Baby, it's so so cold Outside!!

I can remember living in a few dodgy ghetto apartments when I was a kid. There was my little brother, my mother and I. Some places we lived had horrible windows with the thinnest glass (if it was glass) and the largest gapped window frames allowing cold wind to blow inside. The windows rattled and screeched, and our drapes fanned over the back of our settee.  

My Mom always tried to make the best of bad situations. During the cold winter months she especially put her ingenuity to work. Duct tape worked great along the gaps of the window frames. Cling film and thick plastic worked when the duct tape didn't. Tacked-up blankets and thick drapes covering the blankets was the extra desperate measure. The gas oven turned on high, door open to warm the place, and a few huge water pots boiling on the stove for hot steam to warm us was the cherry on our cheap-living cake. There's a faint memory of an electric, plastic heating pad during the nights as well. My mother did nearly everything to warm our winters, everything next to starting a camp fire in front of the tv. Really, what else could she do with restricted means? It was COLD!

I know you too probably have make-do stories from your Mom as well. Most you remember only by finding yourself repeating them!  I'm happy to have inherited my Mom's make-do skill; to always try to make the best out of what I have. My husband is very appreciative of this skill you see. If it saves us money, he's in. Case in point, it's pretty cold out lately and to keep my body warm, instead of whacking up the central heating to full blast during the night, I place two hot water bottles under my blanket! Bamb!

It's truly a thrifty way to keep warm on the cheap. I really wish my Mom had known about hot water bottles for warmth, but I recall she used them for something else. Don't ask.

I simply half fill them with hot water, squeeze out the air, then tightly seal it with the cork screw. Placing one or two under your blanket for a few minutes before getting into bed would amaze you by how warm you'd be at night!

Hot water bottles could be more popular in the United States than they are. Here in the UK they are very common.  Check out some of these lovely covers for them.

Oh, aint he cute? Found this one on cuddlykingdom.com along with this pretty one with strawberries.

Stay warm this winter! xoxo