With global climate change looming over our head, the weather pattern that we grew up in are not predictable anymore. Thousands of years of history of human adaptations to harsh climates has shown us that we can always (for now) climb on top of natural adversity. But let’s not linger on this ”hubris” and be more pragmatic on modern situations. Here are some tips on warming your home without costing too much on energy (which is also in a crisis that our future generation might have to face, sigh). Anyway, Here we go!

Keeping up with curtains

Use the curtains to navigate how much sunlight you want to come inside your apartment during the day. Keep the window and the floor clean near the curtain which will render more reflection of sunlight further into the home and keep it warm. Make sure to close the curtains as soon as afternoon calls it a day and night ensues – that’s when the cold will start to rise again, with the drop of temperature. Also assure yourself to have no gap or leaks to your curtains which might let your warm air out and chilling cold air in because you want exactly the opposite to happen.

Wrap up the Warmer

If you have a hot water tank or a geyser, make sure it is properly lagged – or insulated. This will keep the water warmer for a longer period and reduce your electric bill in the long run.

Bar the draughts

Draught-proofing your doors and windows will also save your energy cost. It can be easily done by you. Cheap items like self-adhesive rubber seals or door draught excluders around your doors are easy to install. As a bonus, these will also sound-proof your home or room. You can also use “duct tape-Aluminum foil” or “duct tape-bubble wrap” combos to cover cracks or tiny gaps on your window to keep the warmness of your room intact.

Walk on Rugs

You can put rugs or carpets on your floor which might be a bit expensive according to your taste and the size of your room not to feel the coldness beneath your feet at all. A small caveat: If you put the rugs close to the window - sunlight will not be able reflect inside your room. So try keeping it away from windows which will additionally help accumulating less dust on your rug from outside.

Hot Water Bag

Getting cold feet on bed at night? Fill a hot water rubber bag with hot water and place it underneath the blanket, close to where your feet will be. This might render your feet warm and comfy!

Use Kitchen Heat

Depending on what you are cooking or boiling, try to keep the heat generated from the gas burner inside the kitchen by closing off window or shutting off exhaust fans. If the smoke or the scent of the item to be cooked are too much to bear, you’ll need ventilation and following the previous sentence won’t work practically. But in case of using oven or micro-oven, leave the oven door open after using and switching it off. The heat will help warm up the room. Unless you can secure the kitchen completely, don’t ever do either of this if you have children, pets, or elderly house guests.