I Swear I'm Melting

Hound dog

Nana's are Beautiful
Yesterday was mid 90's at high humidity. :faint:

We aren't using air. First can't afford it, second husband dropped the darn window unit for livingroom and broke it.:mad:

I haven't slept more than 2-3 hrs a nite in over a week due to the humidity. When I go to bed it feels like someone just hosed down the sheets. ick. ick.

Temp is already 80 something. Although I don't think it's supposed to get into the 90's today. Still the humidity is high. blech

Last night I just couldn't stand no more and had husband put the small window unit in our bedroom window. So I thought finally I'd be able to sleep......

Sure.........Plenty cool enough. More than tired enough........

You know that sort of limbo feeling when you're hanging right on the edge of sleep?? Yeah. That's as far I got.:mad:

I've got the boys today. I have no clue how I'm going to keep them cool. Normally I'd put Darrin in the wading pool. But Brandon is too little......and it's much too hot to sit with the baby on the porch while big brother swims.

At the moment Brandon is zonked out on the floor in the breeze of the window fan. lol I notice Darrin is staying within range of it as well. ;)

I'm gonna loose it if this humidity doesn't let up soon. Sweat just rolls off me. Disgusting.
 

Lothlorien

Active Member
If the power goes out and we don't have air, we hang out in the basement. The basement is always nice and cool in our house. Is that an option?

Go to an indoor play place. They have a place for babies to crawl and the bigger kids to run around and play and they are air conditioned.
 

1905

Well-Known Member
Lisa, make sure you and the kids stay hydrated. Can you go to the library? Our library has free kids programs during the summer, maybe yours does as well.
 

donna723

Well-Known Member
I'm sorry Lisa, that sounds miserable. It's been the same here, mid 90's and very humid. I only have one small window unit in a living room window and a ceiling fan, but on days that get this hot, it doesn't quite get it. I'm hiding out in the house and only go out to take the dogs on their potty trips. The living room stays bearable but the rest of the house is hot. I have a sinkful of dishes soaking but I'm just not ready to go in to that hot kitchen and stick my hands in hot water.

A while back I was talking to a childhood friend that I grew up with in St. Louis, which is officially the hottest place on the face of the earth. When we were kids, NOBODY had air conditioning in their houses, much less their cars. We didn't even have a fan at our house. I remember trying to sleep in just the little breeze that came in the open window. My cousin said that when they were kids, on the hottest nights, all four of them would sleep on their living room floor next to the screen door! I honestly don't know now how we did it. I guess we just didn't know any different and we became aclimated to it. And none of the schools were air conditioned back then, even when I was in high school in Florida! Now, if the AC goes off in the schools, they call it a health hazard and send the kids home. I honestly don't think I could get by without it now.

Can you maybe spend the afternoon wheeling the little ones around the mall, or maybe an extended trip to the library? Small window units are not too expensive - maybe you could find a used one somewhere? I know that must be miserable, especially with the kids.
 

DammitJanet

Well-Known Member
I think the weather has just changed. People didnt have ac in the summer or only in one room. I remember we had a window unit in my first house and it was in the family room. I dont think it got as hot though either. It also snowed a whole lot more in Richmond back then than it does now. Lakes froze over every year and they dont do that now. BIG lakes!

I remember going up into Mass. and none of my cousins having ac..it just wasnt done. We slept out on a little porch when it got "really hot" like in the 80's...lol.

Now...omg...I go nuts if I dont have air. It a national emergency. I cannot bake in this tin can. One thing we made absolute sure of when summer started with Cory was that he had air. We went on Craigslist and freecycle and he got 3 5000 BTU window units for his place. He has blacked out most of his windows too. So have we. Its a 100 today. We couldnt make it with just a fan. Not in a metal box in a field.
 

KTMom91

Well-Known Member
We only have a swamp cooler, which is useless when it's over 100. The only thing that saves me is that "It's a dry heat." If we had the humidity like a lot of you ladies are dealing with, I don't know what I'd do.
 

susiestar

Roll With It
One not too "designer friendly" thing that can help insulate the house, needing less work from the air conditioner is to cover the windows behing the curtains with styrofoam about 1/2 inch thick (or thicker). You could cover the foam in fabric or something so it didn't look as strange, and hang the insulated curtains over it.

I have friends who did that one year and cut their energy consumption by a HUGE amount. They actually got the styrofoam from coolers people threw away, for a good part of it.

Do you have the foam outlet insulator thingys behind every outlet and light switch? These are special heat resistant foam pieces with holes cut in for the outlet or light switch. You take off the switch cover, put these thingsaround the outlet/switch and put the cover back on. It only takes a screwdriver because all you do is undo the screws and then put them back on.

I still have the water heater in its thermal wrap because I don't want heat to leak into the house.

Many of the things that help keep a home warm will also help keep it cool for less.

And surprisingly it is less expensive to get one of those dorm-size refridgerators to keep water bottles and other drinks and individual snacks in. You don't lose all the energy from opening the door to the fridge. We got one on freecycle and it let us cut $10 per month off our energy bill. I even tracked it, then unplugged it and tracked that. Our isn't the newest model, but is still energy efficient.
 

