Depending on where in the country your rental property is, temperatures are now ranging from toasty to sweltering, and all over people are looking for ways to keep cool inside their house, apartment, condo or duplex. Methods vary both in terms of effectiveness and safety for those trying them, so here at the Hometown Rant, we’ve compiled a handy guide to keep you chilling out no matter how hot it gets outside.

The most obvious and simple way to keep cool in the summer is to turn on your air conditioning, but this only works if your rental property has air conditioning. Landlords renting out air-conditioned properties would do well to advertise that, since it’ll become a major selling point in the next few months. Renters of air-conditioned properties should probably turn on the AC now if they haven’t already, at least to make sure that the system is in proper working order. If you have to get someone in for repairs, you’ll want to do it now rather than in a few weeks when the heat is reaching unbearable levels and you’re too sweaty and angry to deal with it.

Keeping the place air conditioned can be expensive, so if you do turn it on, make an effort to keep the cool in. If you have the AC on, you don’t want to open the doors and windows, lest your precious cool air escape into the yard and beyond to be lost forever. People who really want to save money also might consider waiting to crank the AC until the absolute zenith of the summer heat, but until then, you’ll want to employ some other tricks to keep your house or apartment liveable.

Without centralized air conditioning, there are a few options. Window mounted AC units can help quite a bit, and landlords of rental properties that don’t have central AC might consider providing a window unit or two as a selling point. Window units tend to bee less efficient than central AC though, and they’ll run up your electricity bill, especially if you try to cool your whole house with them. If you’re only going to use one or two, put them in the rooms that get the hottest–probably the upstairs in a two-story house. Especially if you’re putting the unit in an upstairs window though, make absolutely sure that you’ve installed it correctly, so you don’t end up like Kramer.

If you aren’t going to use any sort of air conditioning, your best bet for keeping things cool is probably a system of fans positioned in key windows throughout the property. Keeping inside doors open as well can help create an air current that runs through the house and cools everything off. Remember–areas of stagnant air are your enemy, so if you any room seems particularly stuffy, see what you can do to get that air flowing again. Also remember that electronics create a lot of heat, so don’t leave your TV or stereo on longer than you have to, and keep your computer off when you aren’t using it. As a matter of fact, once you finish reading this you should probably shut her down and go play in the sprinkler. Trust us, it’s still fun, even if you aren’t a dog.

Do you have rental questions of your own? Comments? Concerns? Love letters? Hate mail? Send it on over: Hometownrant@hometownrent.com