Last summer our AC struggled during a brutal heat wave and the bill still made me wince. I spent a week trying every trick I could find to cool the house down without running the unit around the clock.

A few of them actually made a real difference.

Block the sun before it gets in

The sun pouring through windows is a heater you are not paying attention to. Close blackout curtains or blinds on the sunny side of the house in the morning, especially south and west facing windows. You would be surprised how much cooler a room stays when the sunlight never reaches the floor.

Move the air the right way

• Open windows on opposite sides of the house at night to create a cross breeze.
• Put a bowl of ice in front of a fan to blow colder air your way.
• Run ceiling fans counterclockwise so they push air down.
• Turn off heat makers: the oven, the dryer, and incandescent bulbs.

The ice bowl trick sounds silly, but it genuinely helped in the bedroom. I pointed a fan over a bowl of ice cubes and it took the edge off the hottest nights.

Close everything up again by mid-morning and the house holds the cool air for hours. It is not the same as cranking the AC, but it kept us comfortable and the bill did not make me want to cry.