Living in lakes country of Minnesota our summer’s are filled with humidity! Average temperature varies greatly depending on the wind and storms, but typically the average temp is anywhere between 78-92 degrees. Very rarely does the mercury rise above 100° f. The humidity is the killer here in Minnesota. It gets warm out and then suddenly your stuck to your seat and slowly trying to peel your melted thighs off your car seat, plastic lawn chair or just about any surface, lets face it, we’ve all been there. Now onto a nightmare scenario, a high temperature, high humidity summer day in a house with no air conditioner and a child.
Our house does not have central air conditioning, but we do have several window units throughout our house and fortunately our house is nice and cool all summer long, but that has not always been the case. I have spent many summers sweating miserably in a super hot house with young children and babies. I have felt the pain, over and over and luckily have learned quite a few tricks to beat the heat! As a Mom, I need to share them with you, because we all know there is nothing worse than a baby that is tired, hot, crabby and super uncomfortable crying because they can’t sleep.
- Double Layer Window Coverings – Curtains and mini-blinds can add up and be expensive, but they are your first line of defense in keeping your house cool. As a natural light lover it takes a lot of restraint to keep the curtains closed and using the lights during the day but blocking the light out will help you exponentially! On several of our windows we have the cheap plastic mini-blinds as the direct sun layer and then during the summer add a second curtain as a better barrier. If room darkening curtains are too expensive a good old cheap tablecloth will do the trick too. It may not be as fancy, but its thrifty and effective. Keeping the sun out will help the cause greatly!
- Creative Cooking – Obviously the worst thing you can do is turn the oven on! This is often times very difficult when raising children and planning meals during the summer but there are alternative options. Save the oven meals for the days where its raining or on the cooler side. During the hot days use the grill or fire pit. There are so many options of meals you can make this way. Papa Murphy’s has an option for grilling your pizza keeping your oven off and giving your pizza a smoky flavor! One of our families favorites is “hobo dinners” basically, all your ingredients conveniently wrapped in tin-foil and cooked on the grill! Meat, potatoes, vegetables and grill! Another great one is utilizing your crock-pot! There are cook books with hundreds of recipes to yummy dinners all cooked in the crock-pot.
- Ceiling Fans – If you have the option of installing ceiling fans in a room, do it! Be sure to change the direction of the fan to forward or counter-clockwise. This will create a breeze. You can purchase fans at reasonable prices by shopping around and buying on sale. If you have the chance to add them throughout the house this will keep the family more comfortable. Of course this can be costly to buy a bunch of fans, to keep costs low try adding a new fan, one room per year/month or paycheck, depending on your budget.
- Fans = Box or Round – Adding fans throughout the house and bedrooms to keep the air moving and a nice cooling breeze effect will assist in keep the house cool and of course your family comfortable. One thing to keep in mind, you get what you pay for. A couple years ago our local hardware store had large box fans on sale for $6 a fan. My husband went out and bought about ten of them. We were so excited for the great deal. Within the hour of setting them up two were broke! The first was broke when the dog ran past knocking it over and the fan blade shattered into a million pieces. It was a very frustrating moment for my thrifty husband. Not more than 15 minutes later our 3 year old knocked one down and the blade chipped, oh no big deal, so we thought. When we put it upright and turned it back on the thing wobbled so bad it rocked itself to the end of the cord, fell over and the blade suffered the same death as the previous one shattering into pieces. Look at the sturdiness of the fan, the safety feature if young kids around, the speed features, and the length of cord.
- Bare Minimum Policy – Begin a bare minimum policy, literally! Depending the temperature my kids spent most of their time in the least amount of clothes possible (in the house or fenced yard) If we were at home or in our yard it was diaper or onsies only as applicable! Your babies are incapable of regulating their own temperature and toddlers are so active they really struggle at regulating their temperature. To protect your baby and young one let them go in diapers or onesies to keep cool. It’s hot, and their comfort is priority, those fancy three and four piece outfits or impracticable and miserable. If your kids are older, let them rock the tank tops and shorts or swimsuits. Whatever makes them feel comfortable. Our daughter spends most of her summers in tank tops, shorts or skorts.
- Spray Bottles – Go to the store and buy a few empty spray bottles and fill them with ice water and spray away! Leave them around the house for easy access. The two main places your body expels temperature is your head and feet. Keep them cool by spraying your hair to keep it cool, take your socks off and spray your feet. When I was pregnant with my first, my daughter, it was so hot and miserable the only way I could keep cool was fill a large cooler with ice and water and keep my feet in it as often as possible…it really helped!
- Eat Smart – While produce is expensive it is the healthiest and full of water! Keep fresh cut fruit around and let the family snack away the heat! Keep cold cubed watermelon, grapes, sliced cucumbers, oranges, apple slices, cut cantaloupe and honeydew melon, kiwi slices, fresh sliced pineapple and every other fruit and veggie you can buy! It will keep your family hydrated and is a much more healthy option than the chips and pop.
- Water – During the summer you can never get enough water! You must stay hydrated to avoid heat exhaustion or worse yet, heat stroke. Most people are not big fans of plain tap water. Rather than adding a bunch of artificial sweetener and sugar packets add ice! You can add ice cubes using fun shapes and sizes, or semi-freeze water bottles, or keep a container of ice cold water in the fridge with an easy flip tap on it for easy filling. The colder your water is the better it tastes! Remember, be a role model! If you are drinking pop all summer and trying to convince your kids to drink water, they’re not going to buy into it.
