15 money-saving hacks to keep cool without using the AC

Freeze fruit

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You can freeze fruit such as, grapes, cherries and cranberries and eat them straight from the freezer as a cool treat. Putting frozen white or red grapes in room-temperature wine is a good way to chill the beverage, too. Using ice means a watered-down drink when it melts – which does not happen with frozen fruit.

How effective? I got a brain freeze from eating the grapes straight from the freezer, but it was an instant cool down from the heat.

Add fruit to ice cubes

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Wash blueberries and place them in an ice cube tray. Fill the tray with water and put it in the freezer. Once the cubes have frozen, pop them into cold water for a flavoured drink. You can use other fruit such as strawberries and cranberries.

How effective? I ended up drinking more water than usual. The flavoured cubes made plain water more exciting to drink.

Keep the sun out

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On hot days, keep your curtains or blinds drawn, especially for windows that get direct sunlight. Windows that have no shade let sunlight into the room and heat it up.

Close your curtains and blinds to reduce the amount of heat the room will absorb. Open them in the evenings, when the temperature outside is cooler.

How effective? I closed the blinds in my bedroom when I went out. At the end of the day, it was not as hot as if I had left the windows open and the blinds up.

Pour crushed ice into a hot water bottle

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Fill a hot water bottle with cold water and crushed ice cubes. If your ice cubes are too large, put them in a plastic bag and break them with a heavy object.

Put the water bottle in the refrigerator for another 10 minutes to cool it down further. Take it out and place on the back of your knees or to bed and place it by your feet.

How effective?  The bottle kept cool for about two hours. The only downside is the mild condensation, so wrap the bottle in a thin towel first.

Make a rice sock

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If you do not want to deal with condensation from melting ice, make a rice sock instead. Fill a clean long sock with rice, knot the top and freeze it for about an hour. The compress stays cool for about half an hour.

How effective? Less bulky than a hot water bottle, a rice sock can be wrapped around my wrists or neck to make a cool pillow. Placing it on my forehead was also a good way to soothe a heat-induced headache.

Cool down pulse points (super effective)

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Spread out across your body are pulse points: around your neck, inner wrists, the inside bend of elbows, back of your knees and ankles.

Place an ice pack or a cold mineral water bottle on these spots for at least 30 seconds and your body starts to cool down. The cold chills your blood vessels effectively and lowers your overall body temperature.

How effective? For me, this was the easiest way to cool down because you can use anything that is really cold. It works fast too, which is a plus point when you have worked up a sweat walking outdoors and need to pop into a meeting looking fresh.

Dress cool

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Cotton is the go-to material as it allows the body to breathe and absorbs excess sweat. Good alternatives are linen and clothes made out of other natural fibres. Avoid synthetic materials such as polyester.

If you perspire a lot, stay away from light-coloured clothes as sweat stains show easily. However, bright white fabric is actually quite effective at hiding perspiration patches. Also, covering up does not sound like a thing to do in a heatwave, but wearing long sleeves protects your skin. But, again, it depends on what material your outfit is made from.

How effective?  I wore a long-sleeve white cotton shirt and was out in the blazing sun for a day. It was more comfortable than when I was sweating it out in a sleeveless shirt made of rayon.

Make your own air-con

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Here is an alternative way to keep cool if you are not a fan of air-conditioning: Put ice cubes in a bowl and place it directly in front of a fan. When the wind from the fan blows over the ice, it creates a cooling mist.

How effective? This was a pretty rudimentary air-conditioner, but it did the job of creating a gentle, cool breeze if there was a mountain of ice cubes in the bowl. But I had to sit close to the fan and bowl of ice to feel its cooling effect.

Make your own cold brew

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Instead of spending $6 on cold brew coffee from a hipster cafe every day, you can build your own cold brew “machine” for a cheap supply in just six easy steps:

Cut off the bottoms of two 600 ml water bottles and punch a small hole in the centre of one of the bottle caps.
Then, cut two sheets of coffee filter paper so that they are big enough to cover the mouth of the bottle. Place both filters in the cap with the hole and screw the cap back on the bottle.
Put the bottle with the filter cap inside the bottle without the cap and invert over an empty water glass.
Fill the open bottle with freshly ground coffee – the amount depends on how strong you want your coffee to be.
Add water to the coffee grounds and stir until all the grounds have been hydrated.
Put the whole contraption in the fridge and let the mixture drip on its own. You should have a cold brew ready in about an hour or so.

How effective?  The “machine” worked well and the brew tasted delicious. However, the whole set-up was precarious because the plastic bottles are light. I knocked it over by accident, which caused quite a mess.

Stick your bedlinen in the freezer

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Cannot sleep in the heat? Fold your bed sheets and pillow cases, put them in resealable plastic bags and stick them in the freezer for a few hours. Take them out when it is bedtime and make the bed. Since this one requires a bit more effort, perhaps try it when it’s time to change the bedsheets, which should occur every one to two weeks.

How effective? The cooling effect did not last through the night, but the sheets stayed cold enough for me to nod off.

Unplug devices

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Just switching off an appliance or gadget is not enough – you should unplug it completely. Some appliances give off heat even when switched off. For example, a phone charger might feel warm after a whole day of being plugged into the wall, even if it has not been used.

How effective?  I took my phone charger and desktop computer plugs out from their sockets, but I am not sure how much heat I actually reduced. The room temperature felt the same.

Make refreshing peppermint face spray

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Brew a pot of peppermint tea and put it in the fridge. Once it is cold, pour some into a spray bottle and mist yourself with it. The menthol in the tea will give your skin a tingly feeling. Take the bottle along with you when you head out for the day for a refreshing spritz whenever you feel like it.

How effective?  My skin felt cool when I spritzed on the cold liquid. The additional shiok factor kicked in when I walked past a blowing fan and the liquid evaporated.

Half ice, half water

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Fill half a plastic bottle with water, turn it on its side and freeze it overnight. If you freeze it upright, the ice pushes out the bottom of the bottle, making it difficult to place the bottle on any surface. Take out the bottle the next day and top up with water.

How effective?  Essentially, this method made a very large ice cube in the water container. I used a 1.5-litre mineral water bottle and the ice took a few hours to melt. It was probably because I was indoors. Taking it outdoors will cause the ice to melt more quickly.

Set your mouth on fire

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Fight fire with fire by chowing down on some spicy food, like this spicy fish soup dish. Wash it down with a hot drink too. It might sound counter-intuitive, but doing this raises your internal temperature and your body will try to cool itself by perspiring. When the perspiration evaporates, you are supposed to feel cooler.

How effective? With my burning mouth hanging open and sweat dripping from my forehead, I did not look glamorous. But once the heat subsided and the perspiration evaporated, I did feel a little cooler.

Cool down a car quickly

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A car parked in the blazing sun is essentially a giant oven. To get rid of the hot air inside, roll down one of the windows all the way, then walk to the other side of the car and open and close the door five to 10 times. This creates a circulating airflow that forces the trapped hot air out of the vehicle.

How effective? The car felt cooler than when I first opened it. However, I would use this method only when the interior of the car is extremely hot as I do not want to wear out the rubber seal of the door.

Stay cool, everyone!

This post was first published on June 20, 2017, and updated on April 24, 2023 on The Straits Times.