We talk about keeping good air circulation in the home for most of the year because hot muggy air is difficult to get rid of. It’s heavy, humid and requires a lot of know-how to get out of your home. This is important for the summer and spring months because it becomes difficult to get some sleep in a home where you’re constantly sticking to everything and sweating a lot. The autumn can take a long time to get going because of how well life can resist the cooler temperatures. But when the leaves start falling, you know that you’re just a few short weeks away from winter. Then the real battle begins. How do you keep the heat and warmth inside your home when the outside is trying to do everything it can to steal it?
Balancing Room Temps
Did you know that a room can get cold in winter, by not even having the windows open? The windows get cold and they drag heat away from the center of your home. When this occurs, the heat is literally dragged out through the window and the cycle starts again. Eventually, the room will be almost as cold as the outside. This is because of the equilibrium. Where there is no heat, heat goes. So, it’s a good idea to keep your blinds and curtains closed for most of the day. As soon as you get home, you should consider drawing the curtains and flipping the blinds. You should also consider fitting triple glazed windows just so there’s one extra vacuum layer between your home and the cold winter outside.
Circulate that Hot Air!
Normally, throughout the year you would be opening doors and windows strategically to circulate the air throughout your home. However, during the winter, you don’t really want to do that at all. Instead, you should try to fit a ceiling fan and make it spin clockwise. If you learn a bit about ceiling fan direction, you’ll see that a clockwise direction will allow you to lower your thermostat by 4 degrees. This happens because hot air rises and the ceiling fan is dragging the rest of the air upward too. In a sense, it will heat the rest of the air by using the hot air already inside the room. This is a great way to save on your heating bills since you have an updraft to keep each room in your home continually warm.
Check Your Heater/Radiator
Even with all the best tricks, you’re still going to have to turn the heat up during winter. At some point, you’re going to want to use your heating system to bring warmth to your home. Many have gas or electric heaters. Check out this guide from the Unclutterer on how to choose the perfect space heater for your needs. Make sure you keep the filters clean! For those of you with heat radiators, something could be stopping them from being fully effective… in essence, robbing its efficiency. A secret air pocket that builds up over the year (inside its pipes), can stop the top of your radiator from heating up. Only working to half capacity, this can mean you end up turning the heating up more than you should, to get similar results that half the setting would normally provide. So bleed the radiators in time for winter.
Dress Warmer
If your trying to keep your heating bill down, one of the simplest ways to stay warm after you’ve assured your home has no problems, is to layer your clothes. A shirt with pullover sweater can do a lot to keep you warm as can some nice warm footie socks! One of our fav ways to keep warm in the early morning is to wear some arm warmers. They are SO simple to make! Check out our post:
Quick Fleece Arm Warmers Tutorial and Pattern (free) 
Don’t be late to the fight, prepare your home for winter now. Start by fitting triple glazing and drawing the curtains straight when you arrive home.
