How to make your home feel warmer (without turning up the heat)

[Hinotori]

This is the cheap hide I ordered

https://tandyleather.com/collections/leather/products/designer-whole-hide-assorted-grey-final-sale

It was $60 something after shipping.

 

[flowerbug]

Used to be an old saying "If your feet are cold, put on a hat"

i don't have slippers and i never wear shoes around the house, my feet would probably be warmer if i did wear slippers but they sweat enough that i much prefer to not do that. just socks - that's how i pick up all the threads and bits of fabric that Mom scatters around the house from her quilting.

the OCD part of my brain has to pick the stuff off my socks when i go to bed or i'll find it in my blankets (i do anyways, but at least i get some of it). cranberry red shows every piece of thread or speck of dust. it looks good for about four hours after i dust the floor and wash the blankets then i vainly try to ignore it for the next six months or so until i clean it all again.

i spot clean here or there but i won't do the whole floor again at one shot. i hate dusting with a passion - some parts of this room i've not dusted very often at all but eventually it will get done again. my boxes of old bottles are probably next thing i should do again but i told myself the next time i take them down to clean them they're not going back up there so... it was bad enough that i cleaned the glass bottles in the window again (once every 7 years seems to be the average i'm getting to that). which reminds me that i have to get some marbles to put on the bottle tops of some of them to keep the dust and bugs from getting back in them.

and the books... not easy now to get at all the bookshelves so the tops of the books and behind some of them don't get dusted very often either. i think once every seven years is probably about right for that too. gack. now i'll be thinking about that as i try to go to sleep until i get distracted again by something else... hmm... where are my beans? ...

 

[flowerbug]

@flowerbug you could try keeping a clean pair of socks for sleeping in that you don’t wear during the day.

Or change into tomorrow’s sock at bedtime. One of our Girl Scout camping tips for staying warm in your sleeping bag all night was to do just that. Because any dampness from the socks you wore all day would cool off overnight and chill your feet.

that makes sense for people who's feet don't sweat like mine do. i often have them sticking out the end of the blankets so they act like little radiators. i don't have tucked in sheets or blankets, i do not want my feet trapped when i'm sleeping.

 

[Finnie]

question is, can i change my ways?

Good question!

After years of having a “dirty sock box” in our mudroom to make things easier for the kids, DH decided to thin things out and remove the box. Since only 1 kid is left at home. Now I have to change my ways because I am conditioned to putting my dirty socks in there instead of waking all the way across the house to our regular dirty laundry spot. I don’t like the new routine. I guess after I’ve done it enough times it will get to be automatic. 😒

 

[flowerbug]

...
What else do you do to feel cozy without turning up the heat?

caulk and seal up gaps that let drafts happen. also helps save on energy bills.

wear more layers of clothes (including a hat) around the house. piles of blankets always handy here on this perch. sometimes i end up typing/mousing with my hands under the covers.

 

[flowerbug]

if you leave the fan on most of the time the reverse fan thing may seem obvious but i really don't think it matters since the fan is mixing the air in the house anyways.

if you only turn the fan on for a few moments would be the exception. here we keep a small fan running most of the summer because we don't have a ceiling fan so it is aimed upwards to keep the air from getting too stagnant up there (and then the ceiling will drip condensation and the fireplace will get dark too from the moisture condensing out on it).

now that the air is less humid and the central heat is running often enough we can turn that fan off for the rest of the winter (hope the intermittent roof leak is fixed at last).

heating just my room warmer was nice when i could do that but now it doesn't work that ways since Mom is home all the time. before she was away during the week being a nanny - it made no sense to heat the entire house when i wasn't using it much at all.

the zone heating radiant floor circulating heat is a great idea, wear poofy clothes and use blankets and trap the heat as it comes up (like the Japanese did with kimonos).

 

[The Porch]

Our only heat is wood,
the cost of electricity is through the roof, we try and use as little as we can,
this house was built in 1989, so not the bad even older meatal windows, but meatal --
we have an older (1989) sliding glass door in our room and it is very cold in there, after thanksgiving I am going to have to cover it, it condensates and freezes. I need to use the door while the family is here, -
the dogs will be in our room Tues. pm - Friday, and I let them outside through it, poor puppies, , but they will be fine I know
the bathroom off our room to the furthest outside wall last Jan.-Feb. was 40 degrees, there isnt much I can do about that.
the front bathroom and ours have sky lights, I need to at ceiling level cover the opening with plastic, a lot of heat goes up there.

 

[The Porch]

yes

also if your hands and feet are cold it's probably a good idea to check to make sure your clothes are too restrictive and blocking blood flow.

, and get up and move more, blood flow is warming,

 

[Trying2keepitReal]

wear more layers of clothes (including a hat) around the house.

I am always wearing a hat in the house--I got on a meeting for work with my team lead yesterday and didn't even realize until she asked if I was cold, lol

 

[tortoise]

On really cold days out, put on the latex/nitrile gloves under regulars. Helps hold your own heat in your hands.

Wow, smart! Thanks for this tip! It will help me a lot! I use a synthetic blanket because I can't stay warm on a cold night with natural fibers. (Maybe I need a leather or fur blanket)