Are you team cold weather, or summer forever? If you live in St. Louis like me, you have no choice but to embrace the cold – because like it or not it is HERE! We live in a 150 year old house, so I am constantly researching ways to battle the cold. Over the years as a mom I have found some tips that work well for us, and through some trial and error have some tips for old homes too!
This post was graciously sponsored by Hoffmann Brothers – Thank you for supporting the companies that support my blog! This post may contain affiliate links.
Cold Weather Tips for your Home
As moms we have to juggle a lot. A home, kids wardrobes, school, work, basically some days it feels like we are in charge of keeping the world spinning, doesn’t it?
For me I think that only gets harder when fall hits. There is more clothes, more laundry, and just in general more PREP for the week. To help I want to talk about a few tips that I do each fall to help keep our home and lives running a bit more smoothly.
Cold Weather Tips for the Home
Your home is your safe haven and the biggest place to tackle when it comes to prepping for the cold, so lets go over making that a safe and great environment first!
Checking your Furnace
If you have been around for a while then you know that one thing I talk about is getting your AC and furnace checked annually. This is the time to schedule your annual furnace maintenance with Hoffmann Brothers if you are in St. Louis or Nashville – and if you aren’t already on a plan to make sure that is done yearly, it is a good time to sign up.
They will come out and make sure everything is working smoothly so you can sleep well at night knowing your heater will get you through the winter – because although the AC is also important in that regard – a cold home is not a safe place for kids this winter.
Steps to Take when It gets REALLY cold
Nothing scares you for cold quite like a really old house. Since moving into this house we have had to broken/ frozen pipe situations and it just is not fun! Below are a few things you should do when it is really cold.
- You want to run all faucets when it is really cold. A slow steady stream – not just a tiny drip. This is especially important for pipes exposed to the outside of the house.
- Open sink cabinets to allow the warmer air from the house to get to the pipes
- Run space heaters by areas of concern to keep the pipes warmer.
- Keep draft stoppers by your doors.
If your pipes still freeze DON’T PANIC. Typically things become an issue when they thaw, so as things start to warm up, if you can not be home 24/7 turn your water off. If you will be home you can watch the area like a hawk. If you detect a leak turn off your water until Hoffmann Brothers can get to your home.
Call Hoffmann Brothers if you have a leak of any kind of leak, but while they are there discuss ways to prevent this next time. Hoffmann Brothers is very big on giving long term solutions not bandaids, so they will be helpful in what you may want to do – even if that is not something in their wheel house. (this past time for us this meant reaching out to insulation experts).
One last important thing! I tell every mom they should test and make sure they have a carbon monoxide detector on every floor of their home especially during these months.
I know for me I sleep SO much better at night knowing we have them working and running – accidents happen, and machines malfunction, and a simple inexpensive detector like this one can keep your family safe!
Cold Weather Tips for the Car
Another place to prep your lives in the fall is your car! As a mom there is a LOT that goes along with cold weather and the car. For me that means grabbing a plastic basket and loading it up with the things below – because honestly when it is cold you want to be safe, but you also don’t want to be inconvenienced!
Cold Weather Car Kit:
- Plastic basket like this one to store it all
- 1 pack of kid’s gloves
- 1 pack of kid’s mittens
- 1 hat for each member of the family
- A pair of gloves or mittens for each adult
- 1 or 2 blankets
- A pack of warm socks (I can’t tell you how many times my kids step in a puddle or something this time of year and their shoes are soaked and their feet are cold!)
- Large Gallon sized baggies for wet clothes or gear that comes in the car
Prepping your Life for Cooler Weather
Now having your home and your car prepped will have you SO MUCH less flustered this fall, but that doesn’t cover everything – on top of that I have a few mom hacks that will make life a little less stressful this fall.
Keep in mind – these are tips coming from me, a mom of 4 kids aged 8 – 1. Some will probably not apply to your family, but adopt them as you wish to make this fall much less stressful.
Cold Weather Mom Hacks
- In each backpack for your kids use a small pouch like this one with 2 or 3 extra pairs of gloves or mittens. (worth noting that this year that pouch also contains several back up masks for each child).
- By November first I make sure I have checked to see if each child has a pair of snow boots, snow pants, and thick winter hat that is ready to be worn.
- Make sure you have hats and ear warmers for each kid – this is something to have several of as well.
- Shoes – this is dependent on your child’s school or life, but one thing I make sure of is that my kids have a couple of options that they can wear daily. This time of year shoes get wet and cold so one pair of shoes for school won’t cut it.
- If your child loses their mittens or gloves a lot you can take a long piece of yarn and a needle, use the needle to poke through the glove or mitten on the underside and on the inside tie a knot. Do this on both ends of the yarn then string that yarn through the arms of their jacket this will help keep their mittens safely where they need to be.
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Hopefully you found these cold weather hacks helpful and you feel ready to tackle the cooler temps both at home and with your family. If you need any assistance or have more questions on Hoffmann Brothers and their annual maintanance plan be sure to shoot me an email or dm on Instagram (@arinsolange) and I will get you in touch with the right person!
