With global temperatures rising and record-breaking heat waves occurring more and more frequently, many more people are trying to stay cool than ever before.

This means a lot of people are turning on their air conditioners to reduce the heat in their homes.

Power outages are happening left, right and center because these air conditioners draw a whole lot of power to function.

The result is that the grid can’t cope and an outage happens. Without ACs, people are finding it hard to keep cool.

So how do you keep your home cool when the power goes out? Well, below are a few effective ways to cool your home.

Close Your Windows And Seal Off The Hottest Rooms

These days our homes can feel like greenhouses! How do we cool down our place when the power is off? Your first move is to close your windows and blinds.

Did you know that a third of the hot air circulating through your house right now entered your home through the windows?

That’s right. During the day, the sunlight shining on your windows gives off a greenhouse effect raising the overall temperature of your home, so be sure to close and block your windows.

Secondly, seal off all the hottest rooms in your house, by shutting the doors and placing a wet towel under the doors.

Placing a wet towel under your doors will ensure that no hot air will seep out into the rest of your house.

Once you have shut the doors to those rooms, try not to open them, as you’ll be risking the heat moving into the rest of your house.

Do Not Cook Indoors

You might have noticed that the kitchen is one of the hottest rooms in the house.

That’s because of all the heat generated by the stove, oven and different kitchen appliances.

Heat has a tendency to linger indoors for long periods.

Therefore to prevent heating up your kitchen, opt to cook foods that don’t require much cooking or don’t cook at all and just stick with no-cook foods.

Related: No-Electricity Cooking Techniques To Use During A Power Outage

This will significantly reduce the heat in your home, but if you want to cook, try to cook outside if you can. Get your barbecue on.

You can even cook with pots and pans on the grill as long as they are not too thin. It’s not recommended to use non-stick pans as the covering may get damaged by using it on a grill.

Dampen Your Curtains And Towels At Night

During the night, dampening your curtains and opening your windows is one of the best methods to tremendously cool the air entering your home.

You can also use dampened towels or any thick fabric, including sheets and hang them up directly in front of open windows, doors. You can even hang them on drying racks in rooms to cool that room down.

The damp fabric acts as a filter trapping the hot air that is then evaporated instantly, cooling the air giving you a nice atmosphere for a good night’s sleep. This cool air will also be retained and remain inside until the next day.

Open Windows And Doors When Temperatures Drop

Temperatures normally drop at night time and early in the morning.

These are the best times to open your windows and doors to get that fresh cool breeze in and to retain as much cool air as possible.

No need to open your fridge for cool air.

? 5 Ingenious Ways To Refrigerate Your Food Without Electricity

I know it’s tempting to crack the refrigerator door open but you don’t know how long the electricity will be gone and you’ll need all that cool air that’s left in there to preserve your food.

Make Use Of Your Sheets

On seriously hot days without air conditioning, it can get very frustrating and you’d be surprised that even the small things like your bedding and furniture can impact the temperature in your home.

Pull out your extra sheets. They are certainly going to come in handy for this tip. As you may know, black and darker shades absorb light while lighter shades such as white and even bright colors reflect the light.

Placing light shades of cotton or linen sheets over your dark furniture will help to decrease the heat. If your bedding is of a darker shade, it’s best to go for a brighter color. This will help bring down the temperature a bit.

Remove Rugs

Rugs and carpets are known for giving off heat by insulating the floor and increasing the temperature of the room.

This is useful in the winter, but when it’s hot out, it’s time to roll them up and put them away. This is another effective way to help to bring down the temperature inside your home.

Planting Trees

This one is a long-term solution that you may want to consider. Trees are an excellent source of shade and fresh air. The cool breeze from the trees will reduce inside temperatures significantly.

Related: 10 Killer Trees You Should Never Have In Your Backyard

Strategically positioned trees will act as a covert for your home, providing you with shade and cover from ambient temperatures.

The leaves on trees are known for absorbing, blocking and reflecting sunlight. The roots of trees hold moisture and when that moisture evaporates from the ground it cools the air.

Even the leaves on trees release moisture. Placing plants outside by your windows and growing vines around your house will also aid in blocking the sunlight from entering your home.

Planting trees around your abode is probably the best way to keep yourself and your humble home nice and cool.

So many heat waves are occurring around the world with new record high temperatures constantly being set. Heat waves are also becoming more frequent, lasting longer, starting earlier in the season and going on later in the season.

These extreme temperatures are also causing many power outages as more and more people turn on their ACs to cool their homes.

It’s clear that relying on air conditioners is not always the best solution. Knowing how to keep your house as cool as possible without electricity is a good skill to have.

This article has given a few tips that will help you keep your home cool by showing you how to cool the air entering your house and how to retain it.

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