Winter Apartment Hacks to Stay Warm All Season

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Winter is in full swing again, with weather ranging from strong winds, heavy rain, snowy grounds, and a chill that greets us once we step out the door. However, you can keep the cold away this season by winter-proofing your apartment to seal in the warmth and exclude the cold. From simple repairs to rearranging your home, we have a checklist ready to stay toasty over the winter months.

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This list is divided into three sections: Budget-Friendly Repairs, Circulation Hacks, and Personal Warmth.

Budget-Friendly Repairs

With the harsh weather coming full force for the winter season, your home could use a little TLC to brave the cold. Some simple repairs to consider are:

• Draft Stoppers: Some gaps in the doors can be an easy way to make your home feel cold, despite the thermostat being set high. Place a few rolled towels or door sweeps over the gaps temporarily, or opt for a more permanent solution with weatherstrips.
• Caulking Baseboards and Pipes: Holes in the pipes and/or baseboards are a sure way to keep your home cold. Use caulk or foam tape to repair the holes. Additionally, placing couches or beds over the seal can better trap the heat.
• Window Insulation Kit: Leaky window frames are a sure way for rain and wind to get into your home. Apply transparent plastic film to the leak, tape it down, and heat it with a hairdryer to create a tighter seal.
• Rescreen Window and Patio Doors: While the frames have received a little TLC, your screens may need replacement if they are not properly keeping debris outside and sealing well against winter winds.
• Outlet Gaskets: A commonly unknown hole location is the electrical outlets, as the covers may not be enough to trap heat. To combat this, use foam gaskets behind electrical outlet covers on exterior walls.

Circulation Hacks

With the repairs made, you can organize, rearrange, and maximize your home to be the coziest space you can live in. Some minor changes are:

• Reverse Ceiling Fans: The direction of your ceiling fan is a significant factor in how well your home traps hot or cold air. For the winter, set your fans to spin clockwise at a low speed to push warm air downwards.
• Curtain Routines: The length of time you let sunlight into your home and how well you trap its heat at night is a small way to adjust the temperature in your home. Leave your curtains open on sunny days to let the warmth in. At night, close your curtains to trap the heat in. A small upgrade to thermal curtains amplifies the heat.
• Rearrange Furniture: Your vents can only be as powerful as you allow them to be. If couches, tables, or chairs are sitting on top of or against your vents, your air has no place to go. Shift them slightly to allow the heat to come in.
• Area Rugs: For hardwood floors that are freezing in the morning, adding fluffy and thick rugs can add insulation and warmth to your home.
• Room Heating: The more heat travels throughout the home, the less your rooms will stay warm. Close off unused rooms and focus your heating on the rooms you’re occupying to trap the heat in one place.

Personal Warmth

When all is done with winter-proofing the home, it’s time to focus on fixing your personal heating to survive the cold days. To stay warm, consider:

• Warm Yourself Near an Oven: While a fireplace is ideal, the oven can still provide a significant amount of heat if you stay close to it. After baking some cookies or brownies, leave the door open safely with the oven shut off to let the residual heat warm the kitchen.
• Shower Steam: Another underrated way to create more heat is taking a nice, hot shower. Let the steam build up in the bathroom to create a steam-room feel, and once done, leave the bathroom door open to allow the steam to escape.
• Warm Layers: Now’s the perfect time to bring out the holiday PJs and slippers to stay cozy. Fleece-lined sweats, thick sweaters or robes, and fuzzy socks add a nice touch of warmth without requiring extra layers.
• Heated Bedding: Make your bed or couch a heat magnet with electric blankets, mattress pads, or heating pads to localize the heat and keep the thermostat from being on constantly, which can save on your electricity bill.
• Hot Water Bottles: A small hack for adding extra warmth to your blankets would be to place a hot water bottle in your bed before getting in. Additionally, using it to cure cramps is a way to build body heat and provide extra relief.

With your apartment winter-proofed and using simple hacks to stay toasty underneath thick blankets with equally warm clothes, the winter season will stay strong outside, but it won’t wreak havoc on the inside — and spring will be here before we know it!

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