With the doors closed and heaters blasting, our homes, plants and bodies are stressed with all the dryness. This causes more illness than we realize, since moisture in the sinuses is important for our health and dryness in the nasal passages contributes to more infections.
I like to add pretty bowls of water around the house to add some moisture and have been placing pretty items (rocks, shells, marbles, even small decorations in them) just to make some pretty natural water scapes out of them. If you have any old fish tank items, include them if you'd like. I had some water based plants (they sell them in the pet store for fish tanks) that also make a lovely water scape.
Great for living rooms, kids room or even an elderly persons room since it adds a little natural feel and the only maintenance is replenishing the water when it evaporates. It really makes a difference in my sinuses to have them in the winter!
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The weather here in the Minneapolis, MN area has been frigid for the past two weeks, temperatures hovering around 0 and below every night. With the furnace constantly running, I noticed that my house was very dry.
Our house is dry in the winter in Ohio, but my dog is afraid of the humidifier. I solved this problem by purchasing a couple of the plastic-coated wire racks used for organizing cabinets, and setting it over our floor registers for our forced-air furnace.
To combat dry indoor air (without the expense of running a room humidifier), place old containers of water in or near your heat vents (if you have forced air heat).
Here are the questions asked by community members. Read on to see the answers provided by the ThriftyFun community.
I need frugal ways to get humidity in my house for sinus problems. Thank you all!
This method depends entirely on your environment, primarily whether you have pets or kids who could knock it over, and what kind of heating system you have. This works room by room, not for a whole house at once, but will help until you can get someone to install a humidifier, or until you can purchase some.
You will need some kind of container to hold water-ceramic or similar is best as it will get heated, or even a cooking pan. Then, you need someplace safe from accident to sit it. Best is in front of a heating vent or on top of a radiator, not as good is near a plugged in space heater (simply because it is plugged in, you have to be very careful with that). Set up your container, then add water. At first when it is really dry the water will have to be refilled frequently, as the humidity improves you will have to fill it less frequently.
A variation I learned was if you are in an apartment or someplace with one of those wall units, you can drape a very damp (not dripping) towel over a chair back in front of the air flow, changing it as it dries. Where I worked, we had a portable radiator, one of those heaters filled with oil; we brought in a saucer to place on it while it was on, and just refilled it when we though of it; kept the static shock way down in the winter, and kept us a little warmer too. Good luck!
I have the same problem. Put an aluminum pan or coffee can on the back burner on low (if you don't have a crock pot) with some water and apple/orange peels. I add some cinnamon and cloves. It helps the house, smells good and tosses away easy. Hope that helps!
I use a huge pot on my stove - put a couple sticks of cinnamon, a few cloves and if I have orange peels I add them. Let it come to a boil and then lower the heat to just a simmer. The pot will last all day - just be sure to monitor it so it doesn't go dry.
You can also use a crock pot - same method!
Gallon ziplock
Hole punch
Sponge
Insert sponge into baggy. Push to the bottom, and use hole punch to put in several holes near the top. Just above the sponge, but below the zip part. Fill sponge with water wringe out, not to much I leave enough for about half inch in the bottom of baggy. I taped mine to a hanger and hang on the wall.
