How to Stay Warm Without Electricity! Staying warm when it is cold outside is essential. If you become too cold, you may begin to experience signs of hypothermia. When hypothermia occurs, you can experience shakes, severe confusion, trouble talking, and drowsiness.
It can lead to severe medical conditions that can land you in the hospital. If the electricity is out and you cannot get warm, there are several things you need to do right away to increase the heat around you.
We must start by being prepared for power to go out. See How to Prepare for Power Outages.
Staying Warm on a Budget
Many of the tips and items I am recommending could and should be part of your emergency or disaster preps. They can often be found at yard sales or thrift stores and stored in bins until needed.
Even in traditionally warm areas we need to be prepared for winter storms.
Place Heavy Curtains on the Windows of Your Home
If you have heavy, thick curtains at home, hang them up. The thickness of the curtains will help to block out some of the cold air that seeps into the house through the windows. If you have some windows in the home that cause more of a cold front than others, use the curtains on those windows.
If you do not own heavy curtains, do not stress it. You can always use heavy blankets as a replacement for the curtains. It may look a bit strange, but it works during dire situations.
Keeping heavy curtains or blankets stored away for this purpose is a good idea. Consider shopping thrift store and yard sales for these items. If it is in the budget consider some insulated curtains.
Use Plastic to Cover Your Windows
Cover your windows with plastic. If you have plastic sheeting or even canvas tarps, place them against your windows and use duct tape or pins to stick them to the frames of the windows. The plastic sheeting or tarp will block some of that cold air, keeping it closer to the windows.
The goal is to prevent the cool air from spreading out throughout the home and making multiple rooms feel too cold. When you use plastic and heavy curtains simultaneously, you can block out so much of the cold air, preventing the room’s temperature from dropping too low.
You can buy kits for insulating windows and sliding glass doors.
Wear Layers of Clothing
Always make sure to wear multiple warm clothing layers to stay warm. After putting on your undergarments, wear a pair of pajamas or leggings with sweatpants on top. Put on a long-sleeved shirt, t-shirt, and a sweatshirt. Wear a snow hat and two pairs of thick, comfortable socks. You might even want to wear a pair of comfortable gloves.
When you have multiple layers of clothing on your body, it will help you stay warm. While your face might still be a bit cold, it is a lot better than walking around the home with just a t-shirt and shorts on with no socks. Be sure that everyone in the household follows the same approach, putting on multiple layers of clothing at one time.
Light Large Candles in the Room
Do you have some large candles stored away in a closet? You might have bought them while they were on sale but have yet to use them. If you have candles, light them and place them in the room you are in to stay warm.
It is never a good idea to leave candles lit while sleeping, but you can keep them on the entire time you are awake. When sitting close to the candles, you can feel the warmth of the fire from the wick.
You can often find large candles at the Dollar Store.
Keep the Doors Closed
Be sure to keep the doors closed in each room. If you leave the doors open, cool air from other areas of the home will spread out and make each room feel too cold. It is a good idea to keep everyone in the house in one room together. The extra bodies in the room will make it a bit warmer.
If you decide to take this approach, close the door and place a thick towel at the bottom of it to keep that cold air from getting in through the small opening underneath most doors.
Sleep in a Tent
It might sound strange, but pull out a tent and place it in the living room or an area of the home that feels warmest. Sleep with your family inside the tent. When lying so close together, it creates a bit more heat, which can help you fall asleep and stay comfortable throughout the night.
If you have some sleeping bags, it helps to pull them out and put them to good use, too. Besides wearing layers of clothing and using multiple blankets, you can keep warm by sleeping in a sleeping bag that closes with zippers.
Move Your Area Rugs to a Specific Room
While you might have hardwood floors throughout the home, there is a good chance that you have area rugs thrown around. Consider moving those area rugs from the different rooms. You can spread them out in a single room on the floor where you and your family will sit and rest to stay warm. Putting the area rugs on the floor is a great way to add a bit more insulation to the room.
Consider placing any extra comforters or blankets you might have on top of the area rugs if you want additional insulation. Not only does it help insulate the room, but it will also make the floor more comfortable for you and your loved ones.
Use Emergency Blankets
If you have access to emergency blankets, use them! These blankets provide essential insulation to keep the body warm. Not only can you wrap them around yourself, but you can also spread them out on the floor and all around the room to block cold air and keep comfortable.
It always helps to have these blankets stored away for difficult times when the electricity might go out. The blankets are cheap and are usually available at Amazon or Wal-Mart.
How to Stay Warm Without Electricity
If you have found yourself in a difficult situation without electricity to stay warm, these are things you can do to stay warm. Wear plenty of clothes, use candles, cover your windows, and use curtains on the windows. Make sure to use what you have around the home to keep yourself warm.
If you have a tent and sleeping bags, use those to sleep together with the family to keep everyone as warm and comfortable as possible. The situation is difficult to deal with, but you can get through it when you take the right steps to stay warm.
I sure hope people get prepared before they need to be. So many people are so unprepared for power outages.
I think what is happening is waking people up to the need to be prepared.
We are so lucky that we were prepared for this winter storm we’re having. We do have propane heat, Cook stove and water heater. Our pipes under the house are all insulated. Plus we have a chain wall under pending. And we put up wind blocks. We do have wood floors, but wear socks. The floors do get cold, but not as bad as some. We haven’t lost power, but we are snowed in. BTW, we’re in Texas
We were in Texas 9 years and it has been heartbreaking to watch what is happening to friends there. I am glad to hear you were prepared!!
A few years ago, we had a power outage due to a snowstorm, leaving many without power for weeks. My daughter was actually stranded with me, and we used almost all of these suggestions. I determined to be a bit more ready next time, so I purchased large dowels and bedroom closet holders at the doorways to each room, (I have an upstairs that has no door, a bedroom used as an office with no door, and the living room to the kitchen and hall with no doors….). Purchased thermal curtains for them and am now ready to close off the living room.
If you can, use an inside room that has no outside wall….I don’t have one, but I know that some homes do…This will help you stay warmer.
I had purchased two Mr Buddy Heaters, which will run on 1# propane tanks inside. We used those and my store of the propane tanks until they ran out. On low, they lasted for about 4 hours. This helped greatly, but having the double ones would have meant an entire night of uninterrupted sleep….. Also, make sure you have PLENTY OF THEM. We used about 6-7 per day per heater. They do store well and are “relatively” safe to do so, and take up little room.
Being prepared is critical. I had enough warning to run water for drinking (I’m on a well, but it won’t run without electricity. Planning to put solar with a battery backup on that…), but forgot to get enough water to flush the toilets……when your house is 35* inside, snow WON’T melt in the toilet tank!!!, just FYI!
BTW, all this was done while living in a 1945 house that had little to no insulation, original windows and was extremely drafty. I have since replaced all windows, installed insulation, replaced the crappy plastic siding with new hardy board siding, replaced the foundation and put on a metal roof. I purchased two more Mr Buddy heaters, but still not the double one…..but now can put one in each doorway facing in and one in the main living area to help keep it warmer. I still need to put insulation in the roof area…
Anyway, being prepared to live in your home when you are powerless for weeks is VERY important. Please, don’t wait for it to happen before you implement some, if not all suggestions here….
Thank you for sharing your experience Carol!
I never thought of putting blankets on the windows, very good idea!!
That’s one of the reasons I like to store blankets up in preps.
It’s crazy what people have been dealing with the last few weeks! This is so helpful.
I’m so happy to hear you found it helpful. It was awful to watch family and friends in TX suffer without any way to help.