A Few More Keep Warm Tips

Photo by Tim

How are you doing with keeping the thermostat turned down in your house?  This week was our first real test as we saw our first big snowfall (will more coming today and tomorrow!) and cold temperatures with high winds.

I have to admit there were a few times this week that I bumped our thermostat up a few degrees temporarily, just to get the house a little warmer, and then let the it fall back into it’s normal schedule.

But, I also discovered/realized a couple more ways to keep warm, while trying to do just that this week, that I wanted to pass along.

Get Active!

I can’t believe that I didn’t think about this for last week’s post, but as I was vacuuming the house on Tuesday, and I got warm enough that I had to take off one of my layers, I realized – duh! – get off your butt and get moving is a great way to warm yourself up.

Exercise is great, of course, but it doesn’t have to be specific exercise.  Pick up toys, vacuum or dust, have a dance party with your kids.  Just get up and get moving.  Mostly this tip is for me, because obviously if I didn’t think of it last week, you think I’m spending a little too much time sedentary – in front of the computer maybe? 🙂

Use a warming bag.

A warming bag filled with corn, rice, or even cherry pits can be warmed up in the microwave or oven and then placed in your bed, or around your neck, or something like that, to help keep you warm.  I was reading this post over at Crunchy Chicken, and remembered that I had a rice bag just sitting in my cupboard.  Well let me tell you, it makes a huge difference on my freezing toes when I get into bed at night.

You can buy one pre-made, or make your own.  The simplest and easiest way to make your own is to fill a large tube sock with regular white rice and tie it in a knot at the top (this is what I have).  Stick it in the microwave for a few minutes, and enjoy the warmth for an hour or more!

Other great ways to make your bed a little more cozy are using flannel or fleece sheets, and adding a down comforter or extra blanket or quilt on top.

Switch the direction of your ceiling fan.

Use your ceiling fan to pull colder air up and push warmer air down to help keep warm air from collecting by the ceiling of a room.  This is especially helpful if you have tall or vaulted ceilings where a lot of your warm air would get “trapped” up high and cause your furnace to work harder to keep your house at the desired temperature.

To make sure your ceiling fan is rotating in the correct direction, it should be moving “forward” or in a clock-wise rotation. When you stand under it, you should not feel much, if any, breeze.  You want the fan to be pulling the air up and then pushing the warm air down the sides of the room.  If you feel a strong, detectable breeze, like you would want to cool you off in the summer time, then your fan is moving in the wrong direction.

I hope these tips help you to stay warm and keep the heat turned down in your house!  Let me know if you have any other great ways to keep warm!

Also, I want to announce the winner of the Seeds Family Worship CD.

The winner is Carla, carlamo@.  Her’s was the very first entry!  Congratulations, and you will be receiving and email from me shortly.

Thanks to everyone who entered!  If you’d like to purchase one of the great Seeds Family Worship CD’s for yourself, you can head over to the Seeds Music Store and get 20% off regular priced CD’s when you use the code LIVERENEWED! They make great gifts!

And don’t forget the free song download available to Live Renewed readers!

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