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Snow. Beautiful, white, cold.
During the winter months, many of us must give our homes adequate insulation. This means doing things like banking a home with plastic to help keep more cold air from entering beneath.
In January 2008, while shoveling one day, my stepfather came by to plow the driveway. We had already had too much snow, and there was not much space for him to plow the snow into – we lived on a very small lot. I was shoveling as much snow out of the way as I could, right up against the trailer, so that he could do the plowing.
He told me that what I was doing was a good idea, and to shovel it up as high as I could because snow is used as a poor mans insulator.
So, when you can, shovel the snow up against your home. Just remember not to cover the windows 
Shannon
I remember watching a documentary of a man doing some animal studies near the North Pole once. To make a long-term camp, they would shovel piles of snow, dig a tunnel into the pile, melt water to form ice from the pile both inside and out, then cover the buildings with as much more snow as they could shovel. To get in, they actually crawled down in a tunnel and crawled into the small cave-like snow room, entering at ground level and going down below the surface. They could “heat” the room with one small flame from a blubber bucket candle. Igloos are built into the snow, and they learned to make camp from some of the native peoples in the area.
Also, if you are a homeschooler, you have probably read Little House in the Big Woods to your children dozens of times. (I know we still read it each year, and my youngest is in college!) Pa would cover the little house up to the windows with snow each year to keep it warmer.
As we sit to supper each night, I read aloud books while we eat. I have done it for over 25yrs. I don’t know what I will do when my youngest baby marries and moves out. The Little House series, especially Big Woods has been an annual book for many years.
Posted by teri | Monday, January 12, 2009, 11:02 amYes, we homeschool, and I have read those books myself, to my daughters, and now to my nephew. They are wonderful books.
Posted by slb725writer | Monday, January 12, 2009, 4:26 pmThe Government has released it’s information about their Free Insulation Rebate for more information on the criteria see FREE INSULATION
or download it here
Free Insulation Guidelines
Posted by Mark | Monday, March 23, 2009, 12:29 amThis is very helpful. Thank you. I will be checking out today.
Posted by Shannon Buck | Monday, March 23, 2009, 8:56 amGrowing up in Rhode Island I can fondly remember my mom covering the windows with plastic (guessing that she got it at a home improvement store for a couple of bucks) during the winter months. It was a good way to keep out the drafts during the colder months. She would stick it up there and then seal it using a blow dryer. We were on a budget so I’m sure she was saving some money on energy bills. Especially since she did it religiously once the weather changed.
Posted by Elin | Sunday, April 12, 2009, 1:19 amIsn’t heartwarming, these memories that our minds choose to share with us. Many of us didn’t realize that what our mothers were doing was frugality. We just thought these things were life.
Posted by Shannon Buck | Sunday, April 12, 2009, 8:19 am