How to keep you and your family warm this winter

How to keep you and your family warm this winter.

The shift into winter brings about a drastic change in our weather climate, grey skies, rain, frost, and snow become the normal weather patterns. Even though it is cold there are many things you can do to keep you and your family warm until the winter months are over.

Try to create a warm and dry home that will make it a healthier environment for you and your family meaning less illness in the winter months. Many household activities create moisture in your home such as cooking, showering, and drying clothes etc., excessive amounts of moisture in a home causes dampness and makes it harder to heat as well as increasing the likely hood of respiratory illnesses. Minimising dampness can include drying clothes outside (when the weather permits), removing condensation from windows and doors daily and opening a few windows during the day even if only for a few minutes. Letting in the fresh air will remove the moisture in your home and circulate fresh air inside.

The World Health Organization recommends keeping your home at 18 degrees but that may need to increase if you have young children or the elderly living with you. Draught stoppers and keeping your blinds or curtains closed when the sun is gone make a drastic difference in maintaining an average warm temperature in your home.

Electric heaters are often a cheaper option to buy and safe to use if you are looking for a quick option for heating. Heat pumps are also an effective and cost-efficient way of heating larger spaces and will maintain the set temperature meaning less energy cost.

If your home is not insulated and you are struggling to keep the warmth inside, you can hang blankets in the windows (recommended for the evening) which acts as a thermal layer keeping the warmth inside and not escaping through the windows. Another affordable solution is bubble wrap, sticking bubble wrap to your windows is a cheap, easy, and extremely effective way to insulate your home.

If you find mould is creeping up in around your home, then you can use this very easy DIY solution to remove any mould. Using three parts water and seven parts white vinegar, combine and use as you would a normal household spay. Leaving the solution to sit for several minutes (up to 30 minutes) allows for a deeper clean and to make sure you are removing all mould spores from your home.

Hot water bottles and wheat bags are an excellent and cheap way of heating you and your family up and are perfect for bedtimes and warming up the bed before hopping in. Hot water bottles aren’t considered safe for children however wheat bags on a low heat pose minimal risk.

If you find any draughts coming through your doors or windows now is the time to try and stop those draughts before the thick of winter. A draught stopper at the bottom of a door will help to keep the cold out and will increase the warmth in your main living areas. Other alternatives to door stoppers can be pool noodles that have been cut and fitted onto the bottom of the door and self-adhesive strip draught excluder stripes, to stop those draughts coming through the side of the door.

Your community pharmacist has cold remedies available to help you to deal with some of the effects of the change in temperature, make sure you see your local pharmacist if you are needing any advice or relief.