How to keep your feet warm in the winter.

United States
January 23, 2007 9:57am CST
Our family was quite large and we lived on a shoestring budget. We always had the essentials for living, but nothing more. In the winter months we had boots, but they weren't the top of the line. But, our feet were never wet and they never got cold. When we went outside to play, our mother would have us slip bread bags over our socks before we put out boots on. This provided insulation for our feet and kept them warm and dry. When other kids would retreat to the warmth of their houses because their feet were cold, we enjoyed a few more hours of play.
21 people like this
87 responses
• India
24 Jan 07
Thank u for your tips..........it s nic eto have such discusuiions.
2 people like this
• United States
28 Jan 07
I actually have both powdered eggs and milk in my pantry. I use them to cook with. There is no way I could consume them on their own.
@cjsmom (1423)
• United States
24 Jan 07
Sounds familiar...We were fairly poor as well. Mom raised 3 kids all by herself; she couldn't afford to buy us Xmas presents so the Salvation Army Elves would come and we just thought Santa was the best guy! We drank powdered milk all the time (yeck) and ate powdered eggs. To this day I can't even think about them. lol
2 people like this
@sunsham68 (1376)
• India
24 Jan 07
nice of you to share that. Amazing creativity on your mother's part! Handy tip for my next winter cos this one is almost over...
@rsmith512 (1561)
• United States
28 Jan 07
I have never had to wear bread bags on my feet! LOL I have never even heard anyone doing that before...but it sounds like it is a very great idea! I just like coming inside after being in the snow/ice and warming my feet over a fire!! It is very warming and it is cute to see everyones feet up to the fire. :D
1 person likes this
• United States
3 Mar 07
It was really a great way to keep the feet warm and dry.
@Willowlady (10658)
• United States
23 Jan 07
Not sure about his since I think that the plastic would keep foot sweat in and make for soggy feet? Since it worked for you I am curious as to the condition when the boots came off indoors? We just wear a couple pairs of socks when we much be out in the weather. Our hands are usually more of an issue!!
1 person likes this
• United States
23 Jan 07
If you don't have bread bags, use old newspaper to wrap your feet in. That works well too.
1 person likes this
@judyt00 (3497)
• Canada
23 Jan 07
Or cut up one ofthose styrofoam meat trays to theshape of an insle, and your feet were insulatd a bit more from the bottom.
@sanjayko (339)
• India
23 Jan 07
Go for air conditioned shoes.....Surely as the technology is evolving day by day this is not far away.
@bigstret (484)
23 Jan 07
Thick socks usually works for me lol Bread bags sound like a really good idea do you still use them?
@gabs8513 (48686)
• United Kingdom
23 Jan 07
Well I have never heard that before but that is a great Idea I wish I would have known about that when my Kids where small
1 person likes this
• United States
23 Jan 07
I do this with my grandkids now. they look at me funny when I suggest it.
@brokentia (10389)
• United States
23 Jan 07
That bread bag idea is great!!! I never thought of that! I have gotten cold wet feet so many times, I had to run back inside. And you would not believe the countless wet socks I am having to throw into the wash because I have seven children...and they sometimes double up on socks. ha ha Next thing you know, I have half a washer full of socks. LOL I will have to try that next time. But I think baggies would probably work better for the little ones. :) Thanks for this discussion. Something so simple never cross my mind. :)
1 person likes this
• United States
23 Jan 07
Glad to be of help Tia. Now to get the kids to actually wear them.
@GardenGerty (157027)
• United States
24 Jan 07
I have also heard, but not tried, that if you put ground red pepper or cinnamon in your shoes, it warms you as well. I like to rub my feet with Vicks vapor rub before putting on my boots. I had my bread sack days in the long ago. Just thought of it the other day.
• United States
28 Jan 07
Your feet will smell good too!
