What can be done about winter?
Ignore it? You`re welcome to try, but a full-contact winter can intrude on your sense of good living.
Enjoy it? That`s possible for some people. If you are the kind of person who loves hiking into the woods to pull back sleds full of wood that you`ll chop to heat your home, you need no help in coping.
But if you are a person who goes into winter whining and twitching-”I`m always freezing, the utility bills are killing me, it`s always so dark, there`s nothing to do”-maybe you should try this approach: Admit that winter is a fact of life, and try to make it as nice as possible.
All together now:
We will do what we can to make the house cozy and to minimize the utility bills, without turning it into a dreadful chore.
We will do what we can to overcome inconvenience, without spending huge amounts of money.
We will stop doing some of the things we don`t like.
We will start doing more things we do like, but feel guilty about.
We will make our personal lives as pleasant as possible.
So here is a list of suggestions for ways to bundle up and hunker down and try to not hate the winter.
Cozy does it
Bring out a good-looking comforter to keep next to the chair you use most.
Make up the winter bed with the warmest quilts or comforters, extra pillows, extra magazines at bedside, a bottle of sherry with a crystal glass- whatever will add a feeling of well-being when it`s dark and cold outside.
Comforters and down products are plentiful and getting cheaper. Recent good ideas include a thing called the European Featherbed, about 2-3 inches of down that you use under your bottom sheet, and the Couch Potato, a sack-like down cushion and comforter for use on the sofa.
Winter-ready chores
Patio doors, picture windows and other weak spots in a house`s heat shield drain heat from a house the same way a hole in a bucket drains water-continually. For people who live there, this moving air creates the impression of a cold draft even when the thermostat is high. Here are some quick solutions:
Those kits of clear window insulation that you shrink with a hair dryer do an excellent job of sealing off windows and ending the cold drain on the room, especially those in red plaid boxes from 3M. The indoor version is nearly invisible.
On a cold day, walk around inside the house, placing your hands just outside window and door frames. Where you feel cold drafts, apply an invisible press-in caulking or some of the clear interior weather sealing tape.
Edge the inside of all door frames in weather stripping. Quick, self-adhesive types are available.
Move things away from radiators or heat ducts that might be damaged-records, good wood furniture, plastic stuff, plants and so forth.
Outdoors, spray evergreens with winterizing products, so they`ll stay healthy even in drying cold weather. Protect tender plants such as
rhododendrons with burlap. If you have beds of perennial flowers, cover them with deep leaves or straw to prevent freezing and thawing.
If you own your house, go outside and caulk around every place where different materials meet-brick against wood, wood against metal, holes for wires. Or you should hire somebody to do it. Spend the extra money for the special acrylic caulks with a 20-year guarantee, so you don`t have to do it again soon.
Convenience
Install an automatic garage door opener so you don`t have to slush through the snow in the dark when arriving home.
Augment some key yard lights with the switches that respond to light conditions by turning the bulb on and off. These cost about $15 at hardware stores. You remove the bulb, screw the switch into the socket, then screw the bulb into the switch. (Other types are available.) You can come home at night to outdoor lights that have turned on automatically.
Put a few indoor lights on timers so they come on by themselves as dark falls. Many forms are available at $8 to $24 in hardware stores.
Plug a couple indoor lights to a remote control switch (about $12-20) so you can turn them on as you approach the house in the car. Or put one on the coffee maker and zap it from bed in the morning.
If your driveway is one that people slide off of, mark the edges of the drive with red reflectors on a stick. They`re about $1.50 at most hardware stores, and you may never have to push a stuck car again.
Armchair diversions
Cut down on activities you enjoy less in cold weather. With apologies to the NFL, if you really hate being out in the cold, why not stay home and save yourself for baseball games.
Do more of the activities that make you feel guilty during good weather-reading, needlework, watching bad TV, building models, cooking special foods. Join a book club. Indulge in piles of magazines on your special interests. Experiment with different kinds of coffee or tea.
Bring the entertainment to your house; cardinals and blue jays are a cheery sight on winter mornings. Hang a small bird feeder somewhere visible from your most-used indoor location. If you want to keep refilling at a minimum, hang it where the squirrels can`t reach it.
Decorate a holiday bush for the birds with strings of unsalted popcorn, raisins, chunks of suet and dabs of peanut butter. (Pick a bush too flimsy to support squirrels.) If you have decorative corn for autumn, tie it up outside when you`re done and watch the birds come to feed on the kernels.
Keep a birdwatchers` guide and binoculars near the chair you sit in most. Fireplaces
On a pleasant day (when it`s not a dreadful chore) move wood to a stack just outside the door nearest the fireplace. Inside, create a spot to set it down near the fireplace.
If you use a fireplace often, consider investing in fitted glass doors that can be closed. When you go to bed with the fire smoldering and the flue open, furnace heat is drawn up the chimney all night.
If you don`t use your fireplace more than a couple times a winter, end the draft by sealing the chimney hole more tightly than the damper does. For example, cut a piece of Styrofoam a few inches larger than the hole made where the chimney enters the top of the fireplace. Hold that Styrofoam in the top of the fireplace while you cover it with something airtight, say a dark garbage bag, then tape everything in place with duct tape. (Remember to undo all of this next time you use the fireplace.)
Cover the empty fireplace by setting a big plant, a big basket of dried wheat or other decoration in front. For example, a peace lily is a large plant that can produce cheerful white flowers continually, without direct sunlight, as long as it is kept damp and fertilized.
When an unexpectedly mild day arrives, throw open the doors and refresh the stale sealed-up air.
In between, refresh the air without perfuming it by simmering a pot of water with a few whole cloves, some cinnamon and bay leaves.
Change the cat box or wash the dog more often.
Safety first
Have a fire drill with everyone in the household. If windows are sealed shut or other passageways closed for winter, plan new escape routes.
Refresh the batteries in smoke detectors. If you don`t have smoke detectors, buy some and put them up near the furnace, near the sleeping area, in main hallways, near the Christmas tree and near any auxiliary heater.
If you`re working on auto or house projects, don`t use volatile solvents such as gasoline or paint thinners in a garage or a room that`s warmed by a stove or an auxiliary heater. –
