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It’s October and winter will be upon
us soon. I know you think winter is still a long way off--but trust me,
it’s not. Let’s talk about some things that you can do to help winterize
your home.
When we bought our house in the
spring of ’93, my husband asked the previous owners if the house was
insulated. Of course, they said it was. Mmm. Hmmmm. Sure it was. As I
was standing at my kitchen sink, which is on an outside west wall, doing
dishes during the storm of ’93, my hair was blowing straight back.
I said to myself, “Self, this can’t
be good.”
I started to track the culprit down.
I have a double outlet on each side of my sink. The wind was whistling
through each of the empty outlets. What to do? Put something in the
outlets! I bought two packages of plastic baby-proofing plugs at RiteAid.
I put one of those in each empty outlet on outside facing walls. The
outlets on the walls between rooms were okay.
We have storm windows too, but when
the weather comes from the west and is windy, the cold still comes in
around them. I bought some pretty towels at yard sales, and I roll them
up and put them on my window sills. It helps a lot. If you don’t have
storm windows, Kelly at Kelly’s Home Source assures me that she has all
you need to winterize your windows. I would assume that Hardman’s also
carries weatherizing products.
To keep the cold from creeping in
under your doors, roll up some old throw rugs and sew them up tight. Tie
pretty ribbons or yarn on either end and you have a draft blocker. Also,
you can sew up material like a hollow snake and fill it with clean kitty
litter.
If you are on a really tight budget,
a certain reporter told me that clear shower curtains, bought at one of
the dollar stores, can be measured, cut, and thumbtacked on the inside
of your windows. If you can not afford to do all of your windows, just
do the ones on the storm side of your home. If you can’t afford a storm
door, but have a screen door, you can always thumbtack plastic on the
inside of the door.
Every little thing you do to keep
your home warm works. Heavy drapes or curtains on the windows also helps
keep the cold out and the heat in.
There’s another little thing I do in
the winter to add a little more heat in the house. I use my oven a
lot--summer and winter. In the summer, I shut the door immediately after
removing whatever was cooked in there. In the winter, it’s an entirely
different story. I leave the door open and all the heat that is left in
the oven after I have removed the food and turned it off comes into the
kitchen. You would be surprised at how much heat there really is in
there.
A special tip: If you have a kitchen
or bathroom sink, or a utility sink against an outside facing wall and
they are cabinet sinks, make sure you leave the doors open on cold
nights. It just might help to keep your pipes from freezing.
Well, there you are. I hope I have
helped you with a few inexpensive ways to keep warm this winter. By the
way, heavy socks, fuzzy slippers, sweaters and throw rugs work wonders
too.
(Judy Wolfram is chairperson of
Calhoun County Solid Waste Authority, which oversees Cabot Recycling.
Cabot is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week for recycling drop-offs.
Those who would like to be paid for non-ferrous metals and aluminum cans
need to visit Tuesdays and Thursdays, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., or Saturday, 8
a.m. to noon.)
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