Brrrr! In case you didn’t notice, winter is here! The days are shorter, the temperature has dropped, and all around us Christmas lights are twinkling… welcome to December! eco hack Do let us know in the comments if you have an eco hack to share too, or come and find us on Facebook and Instagram for a chat!
Staying warm over winter
Eco Hack: reduce the amount of energy you use for heating! One of the biggest reasons why our carbon footprint tends to grow over winter is due to the drop in temperature. It’s so tempting to crank the central heating up when winter really kicks in, but there are other things you can do first! Yes, its miserable feeling cold, but heating bills are soaring, especially with lots more of us working from home again. So what can we do?
Back in October, we shared eco hacks for autumn, along with some tips on how to stay warm during the change of season. Take a read here. These tips haven’t changed- we recommend you try them during winter too, but we thought we’d add to them a little. So, here are our top three eco hacks for winter:
Keep the draught out!
We touched on this in our post about eco hacks for autumn, but it’s worth going into a little more detail for winter. Cold rooms are often the result of sneaky draughts, coming from windows or doors- but the good news is that they’re really easy to deal with.
If you’ve already ensured that your doors and windows are properly sealed, but you can still feel the cold coming through, it’s time to get a draught excluder. You can buy these, of course, but it wouldn’t be a true eco hack if we didn’t tell you how easy they are to make! All you need is a an old pair of jeans or an old jumper. Cut off the arm/ leg, fill with stuffing and sew it up. Voila! Use your draught excluder under doors and windows to keep the heat in over winter.
Insulate.
Living in the UK means that insulation is a must-do eco hack, and it helps to keep your heating bills down too- which results in a smaller carbon footprint over winter. So along with the draught excluders, make sure your windows and other areas are properly insulated. And don’t forget your pipes! You can buy cheap foam insulation pipes that not only protect your pipes from bursting should they freeze, but will save energy when it comes to heating too.
Rearrange your furniture.
This might not seem like and immediately obvious eco hack, but if you like to position your favourite armchair right next to the radiator or the fire, then you might want to re-think. Yes, it’s warm and toasty while you’re sitting, but what happens when you get up and move to another area?
If your heat source is blocked in by furniture, there’s less chance the whole room will be heated effectively, and this can result in the temptation of cranking up the heating becoming too hard to refuse. Move furniture away where you can, and don’t forget to leave doors open too, so that the heat can move from room to room more easily. As an added bonus, all that furniture re-arranging will get the body heat up too, so you’ll be nice and warm once you’re done!
What are your top eco hacks for staying warm during the winter?