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Homemakers, are you looking for simple tips to keep your home cozy in the winter months? These winter homemaking tips have transformed our dull winter days more times than I can count and I’m so excited to share them with you!

When the weather shifts, new education schedules start, and holidays loom, things can feel a bit chaotic.

Focus on a step by step morning routine, ways to cozy up your home decor, and simple meal planning for cold winter months.

You can offset the colder weather and shorter days by preparing warm meals, surrounding your family with soft fabrics and thick textures, and finding ways to contrast the spare grays and whites of outdoor space with rich colors in your homemaking.

While spring might seem to be the best season for eliminating clutter, in fact preparing for winter by selling what you no longer need also sets you up well for more time inside.

Read on for ideas to spruce up your outdoor spaces, too. How to start? It’s a great time to consider throwing a yard sale to make room for the new season.

Cultivate a Winter Mindset

Shift your perspective to appreciate the beauty of winter and the slow homemaking opportunities it brings. I’ve found that when I focus on the tranquility and slower pace that the season brings, I allow myself to savor the simple joys.

I really have grown to love the slow paced shift that winter brings into our days. It feel like the world hits the pause button and I’m able to just unwind and reset.

Add Light and Movement to Keep from Singing the Blues during the Cold Winter Months

To have the energy to be a good homemaker, you’ll need to offset the emotional blahs that may accompany cold and dark months.

Some call these the winter blues. Andrea Bonior, PhD suggests brightening the indoors with lighting, maximizing exposure to the sun when it’s out, exercising, and amping up sensory experiences. 

Brighten your corners and interior spaces away from windows

Add strings of lights in dark corners, keep a small bulb burning in a dark hallway or stairwell, and use a motion detecting light in your closets.

Or, as Dr. William Lonsdale Watkinson said in 1907, “It’s better to light a single candle than to curse the darkness.”

Spend time in the sun – it’s even more important in the winter

Open your curtains in the morning, and try bundling everyone up and eating lunch on a sunny balcony or porch.

Include daily exercise

It’s the time of year to take your baby in a front pack, toss a coat over your shoulders, and head out into the winter day for a walk. Or wear warm clothes and make a snowman with your kids.

Another idea? Bring the family to the mall for a no-buy visit and walk ten laps around it. Bring snacks for when you’re done.

Add richer sensory experiences

Make spicier food, wear more vivid colors, play music throughout the day, and make homemade potpourri with cinnamon sticks, cloves, and dry orange peels.

Your Personal Morning Routine Keeps Cozy from Turning to Chaos

The best ways to take care of your family and home involve taking care of yourself – perhaps before your tired, grumpy family members get up.

Create a personal daily routine for yourself so you’re ready to face the day when they do. Use a similar structure for your kids, more serene knowing that at least your own bit of time went as planned.

If you get run down, instead of a cozy home you might find it turning to a cluttered and chaotic one. So take care of yourself by starting the day fresh.

Begin your day with a challenge.

What’s the most difficult thing currently on your plate? Struggling with a personal exercise routine? Finding it hard to find time to write in your journal? Need to read something inspiring? Wish you could focus on returning email or updating Facebook? Have a presentation due at work?

Whatever feels most pressing and hard, plan to do this first. It’ll provide a jolt to your day and give you the confidence to do everything else, which should now feel comparatively easier.

Find an hour to yourself

To find an hour to yourself, it may help to get up a little earlier.

While the family still sleeps, coffee or tea in hand, set in on your challenge. Then jot down the three other most important things to get to that day, knowing, as you do, that with families and households comes the unexpected.

Not a morning person? Use post-bedtime peace or naptimes to get your own important items checked off.

Whatever the time of day, it’s a good habit to take care of your needs for calm, introspective, focused time before dedicating yourself to a day filled with homemaking and everything else.

Keep a shared family schedule

Whether you use a calendar everyone can see, or a shared app on your iPhone, make sure everyone’s aware of their daily tasks, family commitments, and schedules.

Refer to it and teach your kids how to prioritize – and to reprioritize when things change or unexpected situations arise.

Include Soft Textures and Comfortable Treasures in Your Cozy Winter Homemaking

What makes a home feel and look cozy? Soft-to-the-touch textures and seating invite others to relax and settle in. Personal items from your past or the local thrift store spur conversations.

Also, since these are imperfect and have stood the test of time, you’ll worry less over little hands, now less likely to damage or mess them up.

