Comments on: Cool Your House Frugally

By: Weekly Round-Up: It’s Hot — Almost Frugal- a frugal blog

Weekly Round-Up: It’s Hot — Almost Frugal- a frugal blog — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 11:38:23 +0000

[...] The Carnival of Pecuniarities with, appropriately, my post on cooling my house frugally. [...]

By: Funny about Money

Funny about Money — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 11:20:33 +0000

In Arizona before air-conditioning was invented, people would drape a wet towel in front of an electric fan. The air flowing through the damp fabric worked much like a swamp cooler.

They also had sleeping porches: screened-in porches, often on the second floor or rooftop, where people slept on cots during hot weather.

We lived in a house that was built before the advent of air conditioning. It was designed to pick up the prevailing breeze, so that even the slightest air movement would flow through the building. It would stay livable until temperatures rose above 100 degrees outside.

Today it’s unsafe to leave your windows open at night (or any other time of day, for that matter). Even though it’s only 80 degrees outside now, at 4 in the morning, my AC is running. Last night a cop helicopter buzzed my neighborhood for a good 45 minutes, its occupants hollering at residents through a loudspeaker to go inside and lock our doors. An hour later, when I went to walk the dog, a cop stopped me to describe the escaped perp and ask me to call 911 if I saw the guy. Couldn’t pay me to sit here with a window open!
Funny about Money´s last blog ..Woo-HOO! Major estate sale triumph

By: pamela ruth munro

pamela ruth munro — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 19:34:00 +0000

I absolutely agree about taking advantage of cross ventilation! I have fans in all my windows! Even tho I have AC. In the last heat wave we discovered that our classic gas stove with the FOUR pilot lights was hot – so I insulated the top with a ceramic tile & some newspapers – and we put a pan with water in in – in the oven. Seems to have helped to keep the heat down. FYI newspaper is an excellent insulator for both heat & cold.

By: thrrrnbush

thrrrnbush — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 16:55:00 +0000

My grandmother would always take all the heavy winter bedding and have me stomp it clean (like Lucy on the grapes) in the bathtub when the first oppressive heatwave hit. There would be a wash cycle and at least one rinse cycle and she and I would get soaked from head to toe carrying the wet bedding out to the line holding it high over our heads so it wouldn’t touch the ground. It got her winter linens handwashed before she put them back into storage and it got her and I cool and wet without feeling like we were really wasting water. Rather than let things drip through my house I”ve done similiar summer washing with the kids in a plastic wading pool on the back patio. It’s a great way to wash couch cushions and sleeping bags too.

By: Mrs. Micah

Mrs. Micah — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 13:17:00 +0000

I don’t think I could live somewhere like that, though dry heat is better than humidity. The humidity in the summer here kills me.

I like your clothes outside the window idea…if I move somewhere with low humidity, I should try that.

We keep it dim with the fan on. And I sometimes divest myself of a few layers…because I can.