- Open your windows at night – If it is a SAFE option, open your windows at night to get that cool breeze and fresh air. ONLY do this if it is a safe option.
This is a great list of very helpful options to help stay cool during the summer! If you have a small infant most of these will help so much but in the case of an extreme hot day try to spend the day at a friend or family members house that has air conditioning as it can be very rough on the baby and sometimes dangerous. Keep an accurate thermometer on hand to monitor your babies temperature throughout the day. If your baby seems hot strip them down to the bare minimum. I also would keep a damp washcloth around to help baby stay cool, when they get warm just rub them down with the wet rag to cool them off being sure to dampen the hair and feet. If you fear your baby is getting to warm please contact your doctor immediately for further care!
This post was written to participate in the June #RockYourBlog Writing Prompt Event via Cheap Is The *New* Classy and Eat Play Rock
What tips do you have to beat the heat during the hot summer months?
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About Miranda Sherman
Great tips!!
Great tips indeed. Just what everyone needs to know to beat the summer heat without spending too much. I do most of the tips featured here like opening the windows at night, night time is not so much of a problem during the warm months, even if you only have electric fans to keep you cool.
– AtticFan.com“
We have fans in every room of our house here in South Florida. Great tips here.
These are awesome tips! I do keep my house pretty dark but the sun still beats in even though I have black out curtains. I also use the crock pot a lot in the summer. I know most people use it in the fall and winter but it is a great way to cook something without adding additional heat in the house.
Love these tips! Like you, I have spent many summers in scorching hot houses with everyone in the house miserable. Now, we have central air and I am SOOO grateful!
Stay cool this summer!
We have ceiling fans turned on and we eat popsicles!
Excellent Heat-Busting-Tips!! I remember as a child my mom used to put a big bowl of ice on the floor & set the fan to blow on the ice & the cool air would slowly spread around the room. But, my favorite way to cool off is to eat lots of ice cream & popsicles!!
these are great ideas! I’ve noticed that if you do not have AC, after a while you become more acclimated to higher temps, too.
Oh wow this is wonderful . Your list of beating this horrid hot humid heat we been having lately is welcomed . All your tips couldnt come to us at a better time. There is lots to be learn in them.I sometimes have a problem of what to make to eat as you dont always feel like eating some foods when it real hot out. Thank you so much
Awsome post thanks so much very usefull.
I am loving these tips. I am lucky and have central air which is awesome when it is so hot outside. But there was a time when I did not have central air and only a window ac and it was really hot. I am a big fan of ceiling fans because they really do help in keeping cool.
thanks for all the great tips on beating the heat. I hate it when its so hot and humid out, it drags me down so all your info should help me out a lot with the heat
I can totally relate this this post! I live in Manitoba, Canada and it’s also been very hot and our summers here, too, are extremely humid! I also don’t have a/c! It’s challenging!
Great tips for this horribly hot weather we are having. Mostly elderly and infant need to watch out for heat exhaustion. thanks for the tips
As hot as this year has been these tips are well needed. Now those on a limited budget may suffer because they can afford air conditioning or fans to stay cool so your tips will help us
love the spray bottle idea
Luckily, this summer has not been that hot, we have had records amount of rainfall to cool it off.
Good tips for staying cool in this heat wave. I keep lots of freeze pops and bottled water for the kids as needed. Dont let animals or kids sit in the car when its hot out.
These are great tips, I’m big on mot using the oven, use my slow cooker a lot.
thanks for the tips on beating the heat. Even if you dont have a swimming pool sit by the grand kids blow up pool and put your feet in and have a chair – of course they will probably splash you then you will be much cooler LOL
could not live without my ceiling fans
When it gets too hot for the AC to keep up we turn on all the ceiling fans.
we use “energy saver” curtains and that helps
These are all such great ideas!! The best part is that they are all cost savers and healthy too. Long Island NY has one of the nations highest electric rates in the nation and constantly running the AC is not an option when you’re on a limited budget. Thanks for the post.
Those are all great tips. I really like the spray bottle tip. I use one sometimes.
I loved the helpful hints! Thanks!
love sleeping with a breeze coming thru the windows.
I dispise using my oven in the summer.
great tips! I like the Creative Cooking one.
I also use ice packs to keep myself cool.
My idea of beating the heat is to stay in doors and turn on the air conditioning. Always have a back up plan too in case your air conditioning dies – as mine has and also in case the electric goes off in this heat wave as ours has too – only for a short time – but that was long enough LOL
We use energy star fans and shades in every room, thanks for the great post
We do all the things you mentioned except open the windows at night. We also cook using the toaster oven for small dishes because it doesn’t heat up the house. And it helps to spend lots of time at the pool or somewhere cool like a museum, the mall, or a movie theater.
Thanks for a these good tips for the hot weather. I never know what to make to eat when its so hot out beside doing something on the grill. I try to wear as little clothes as possible too.
Paying attention to overheating is very important. Remember to put on sun screen. Wear lightweight and light colored clothing. Drink lots of water and eat fruit. All of these things will help.