I don't know about your house, but mine can get pretty dry during the winter. I don't want to run a humidifier, but wondered if even a small bucket of water would help any on the dryness or even the heating bill.

sara, do you have a heater (away from the kids) that you can sit a container of water on? that would create humidity through evaporation. I found this link you might find useful.


http://www.advancedenergy.org/buildings/knowledge_library/heating_and_cooling/dryness_in_the_winter.html

I used to have a large pot of water on my woodburning stove and it made a huge difference. Now I don't have anything but my actual cooking stove to boil water on so I don't bother and we are very very dry. I would love to find an alternative to using another plug in item.

Edited to say: I just read Rhonda's link - and we did just patch a whole bunch of leaky duct work - I will have to notice if it has changed the humidity in the house - he also mentioned the problem I have with humidifier's - Bacteria breeding grounds!! Colorado is just dry thin air anyway and it could be just inherent with our climate.

a heavy bottomed pot set to simmer with water on your stove when you are home will add moisture. you can add apple peels and cinnamon to it to scent your house too. dh's grandmother used to set a kettle on the radiators.

if you do end up having to use a humidifier, don't forget the bactriastat stuff. usually sold with the replacement filters. you usually don't have to use it every time, but read teh directions. it keeps bactria etc from growing in your humidifier.

We usually use a humidifier upstairs. But the basement is so damp we need to use a dehumidifier down there!

This year since I am hanging all of my clothes in the house to dry and I do at least one load a day, we are trying to see if that makes enough difference to go without the humidifier.

Sara,
We do all we can to add moisture to our air. With us using a wood stove it can get unbearably dry here. We keep a bit old pot of water on the wood stove and run several small room size humidifiers. We also have a huge multiroom humidifier but it's not currently working. Mel is trying his best to fix it before the terrible dryness gets here. One thing I've done in the past is to leave my bath water in the tub over night and let it evaporate into the air. I'm not sure if that would work with you having 2 little ones but it is a easy thing to try.

I'm so glad to read this thread! I was just thinking about this very thing! I was wondering if I could put a teapot of water on our gas stove, now I'm gonna try it! I like the idea of adding cinnamon, orange, etc. I have dried orange and lemon peels I use in soapmaking, so I'll put some if those in. Thanks!