How to Stay Warm When Your Home Isn't Well Heated
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Whether you can’t afford to turn on the heater to heat your whole apartment or your house just isn’t well insulated, we’ve got your back. Here are all the ways we could find to stay toasty warm this winter.
Blast heat wherever you are with a good old fashioned space heater! (Rumor has it that you should try to buy the best one you can and that oil filled space heaters and oscillating space heaters are better than standard space heaters.)
(If you’re interested in a space heater, here’s a great roundup of options from Forbes!)
Warm up your bed with an electric blanket (or two!)
A heating pad under a regular blanket works too! (They also come in XXXL with more surface area to keep you even warmer!)
Embrace layers including hats, scarves, fingerless gloves, mittens and even adult or big kid onesies!
Rock a pair of wool socks with another chunky pair of socks over them!
Keep your head warm with a heated beanie!
Stuff your frozen paws in a pair of heated mittens!
Cozy up in a heated neck gaiter!
Burrow into your bed or couch blankets with a hot water bottle!
Invest in thermal layered clothing!
Become best friends with rechargeable hand warmers!
Wrap your toes in heated/electric socks!
Install heated insoles in your slippers!
Cozy up in a sleeping bag and add your other blankets on top!
Heat up your bed with a heated mattress pad before bedtime and set a timer to have it come on periodically throughout the night!
Run a warm moisture humidifier! (Fun fact: A cool one will work a bit too. See why here!)
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If you’re cursed with drafty windows, consider insulating them!
Wrap them with a window insulation kit! (Duck or 3M brands are rumored to work best and this delightful video walks you right through the process!)
They even make larger kits for sliding glass doors!
It’s also doable with regular plastic wrap with details on how here or with thick plastic sheeting or bubble wrap in a pinch.
If you’re not up to wrapping your windows you could also cover your windows with newspaper, tack up a heavy blanket over the window, or use tape to cover drafty spots!
Hang heavier curtains (two pairs that go to the floor if possible)!
Invest in draft stoppers for your drafty doors!
It may involve a trip to your local home improvement store, but you can make a DIY clay pot heater with two clay flower pots, candles, nuts and bolts and something like bricks for a stand. Here’s a great video showing how to do it!
Heat large pots of water (under supervision) on the stove! (Save water by collecting the water from the shower while you wait for it to warm up!)
Exercising abundant caution (and only if you don’t have a gas stove), turn on the stove top for a while or turn on the oven and leave the door open!
Alternatively, use your oven to make dinner and leave it open after you remove your food!
Run the dryer!
Burn lots of candles under careful supervision! (Preferably the long burning ones!)
Set up a tent on your bed! The enclosed space will warm up faster and stay warmer than the entire bedroom!
They even make tents specifically made for beds like this one!
Be sure to shut the door to the room you’re in to keep the warmth in!
Last but not least, check with your electric company to see if they offer free energy saving kits! (Many electricity providers provide kits for their customers that include things like window wrap and energy efficient lightbulbs!)
If you rent and your home is too cold, be sure to communicate that to your landlord or maintenance person so they can fix the issue. Landlords are legally required to maintain minimum heating for tenants in colder months! (Fun fact: In NYC the minimum required temperature overnight in winter is 62 degrees!)
Have a radiator?
If you have radiators and they aren’t getting hot to the touch, they may need to be bled to release trapped air. Check out this link for more information on radiators and troubleshooting them. (If you’re a renter, be sure your lease doesn’t prohibit you from messing with your radiators before you try to adjust them!)
(Also check out radiator foil! Installing this reflective foam-based foil to the back of your radiator will massively boost the effectiveness of your heater!)
Know of any ways to keep warm that we missed? Let us know in the comments below!
