How to keep your house warm in winter naturally

Heating isn't the only thing, and you don't have to crank up the boiler to keep the cold at bay. A few tricks can help you get the right temperature without overdoing it or wasting it.

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How to keep your house warm in winter
To keep your home warm in winter, especially when temperatures drop significantly, you shouldn't rely entirely on your boiler and heating: you risk wasting money on uncontrolled energy consumption and disappointing results. Instead, you can take a few measures at no cost to keep your home warm, even when it's freezing outside: from making the best use of the sun (when there is any) to improvements that guarantee natural insulation, from humidity (excessively dry air makes the house colder) to the right level, to fresh air that must enter during the day, not at night. In short: to keep your home warm in winter, aside from heating, the real secret is to conserve the existing heat and not add more, which is then lost. 

Block the cold

  • Air the rooms well, opening the windows wide for at least 5-10 minutes, but do it during the day and never after sunset, when instead, during the winter, windows and shutters must be closed. 
  • Humidity should remain between 40 and 60 percent, as dry air increases the cold. And natural humidity also comes from the right plants in the house (first of all ferns, ficus and peace lily).
  • Close the doors of rooms that are not used and spend more time in rooms exposed to the sun. 
  • Rugs, which insulate floors, and curtains that are light during the day (letting sunlight filter through) and dark and heavy at night (when the coldest temperatures arrive and bedrooms need darkness to sleep well). 

Taking advantage of natural heat

  • During the day, when the sun is shining, keep the blinds up and let the light and heat into your home. At sunset, lower everything to keep in the warmth you've accumulated during the day. 
  • Even in winter, a sunny window can increase the temperature of a room by 2–4 degrees. 
  • The windows must always be clean: this allows more radiation and therefore better retention of natural heat. 
  • Walls with paintings and bookcases help retain natural heat. 

Avoid wasteful drafts

One of the most serious wastes, which cools the home and reduces the effectiveness of heating, is drafts. Check that windows and doors are well insulated and, if they aren't, try eliminating them. drafts With soft rubber profiles available on the market, or with classic fabric draft excluders, which you can also make yourself by creatively recycling scraps of fabric and wadding. To best shield your windows, you might consider double-glazed windows if your home is located in an area where temperatures become very cold.  To check if gusts of wind are actually coming from a window or door, light a candle nearby and check if the flame sways. You can also eliminate drafts by applying adhesive seals to the affected cracks.

Retain the heat of the heating well

  • Radiators must be free from furniture, closed shelves or radiator covers.
  • They must not be covered by long curtains.
  • They should not be used to dry clothes and garments (which, moreover, risk shrinking in this way).
  • There should be at least 20-30 centimetres of free space above and in front of the radiators. 
Only one mistake among those we have mentioned, it can reduce the efficiency of the radiator, and therefore actually cool the house, even by 20-30 percent. 

Ideas for the night

At night, when household activities stop and bedtime arrives, the cold could be more intense, also because the radiators may not be on during these hours. Yet some simple tricks can be enough. 
 
  • The hot water bottle in bed is a great idea, Definitely cheaper and simpler than electric blankets and bed warmers: it's enough to warm the area under the covers well, especially where you put your feet.
  • Sometimes it can be enough to simply double the blankets. 
  • Even covering your head at home, when it's very cold it's a good idea: it helps reduce heat loss and keeps the whole body warm. 

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