Electric Heating Systems

Cold weather is just around the corner and I have found a unique way to keep your feet warm. If you are like me it takes a while to warm up my feet in bed before I can get to sleep. Here is an easy to make homemade heating pad.

When I was a little girl we had a pot belly wood stove to heat our house. It put out a lot of heat and kept us toasty warm as long as we were in the same room as the stove. But our bedrooms were cold. I remember taking off my clothes and putting on my pajamas under the blankets on my bed. It was warm in my bed because I had a hot soap stone wrapped in a towel down by my feet. The pot belly stove did a good job of heating up 7 of those stones every night for all of our family.

Today I have an efficiency furnace in our home but I still have cold feet when I go to bed. I don't know what ever happened to those soap stones, but I have found something that works just as well. A rice pack.
What is a rice pack? It is a towel filled with rice that you heat in the microwave. I make my own and I will share my secret with you.

You can make it large, medium or small. For the small one, I use a wash cloth and for a large one I use a hand towel. A medium would be half a hand towel. And you will want to use a dense towel or wash cloth so that the rice will not come through the weave of the fabric. Choose a color that is pleasing to you and that you like the feel of.
Small Rice Pack. Take the wash cloth and fold it in half. Stitch across one end and up the side. Fill the pocket that you formed with uncooked white rice. Don't make it too full as you want it to mold around your feet. Then finish stitching up the top side. Heat it in a microwave oven for 2 to 3 minutes depending on your microwave and how hot you want it.

Medium Rice Pack. Cut a hand towel in half and hem the raw edge. Follow the directions above.

Large Rice Pack. Fold a hand towel in half. Stitch a row down the middle of the towel from the fold vertically to the end of the towel. Now stitch up both sides leaving the end open. Fill both pockets with rice. Remember not to fill too full. Stitch the top edge. The large pack will take a little longer to heat.
The first few times that you heat the packs they will feel damp. This is because the rice has moisture in it. It will dry out soon. These packs are not washable unless you remove the rice, but they are cheap and easy to make so throw them out and make new ones.

You can also use these homemade rice packs for cold packs by putting them in the freezer for a while. Especially the small ones work well and it is much softer than a regular ice pack. However, if you freeze the pack it will absorb some moisture again but will dry out after a few times in the microwave.

An added bonus is that these rice packs make wonderful gifts.
So instead of warming your cold feet on your spouse, make a rice pack to keep your feet warm this winter. And one for your spouse, too.