The Great 'Ways to keep cool' Hunt

lessonlearned

Opening a loft hatch at night helps the hot air rise into the roof void and helps keep the bedrooms a bit cooler.

monnagran

Gers, I would gladly swap with you just now.

My bedroom is in a dormer and has no insulation so it is freezing in winter and tropical in summer.
Last night it was 25 degrees at 2.30am with the air cooler on.
I have one window facing south and a bigger one facing west, windows that only open a crack and none of the famous sea breeze at all.

I don't do heat. On holiday I am ridiculed as while everyone is moving the chairs to follow the sun round, I am moving mine in the opposite direction to follow the shade.

Come January I am going to be SO ashamed of this post!

x

Prinzessilein

I really do not like the heat......if disability allowed I would be doing my rain-dance right about now!

In addition, I live in a ground-floor flat....we are advised to keep the windows shut overnight - which is stifling! (Unfortunately we DO get intruders....last one only a few weeks ago - so precautions are necessary)....and the windows of my flat all face the same direction, so no through-draft possible, when the sun comes around there is no escape!

My personal tips for staying cool are:

Cool- but not COLD showers!

I have lost quite a bit of weight (which has helped a bit with staying cool!)...and have kept a few tee-shirt nighties in large sizes....over-sized cotton nighties are good for staying cool overnight.

Keep well-hydrated...and tap-water is as good as anything else for this!

I keep a tub of frozen berries in the freezer....a glass of water with a few frozen berries added is very refreshing.

Keep photos of cooler climes to hand....somehow I find it cooling to look at photos of mountains, rivers and lakes!

If I need to go out, then I try and get it done as early as possible.

Move as slowly as possible.

If your work/life schedule allows, then go continental - enjoy a light siesta...sleep through an hour of the worst heat!

Above all....remember that this is the UK...the summer is not going to last for much longer....the glorious, blissful season of Autumn will be here before we know it!

MMF007

I bought a pineapple, rtc, chunked it up and froze on a tray to keep the pieces seperate. I add a couple of the frozen chunks to cold drinks. Very refreshing. I know others do this with lemon or orange slices.

Close curtains first thing in the morning, open north facing windows and one other if possible, to encourage draft / cooler air. Yes, cool compresses are good.

DH has a manual job and came in yester and just stripped off by the washing machine, before he got any further. Good job the neighbours were out!

I love it when it is still hot at night, I sleep like a log.

I also love my cheapo linen skirt, slightly odd very pale mint colour, on the sale rail for £11 a couple of years ago. It is cool to wear and weirdly goes with most tops I have.

Wednesday2000

It was so hot last night. I slept in just my knickers!:D

I have had two cool showers today already and I dampen my hair and that cools me down.

I have my electric fan out although, it is too damn loud at night.

I have a jug of cold water kept in the fridge at all times.

caronc

Not really an issue here but a bucket/basin of cold water to "steep" your feet is fab for generally cooling you down, likewise as PN said running your wrists under a cold tap is good to.
Loose clothes and natural fibres are my "go to" warm weather wear.

GreyQueen

Like Prinzezzilien, I am in a groundfloor flat and can't have my windows wide open. I can have them tilted a few inches, and do, but have to shut the bedroom window when I go to bed because the late evening into the small hours is pretty noisy here, with clubbers etc rattling around the city centre.

I'd switched to evening gardening a week or so ago, as in post 7.30 pm, but it was still sweltering yestereve and I came out of a supermarket just before 10 pm and it was like walking into an oven.

Sooo, today (just shy of 30 celcius) I headed out at 07.30 am. Some runners were already out training. I gardened from 8-10.20 then gently walked home.

Have the curtains drawn here and laundry drying. You can cool your through-draft by hanging a wet cloth up.

Other than that, I had a tepid bath to get rid of gardening grubbiness and have been drinking plenty of plain water and black tea.

Trick is to move gently, keep properly hydrated and enjoy it while it lasts.

karcher

Keep the curtains shut.

Soak you feet in a bowl cool water, it really does cool you down.

Showering your head with cold water.

Loose cotton clothes, no underwear whilst indoors..and outdoors too if you're 'cool' with that!

Always wear a wide brimmed hat when out and about.

Cupcake_Returns

As someone who is having flushes, the heat is my enemy

Windows open, having an upside down house with the sitting room upstairs with my bedroom and a cat, this means for me only opening them on the lock , that's just about an inch

Keeping curtains closed on the rooms facing the sun

Cotton. Cotton bedding as well as clothing. I wear sfa in bed other then a smile . But have a cotton top sheet and a light weight cotton blanket to pull on and off.

If I'm not going out I wear a cotton shortie nightie around the house. Keeps me cool, no one is going to see me, easily washed and dried. If the door bell goes, I chuck a dressing gown on and wrap a towel around my head to pretend I'm just out the shower

Food, as light as possible. Tonight was a roast chicken I cooked early this morning whilst the house wasn't too warm. Served with corn on the cob ( just one saucepan boiling away tonight) jacket spuds ( microwaved) and salad

I'm more then happy to light the BBQ and live on burgers,sausages etc with salads End of the day this kind of weather doesn't last long so it's not going to kill me

Housework, sod it. There's more then enough wet cold days to do that

Basically I just do as little as possible and take as much time as possible to enjoy the good weather

karcher

One other thing on the money saving side of things:

I turn down the thermostat on my hot water boiler/heater during hot weather. The last thing I want/need is a hot shower so no point heating the water to a high temperature just to drown it out by turning up the cold tap. :cool: