the box to the size of your windowframe, mummify it with the foil, and shove it in to instantly bring not just shade but coolness to your inner spaces. If you’re concerned about losing the precious moving air, fit the reflector to the top 2/3rds of your window and allow the bottom 1/3rd to open up for breezing purposes.

Blow It
Acquire a desk fan — either the traditional big kind that will rotate and has three speeds, or just a little USB gizzy that you can clip to the top of a container. Either way, cut a two-liter bottle’s top off, fill it with water, and freeze that sucker. Set down a dishrag, the bottle on top of it, and arrange the fan to blow right across the ice and into your face, and you’ve just improved your workspace immensely for about zero dollars.

Chilled to the Bone
Getting into a cold bathtub just plain sucks. But there’s a clever way that you can ‘trick’ your body into enduring the cold much more easily — start with lukewarm water. Lay down, and every couple of minutes, drain the water for 20-30 seconds, and fill it up with cold water. 20 minutes later, you’ll realize that the bathwater is cold enough that you’re on the verge of shivering, minus the shock of an ice-cold entrance. Slug a glass of ice water while you do this, and your body should stay pleasantly cool for up to a couple of hours afterwards even if it’s in the triple digits out.

Bail on the Heat
Your last bet is simple and yet ingenious: go somewhere that has the AC turned on and hang out. Go shopping and spend a long time browsing the ice cream and the beer cave. Go study in the library and arrange yourself over or under a source of cold air. Head over to a casino for a cheap steak and free AC. Your only limitations are your imagination and your transportation budget.

Are there other ways to keep cool over the summer? You bet. Are they going to be as inexpensive and startlingly effective as these are? Highly doubtful — but then, you’re probably pretty clever. If you come up with any suggestions that are this good, tell us in the comments; we’d love to hear ’em!