Kitty litter is a great alternative to salt. While it doesn't help melt the ice, it will help your car get some traction on icy roads and driveways to prevent sliding.
Even if crafting isn't your strong suit, turning sweaters into mittens is surprisingly simple, as well as cheap. All you need is a mitten template, scissors, and a thread and needle.
You can also make socks.
If astronomical electricity bills got you down, invest in an electric blanket, which will keep you warm without breaking the bank. Here are Insider's picks for the best ones.
Hot water bottles are another option for keeping you toasty at night.
Just like us, dogs (or cats) can get dry skin in the winter, exacerbated by the ice, snow, and salt on the ground. To avoid painful skin cracking or peeling on your pal's paws, apply Vaseline before taking them outside.
Even though taking long, hot showers sounds like the best way to fight the cold, it's actually drying out your skin, as hot water will strip away skins' natural oils.
Dry oil is another solution to this problem — many beauty products have added it to their products.
Investing in a good pair of snow boots is probably a good idea, but if that's just not in the budget this year, layering socks and plastic bags is a quick and easy alternative.
Unless you plan on wearing your beanie all day, hat hair is a problem that many people face every winter. To avoid greasiness and/or flatness, a quick spray of dry shampoo will have your hair looking clean and voluminous.
While sliding around in your car is terrifying, sliding on ice while biking is worse. A simple way to help your bike get some traction on slippery roads is to attach zip ties around your tires.
Yup, you can use cooking spray (non-stick, obviously) to keep the snow and ice from sticking to your shovel.
Every minute counts when you're running late in the morning. To avoid grabbing a scarf and accidentally pulling out every scarf you own, store them in a closet organizer.
Save your orange peels. They're full of oils that make them flammable, making starting a fire a piece of cake. Bonus: it will smell citrusy.
"The Penny Test," as it's known, tests if your car's tires still have a deep enough tread to make them safe enough for winter driving (tread is what gives the tire traction).
In the US, tire tread depth should be 2/32" minimum. To check whether your tires need replacing, place a penny between the tread ribs with Lincoln's head pointing down into the tread. If his head is visible, it might be time for a new tire.
Pilly sweaters are annoying. To give your sweaters a face lift, scrape the pills off with a razor.
Simply drill screws into the thicker parts of your soles as you would into a wall for extra traction. It's actually pretty simple.
A cold toilet seat can put a damper on any morning, but socks can help. This will only work if your toilet seat is U-shaped, not a complete oval, but all it involves is taking a pair of socks and popping them on the ends of the seat. This should keep your butt warm through spring.
If it feels like you're taking an actual lead pencil to your eyes, your eyeliner is too cold. There are two solutions to this problem: one is washing your hands, taking the top of your eyeliner between two fingers and holding onto it for around 20 seconds, and the other is using a blow dryer to heat up the tip for two or three seconds.
In a pinch, anything with a hard plastic edge can be used as an ice scraper.
You can potentially save up to 15% on your energy bill by "winterizing" your ceiling fan — aka simply switching the direction it spins in. Blades are angled, so in the summer, running counter-clockwise will push air down. In the winter, the fan should run clockwise, thereby drawing colder air up.
By parking your car east, the rising sun will help defrost your car. It's just basic science.
Pull your windshield wipers so they're sticking straight up in the air, and then put socks on them.
Instead of buying hand warmers, consider making your own. Thanks to peel-and-stick hem tape, they're no-sew. All you need is the tape, some fabric, rice, and scissors.
Rice has great heat retention, so these little guys will stay warm once you pop them into the microwave for 30 or so seconds.
There are a lot of videos on how to make clay pot heaters, but this one is simple and easy to follow.
With a pot, some screws and a couple of candles, you have a cheap and aesthetically pleasing mini space heater, as the pot will capture the candles' heat, letting it slowly build up.
Scraping off snow and ice from your side mirrors can be more annoying than your windshield, simply because they're easy to forget about. But, if you cover them with Ziploc or sandwich bags, they'll be protected from the elements.
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uhmm...no, it doesn't work like that
fan has not enough pull power to suck the colder air from floor level, you need to force warm air that is stored on ceiling level down so it mixes with the colder
that is much more efficient way of heating up large air volumes