Lots of old books, patterned pillows, and comfy throw blankets provide layers of warmth. In a space like this, your kids will want to sit side by side with you, all of you curled up with a good book.

Outdoor Spaces Can Be Cozy and Warmer, Too

Cozy homemaking provides contrast with the austerity of outdoor spaces. But don’t forget to pull decorative touches to the outside of your home as well.

Inexpensive outdoor coziness starts with homemade wreaths on your door and strings of outdoor lights – not just for the holidays.

Showcase handmade pictures and cutouts by the kids so that visitors can see these from the front porch.

If you have the space, build a fire pit – handmade with paver bricks, pea gravel and a metal ring – for cold evenings.

Splurge on an outdoor space heater and weather-proof speakers to listen to music with family and friends on a winter evening. 

Bundle Up and Get Outside

The best thing you can do to feel cozy inside is to spend time outside. In addition to getting exercise for you and the kids, being outside ensures enough vitamin D for the whole family.

Turn your walk into a scavenger hunt and celebrate the variety that still exists in the winter. Little kids love to search for rocks, sticks, and bunnies – or different colors of cars if you’re in a busier area. Find pine cones, evergreen boughs, and dry leaves for crafts.

Is the ground covered in snow? Bundle up, let everyone get the wiggles out by running around in a snowy yard, then head inside for hot cocoa.

Meet More Neighbors with a Winter Yard Sale

Though spring and summer often feature garage sales and yard sales, winter months face less competition.

Empty out the basement junk discarded by the entire family, sell kid’s winter clothes they’ve outgrown, and declutter after Christmas season gift-giving has brought new fun – and clutter – into the house.

Don’t forget to shop other yard sales, too, and find cozy decor and clothes for the family.

Opt for Rich Colors, Thick Fabrics, and Knits to Create Cozy Home Decor

Deep, cozy colors – like elegant burgundy, bright red, deep brown, rich navy, and forest green – shine as winter decor.

They provide depth, and stand out from the stark visuals outside your window.

Think thick fabrics, too.

While summer tends toward thin cotton, linen, and lacy styles, the cold calls out for warm layers, nubby textures, and fluffy warmth.

You may not feel like knitting, crocheting, or even sewing in the warmer months.

Gift giving, keeping your family’s toes and beds toasty, and having an excuse to sit in front of the fire in your cozy living room all give you great reasons to get back into them on a cold rainy day.

Throw pillows and tossable blankets make easy, no-pattern goals for any craft skills you’re honing. Invite a few friends, and their kids, over to craft together to avoid winter month isolation.

Meal Planning Takes the Worry Out of the Week

Take time to plan out your meals.

You don’t have to reinvent the wheel each time – rotate through a core group of family-favorite recipes. Test a new dish now and then and then add it to the mix if it passes the test.

With a little planning, you’ll know exactly what to buy at the store.

You’ll be able to count on having the ingredients for baking and impromptu guests as well. You can also plan your shopping to take advantage of sales and coupons.

Need help? Try an app like Paprika, Mealime or MealBoard.

Warm aromas from a slow cooker, pasta sauce simmering on the back burner, or sourdough bread baking in the oven provide the ultimate backdrop to your cozy homemaking in the winter months.

Looking for an easy way to make a cozy winter meal? Your crock pot is your friend

If cooking on low, get the ingredients into it mid-morning. Switch to mid-afternoon for high settings, and toss in the cut-up meat and veggies. 

Beef stew fills the house with warmth and savory aromas, chicken soup feeds more than your family’s tummies, and try a hearty vegetable stew to mix things up.

Winter provides the perfect time to go all in on oatmeal

While overnight oats shine in the hot summer, cold months require steaming bowls of cinnamon-spiced oatmeal, with raisins and brown sugar.

Or try adding in jams or canned fruits from the summer months, along with some toasted pecans for extra protein.

Hearty, warming, nutritious meals help to offset the gloomy weather. Don’t forget to add citrus fruit or juice to provide everyone’s daily need for vitamin C.

Cooking and baking are great activities to do with kids. They’ll internalize warm feelings from the time spent together, enjoy a growing sense of accomplishment and independence, and be ready to fend for themselves when the time comes. 

Final Thoughts on Winter Homemaking

Winter gloom and wind underscore the importance of your homemaking. Efforts to bring cozy feelings, smells, sounds, and energy into your house pay off more than at any other time of year.

Your home will become a refuge from the weather, the darkness, and the challenges of the larger world.

Wishing you a cozy winter season, friend.

  

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