Hello, I'm a broke college student finally getting a place with a friend. We agree on ways to keep the prices low in terms of water, but for electricity, the AC seems to be a challenge. I personally run rather hot and start sweating, losing my ability to sleep in a room around 74°F, and get a little annoyed around 73°F. I know the logical consensus here is to grow up tough it out, but I'm wondering if there are any tricks to keep it cool beyond a fan in the room. Thank you!
Sorry im sure this has been asked millions of times
Posted by Solted_
13 Comments
creep it up one degree per month. you’ll be a little warm the first week, but then you’ll get used to it. I run my AC at 80 or 81. and some nights, I put on long pants and use a blanket – depending on what I ate that day.
Use one of those turbo fans aimed right at you at night in addition to ac. Will allow you to turn ac up some.
I used to freeze water bottles and put them in my bed around me when I was living in the college dorms with no AC.
I am very heat intolerant. I have a fan on constantly because the bedroom I sleep in does not have AC and I have to have the door closed because of my cat. Room averages about 78. Get really good window coverings, like curtains, to keep the heat out during the day so the room doesn’t warm up. Use ice packs if it gets really hot.
Pick a temp for the AC and stick to it. It costs more to cool the house back down after it warms up than to just keep the AC running to keep it cool.
Blinds/curtains closed! Makes a huge difference for our house because the sun is on our house all day.
Cooling blankets
Wrap an ice pack (or pack of frozen peas) in a neck scarf and put it around the back of your neck. That will keep you crazy cool.
Blackout curtains. Especially on south or west facing windows. Windows heat a home more than people realize
Thermal curtains covering the windows makes a huge difference. You can also put a bowl of ice in front of your fan to form a makeshift swamp cooler.
In the past I have put my t-shirt and pillowcase in the freezer so that they were cold when I went to bed. They warmed up quickly, but they usually stayed cold long enough for me to fall asleep at least.
Fans. I have two in the bedroom, a ceiling fan and one pointed at my face..
And I agree with everyone else: thermal curtains. Keep them CLOSED in the bedroom all the time. Use a fan to pull any warm air out of the bedroom by facing the fan outward.
Same I run hot too, I can get hot even sub freezing if I am moving around and even just sitting in chair sometimes hot in 50s.
___
If where you live is not to humid you could set up an evaporative/swamp cooler. Basically just a fan, a container of water (with or without ice), and a cloth to wick the water. The water evaporating off of the cloth as it blows past cools it by ~5-20F.
___
Putting a cool cloth or even some wrapped ice on back of the neck, or other places with large blood vessels near surface, can make a big difference. I have even sometimes just shoved my arm in a large pot of water and it essentially acted like a heatsink for my body.
___
Preventing the heat from entering to begin with is another great option that would be cheaper longterm thanks to being a one time purchase that uses no power. Like a good pair of blackout curtains or at minimum a cheap UV blocking window cling.
___
Having a large jug, or some container, of water in fridge. Big drink of cold water is pretty effective, cooling you from the inside plus when hot hydration is super important.
___
A window fan, or even just a box fan, set in an open window at night or early morning. Open a window opposite side of house and it will form a crossbreeze sucking the hot air out of the house and filling the lower pressure left with the cool air from outside moving in. Extra effective if can have the exhaust window as high up as possible and the cool air as low.
That probably the oldest method alongside the evaporative cooler, they used to actively design homes for that purpose even.
There are cooling mattress toppers.
Also, if you really can’t deal, get a window unit for your bedroom and cover the difference. It isn’t worth it to save a few pennies if you are sleep deprived bc you’ll waste the investment in your college by sleeping through classes.
Hang out in the basement