Most of us experience the irresistible urge to batten down the hatches at home as soon as the cold season hits. After all, isn’t it better to stay inside a warm and cozy house when the frost starts building outside?
Unfortunately, when the cold weather has been here for a few weeks and your winter home hibernation is in full swing, you might notice one unfortunate side effect – the musk of an unaired house.
Stuffy spaces just don’t cope well over long periods, and as well as a stale smell, your home may start falling foul to mold growth that makes things smell even worse! The solution? Finding ways to keep your home fresh without feeling the freeze. Keep on reading to find out how you can achieve it.
Alternate window openings
Experts suggest that you should open your windows for at least 15 minutes a day to keep your home fresh throughout even the coldest winters. As well as clearing damp, this brings fresh air into your home and keeps things smelling a lot better.
By alternating the windows that you open, and closing the door of the room that’s being aired at any given time, you should find that you can freshen up without particularly feeling any colder. Just make sure that you’re only working on one room at a time, and that you move on to the next as soon as you close one set of windows.
Run your air con intermittently
If you don’t run your air con at all through the winter, you’re far more likely to require the services of a local AC repair company when you come to use it in the hot weather. But, as well as stopping your air-con parts from seizing, running your air-con for at least brief periods throughout the winter can be great for ventilation purposes.
If you’re opening your windows regularly, then you don’t need to do this loads. But, a brief half-hour of air-con every month or so is more than worthwhile throughout winter. This is an especially great option during the coldest weather, and could even be a slightly less abrasive replacement to those window openings when there’s snow or other adverse conditions outside.
Have your heating on as much as possible
While it might not be refreshing in the typical sense, heating is a huge help for fighting dampness and reducing mold. As such, having your heating on as much as possible can also help to eliminate nasty smells or staleness all winter long.
Of course, this is easier said than done in the face of soaring heating costs. That said, you should find that heating your home to at least 64°F actually saves on heating costs by reducing the amount of heating that your home requires each time. Not to mention that your home will then be far dryer overall, and much fresher throughout even the longest winter.
You deserve to enjoy a cozy winter at home, but make sure that it doesn’t come at the cost of a fresh house with the help of these tips.
Iskra Banović is our seasoned Editor-in-Chief at Blufashion. She has been steering the website’s content and editorial direction since 2018. With a rich background in fashion design, Iskra’s expertise spans across fashion, interior design, beauty, lifestyle, travel, and culture.
