It's summer and that means it's super freakin' hot. If you, like me, have the melting point of a Popsicle, please try these super easy, super free hacks to stay cool (courtesy of the internet).
1. "Buckle in your seat belt when you leave your car so that when you get back in, the metal buckle won't heat up and burn you."
2. "If your home’s HVAC system is struggling to keep your house cool, it’s probably a dirty filter."
Editor's note: Don't judge me, but this is a picture of my filter after I hadn't changed it in a year...whoops.
3. Make sure your fan is switched to spin COUNTERCLOCKWISE to create a downdraft and push colder air toward you. Ceiling fans often have a lil' switch on the base.
4. "When you start driving, don't roll down all of your windows to cool your car down. Only roll down the driver's and passenger's windows, and the cross breeze will be much stronger."
5. "If you're wearing sandals (or any other open-toed shoe) and you have to take them off, put them face-down. That way, when you put them back on, your feet won't burn."
6. Put your suntan lotion and after sun lotion in the fridge to enhance their cooling effects.
7. "Put a couple plastic bottles 3/4 way full of water in the freezer. When the water is frozen, put the bottle in front of a fan and rotate when thawed."
9. "If you double click and hold the unlock button for 10–15 seconds on most cars, all the windows will open. This is especially useful on hot summer days."
Editor's note: A commenter claimed they were a valet and it worked on 70% of the cars they came into contact with. However, it didn't work with my or my husband's car :(, so I guess there's only one way to find out if this works for you, which is to go out and try it.
10. "At night during the summer, open two windows and use a large fan to blow the hot air out of one window, which pulls cooler air into the house from the other window. This is much more effective than trying to blow cooler air in directly with the fan."
11. "As tempting as it is to keep windows open during a heat wave, if you have no air conditioning in your house, close all windows and shades that are sun-facing."
"Once the weather starts to get warmer in the morning, it’s best to shut your house up and keep any cool air from the night trapped in your house. Once it cools down at night, set fans in your windows and blast the cooler air in. Repeat until heat wave has passed."
12. "The easiest way to cool down in high heat is to dunk your shirt in water and then wear it."
13. "In the long heatwave we had a couple of years ago, we were sweltering and thinking about the thermal sheets you can put in cars. I decided to hang one of those thin silver thermal blankets over the outside of my living room window. It worked so well I ended up putting them on all the south-facing windows. It still let the light in to a degree but reflected much of the heat back."
Do you have any hacks to beat the heat? Tell us in the comments below!
Note: Submissions have been edited for length and/or clarity.