@lauriefnp (5111)
• United States
23 Jan 07
This brought back some childhood memories, for sure! My mom did the same thing with us. We wore 2 or 3 pairs of socks, put the bags on, and then the boots. I don't know if it was a budget thing or if the boots just weren't made as well then. I'll have to ask my mother. I don't know if they even sold the spray-on water-proofers at that time, or if you just lived with the fact that the boots you bought leaked.
• United States
23 Jan 07
I don't remember the water proofers either. We had so little, but survived with what we had.
@WebMann (4731)
• Canada
23 Jan 07
I have no problem keeping my feet warm because I have them in my mouth most of the time. I remember the plastic bags in the boots. Use to get a lot of comments at school but my feet were dry. :)
1 person likes this
• United States
23 Jan 07
That was so funny; great sense of humor.
1 person likes this
@KrisNY (7590)
• United States
23 Jan 07
Wow that brings back old memories of growing up.. We did the same- It kept your feet dry which kept them warm. Also we did it because it was much easier to pull on and off your boots- Winter boots seem to be hard to put on regardless of your age. When my daughter was younger we did the same- slipped on bread bags and then the boots- She is 10 now and would be horrified if I said go throw on some bread bags.. LOL She is such a trendy kid. Thanks for bringing back memories!
• United States
23 Jan 07
My kids were mortified when I had them do this. But, they had warm feet.
@hit12287 (71)
• India
23 Jan 07
i use a room heater to heat up the room so that my feet ramain warm. else keep it in the blanket so that they r never cold.
1 person likes this
• United States
23 Jan 07
we wear thick warm socks and slippers inside, but outside it is another story
@pix_trix (447)
• India
23 Jan 07
well, wearing double socks is an option, but to make it more effective, rub a little oil on your feet, continue rubbing till they get warm. then wear your socks and boots. your feet will stay warmer than usual. its even better because your skin wont dry, and will remain soft! Happy winters!! :)
1 person likes this
• United States
23 Jan 07
I am not sure how cold your winters are where you live but we get below freezing temperatures here.
@Lydia1901 (16351)
• United States
27 Jan 07
Well, I never heard of that before. But, if it works, I do not see why not. Thank you for the tip, I will keep that in mind for next time.
1 person likes this
• Canada
23 Jan 07
Just goes to show that you don't need to spend a lot of money to get a desired result. This was a great story.
1 person likes this
• United States
23 Jan 07
My mother will agree. : )
• India
24 Jan 07
simple,show your leg near to a fire.your feet will become warm
1 person likes this
@pinkeagle (202)
• United States
23 Jan 07
Quite clever, good for your Mom. Reminds me of a conversation between two of my friends. The one friend was going on and on about how poor they were when he was a child and obviously exagerating some. My other friend was getting just a little tired of this. Finally, the friend, who was essentially bragging about how poor they were, got to the part about not having any boots to wear in the winter when they had to walk over 1 mile to school in the snow wearing only canvas tennis shoes. Whereupon, my other friend replied,"Oh man, you had shoes? We had to walk 2 miles and it was uphill both ways!"
• United States
23 Jan 07
That is funny.
• Canada
23 Jan 07
Wow , I never thought of anything like that . My feet are always cold when I go outside and I have never been able to keep them from freezing . It is an excellent idea for little one's also because they are usually too young to notice how cold they are and then end up with the flu .
1 person likes this
• United States
23 Jan 07
We never cared if anyone knew about the bags. Many of the kids would go inside and put on bags or have their parents wrap their feet in plastic wrap.
@tyfriend (63)
• Canada
23 Jan 07
hmm this is quite interesting. i think the main reason why kids have cold feet is because the shoes were low tops. snow would pile into the kids shoe, heat from the feet warms the snow leaving the kid with cold wet feet. best way to treat this is to double layer the socks and buy high top boots.
• United States
23 Jan 07
We had high top boots and wore layers of socks too. Our feet still got cold because our boots were not well insulated. The plastic bags or newspapers provided insulation and kept our feet warm.