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Seasonal homemaking is the desire to live in sync with nature and bring the current season deeper into our homes and lives. The Winter season is mostly focused on Christmas-time, but what about those 3 months after Christmas? January, February & March kind of fall through the cracks. So in this post, I share 10 winter homemaking ideas to infuse the winter season into your home life.

As a born and raised New Englander, and current Pennsylvanian, winter is a season that I grew up with and still appreciate in my own way. I remember being excited as a child to see the snow flakes fall, and the hope that school would be cancelled so I could go sledding. Where I come from, lots of people still drink iced coffee even if it’s below freezing outside. There’s just something about the winter season that I know I couldn’t go without.

I think, for me, it makes me appreciate the other seasons more. Seeing Spring’s first blooms; the daffodils coming up out of their hibernation after a long snowy winter, are just that much more beautiful to me. Summer’s hot days are relieved by the thought that they won’t last forever and to enjoy them while I can. And Autumn’s brisk mornings and colorful leaves are my favorite and wouldn’t exist without knowing of winters immanent arrival.

So I found myself pondering, what are some ways others can appreciate, and maybe even enjoy, this winter season like I do? And I realized it’s about bringing the season into your home, which then makes it easier to bring into your heart. That said, below I have listed 10 ways to infuse this winter season lovingly into your home.

winter tree covered in snow

Simplify your home decor with winter homemaking

After Christmastime and New Years, it will be time to take down those decorations.

One easy way to plan out your winter & Christmastime decor, is to stick with greenery. For Christmas, you can add red bows and cranberries and other pops of red to the greenery for a beautiful Christmas look. But then you can easily take off the bows and the red parts of the decor and you instantly have a winter look and feel to your home instead.

But also, have less decorations out after Christmas. Keep it minimal. Think about the landscape outside in winter; when its snow covered, it’s serenely empty looking. It’s like the world out there is starting over, fresh. Try to translate that into your home to some degree.

Go sledding with the family

When the sun is shining and the temperature is up – get outside! Sledding is a fun way to do that; you’re getting exercise walking up that hill, plus laughing and getting some fresh air. And spending that quality time with your family is so incredibly important. Just go out for short amounts of time and then come in, warm up and dry off. Have some hot chocolate together. Then go out a little while later, again. We need to be silly and be able to laugh together with our children. If you want to see ideas on how to get more quality time together as a family, check out my post A More Old-Fashioned Life: Quality Family Time.

Do relaxing or fun tasks that would be harder to do other times of the year

Use this time inside to plan some organizing and house projects to do in the upcoming year.

Don’t get into big projects right now, but plan them out instead. If you want to do some organizing, do organizing that is relaxing. For example, going through family photos to scrapbook. It’s time consuming, so how many of us have this on our someday list to do. Take these quiet, snow filled days to remanence and organize these memories.

winter snow on tree

Try out a new hobby on those cold winter days

Feeling stuck in the house? Try out a new hobby, something you’ve always wanted to do. We’ve all got those things we’ve wanted to learn or try or read, that we never feel like we have the time for. Well, those boring days indoors are the time!

Check out my A More Old-Fashioned Life: Hobbies blog post for fun ideas to learn.

snow covered tree

Be prepared & stock up on necessary supplies with winter homemaking

I am a deep believer that homemaking isn’t just about your home being clean and organized. It’s about home management; being a good planner and taking care of your family. So this would naturally include preparedness. So in case of getting snowed in, stock up on necessary supplies.

Get some candles & matches, flashlights with batteries, or oil lamps with enough oil in case the power goes out.

Also, have lots of extra blankets to stay warm, and have a secondary heat source, too. If you use electric heat, remember that it will be off if you loose power. So consider other ways you can heat your home as a back-up.

Get your back-up pantry in order if you have not already. Get gallons of water, some canned goods and shelf-stable easy meals that you could have if you were snowed in. FEMA recommends having at least 72 hours worth of water, food and supplies on hand for each family member. I think that is a very low amount but it’s a great place to start if you have nothing put back.

Plan your garden

Winter homemaking is all about planning. So start drawing out your spring garden plans and have an idea of what you want for your summer/fall gardens as well.

What are you going to plant this year? Where are you going to plant it (rotation or expansion)? What supplies will you need? Start planning, budgeting or buying now. For example, buy the seeds now so that you have them ready to go in the spring.

Slow down & recharge

To fight the winter blues, view this season as a time of rest. Find value in the slowness and quietness. This is the natural time of year to slow down and recharge. No other time of year do we have such an excuse to stay home, get cozy and relax. So take full advantage of that. Let yourself recharge after the busy year; and know that the year to come will be that much more enjoyable.

winter snowfall view from porch with thermometer

Lean into winter homemaking comforts

Lean into comfort. Think warm, hearty meals & nice cozy blankets. Enjoy the fruits of your previous labor. Break out some of those canned foods that you made from the summer and autumn harvest when you are snowed in. Of course, don’t completely deplete yourself on your preserved stock, but at the same time you made them for now, to carry you over to the next harvest. The planning and work earlier in the year, was to set you up so that this time of year could be easier, so really lean into that.

tree with no leaves in winter

Family mission statements

I’ve talked about this in other blog posts and will have to write a post specifically on this subject in the future.

If you would like to create one

Family mission statements can be as simple or complex as suits your family. It doesn’t have to be written down but it can be. 

Ask yourself and your spouse; who are we? What matters most to our family; the causes and values that we hold? How do we live out those ideas? And why do we want to? 

It could be a specific passage of Scripture that resonates with your family’s core values. It could be a phrase or some key words or an entire paragraph. But this is important. These mission statements give your family a why and how to specifically live out your values. 

In this crazy world, we need to be rooted as a family in something bigger than ourselves. It unifies your family for a common purpose. It gives your family a back bone, a mission to make this world a better place.

If you just need to check-in

Check in on your family mission statement; is everything still relevant? Has your family grown? Have your needs/priorities changed?

Make goals for the year

Make personal goals for the year ahead. A lot of people make New Years Resolutions, but then by the end of January they are over it. But I’d say that making regular goals are better because it doesn’t carry that feeling that a New Years Resolution does. This great article by MindTools.com, goes over the concept of making what’s called “SMART goals”. This system of structuring your goal planning and tracking makes it so that your goals aren’t just wishy-washy hopes, but instead are well thought out plans to making them happen.

Thank you so much for reading!

Check out my other Seasonal Homemaking Ideas Blog Posts

Seasonal Homemaking Ideas for Autumn

Seasonal Homemaking Ideas for Spring

Want to view more of my WINTER content? Click HERE

winter scene