DammitJanet

Well-Known Member
We got corys ac units off of both craigslist and freecycle. He got two window units for 80 bucks. Well worth it. I dont know how we would put up the styrofoam but its a good idea if I could figure it out. I also have a ton of windows. Why they put so many windows in trailers is beyond me. What I used to do was to line the window with foil but now I just put black trash bags over the windows then put heavy plastic tablecloths then the blinds and in some rooms curtains are next. My rooms are pretty dark...lol.
 

Hound dog

Nana's are Beautiful
Janet I think they put so many windows to try and make you forget you're in a tin box. I remember hanging out at my sister's trailor in the summer. OMG. She had no air.

I survived and tomorrow is supposed to be cooler. Heck I just want the humidity gone. ick ick ick I can take the heat itself.

Once the boys went home, Nana went up and took a nice long nap in air conditioning. LOL Also picking up Brandon from the floor somehow threw my back out. Heard a pop and yeah, been in pain since. Way down low pain that goes down my legs. Think I got a nerve. OUCH Sitting is painful, lying down is painful, standing at the moment is agony.

Never thrown my back out in my life. Go figure. Didn't think the baby was that fat. lol But he's a chunker. ;)

Our house is very well insulated. We get the brunt of the heat between 4pm until the sun begins to set. Once the sun sets it begins to cool off. But with this humidity, that's just not happening. Although this evening it doesn't feel as humid. (thankfully)
 

witzend

Well-Known Member
Lisa, husband has been known to throw out his back picking up a piece of paper! Weight can have nothing to do with it!
 

mrscatinthehat

Seussical
I told husband that we were getting ac in the windows this year. Last year we actually made it the whole year without. This year I work a job that I need to look decent at and said that ac was going in.

Sorry you had to suffer through the uck. My back does that. Make sure you take ibuprofen if you can. Different folks believe in the different heat cool theories. Don't wait too long to see someone about it if the pain doesn't go away soon.

beth
 

skeeter

New Member
My dad worked in heating and airconditioning, so I'm spoiled - have had it since I was 5 years old (he put an old unit from a funeral home in our house then). Plus with our allergies, having open windows is not a good idea most of the summer (grass, trees, weeds....).

So, what am I doing this next week? Going camping in Kentucky!!!! We're working a festival, and are only at the campground to sleep and take a shower, and I just can't see paying for a hotel room for a week for that. Hopefully it won't be the 105 degrees it's been in the past.
 

goldenguru

Active Member
My 'trick' is to open the house in the morning when it is still cool. Then close it all up - windows, blinds, etc. until the sun is down and the night air becomes cooler. Not much I can do about the humidity though. We installed paddle fans in our front room and bedroom which also give the illusion of cool. :) When it gets really bad, we camp in the basement at night.

I complain a fair bit - but heat and humidity still beats zero degrees and blowing snow in my humble opinion.
 

totoro

Mom? What's a difficult child?
I am so sorry. I do not miss that at all. Living in North West Indiana for those 3 years I don't know how you folks lived with that.
I know husband who grew up in Chicago and in the heart of the city for a long time, a lot of the time, but, a lot of the folks who did not have AC would put wet sheets up in the doorways and windows.
If they had fans they would blow them in the doorways producing a cool breeze. In the windows, if the wind blew it would produce a cool breeze.
It saved lives in downtown Chi. When you drive in downtown in the high apartments you can see the sheets blowing in windows.

I would set a bowl of ice on a chair or stool in front of a fan and then park my butt in front of it... I also cried a lot.
I am sorry.
It is so true that the dry heat really is not as bad. We have been over 100 or in the upper 90's for over 2 months now and it has not been horrible.
We open the doors in the morning and then shut the house up by 10 am.
Something to be said for adobe.

Hang in there. I would search on all of the sites as well. Garage sale also.
 

DammitJanet

Well-Known Member
I always wondered how people handled it in places like Arizona. I think I would simply die. They say it is good for arthritis but hot weather is as bad on me as cold weather so I dont see how? Maybe its the humidity though. Maybe dry hot weather is better...dunno. I would have to try it before I actually moved...lol.
 

susiestar

Roll With It
I totally can NOT handle heat extremes. Even in the 90s I get very very ill. The whole shebang, not just feeling icky. And then the allergies start.

It sort of drives husband nuts. he is a cruncy granola type of person. But he has seen how sick I get, and now with thank you how bad his asthma gets, so we almost NEVER have windows open and the filter turned off. It is far FAR more expensive for me to take my prn medications than it is to keep the a/c and air filters on.

I don't know how you do it without air conditioning.
 

Wiped Out

Well-Known Member
Staff member
I'm sorry it was so miserable. I hate when it's that warm and there is no ac.

How is your back? I hope it is healing. Be sure to ice it. I have thrown my back out just walking up the stairs or bending over. Take things slow with your back.
 
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