Warm Feet in Bed–For Adults Only

My son informs me that 49 of the 50 states currently have snow on the ground.  Here in Denver we’ve had our coldest days of the season this past week.  Having a set of feet that are just fine until they get between the covers, when they turn to icicles (just ask my husband), I thought I’d share with you my solution to this discomfort.

Now Janae’s rice bags are great, I can’t argue that.  And my kids use them.  But for myself, my husband has found a way to pamper me that doesn’t require a trip to the microwave or any forethought (after the initial forethought, of course).

Years ago I bought myself an electric heating pad.  It was simple with just a switch to choose low, medium, or high heat.  (I think it was 5 bucks at Ross or somewhere like that, but you can get them at pharmacy type places–not the exact model pictured here but similar.)  It was great to heat up the covers ahead of time, if I thought of it before I got in bed, or I could flip it on after I got in bed and felt the chill.  I didn’t like waking up in the middle of the night with feet that were now too hot, though, and having to turn the heating pad off.  And I was a little concerned with the thought of having something electric and hot in my bed all night.  (I think the package warned about burns if it was too hot and you fell asleep.)

This is where my husband’s genius came in.  At a hardware store, he got me a timer to plug the heating pad in to.  It’s the kind of timer like for lights to go on and off automatically.  It is an Intermatic timer (model TB121). Something I like about the one he got is that it doesn’t plug right into the outlet, but has a cord, so I can easily reach it from bed.  The heating pad then plugs into the back end of the timer’s plug, similar to the way Christmas lights can be plugged into each other.  I can then program it with two different times to go on and off.  I prefer to turn it on myself, so I set it not to turn on automatically at all, but to turn off at two different times each night.  That way if I get to bed somewhat on time, it turns off after I’m asleep.  But if I’m still up and turn it on after that, it turns off later.  (If I go to bed in between those times and it turns off just a few minutes later, I barely have to lift my arm to turn it back on for a little while longer.)  No more hot feet in the middle of the night or safety worries.

My original blue cover became rough after years of my feet rubbing on it, and for this past Christmas my husband helped my daughter make a new fleece cover for it.  Like a teddy bear for your feet, so warm and now cuddly too.  (If you do make your own cover, I would suggest looking for a thin material that allows the heat to pass through, rather than being a great insulator.)  I wouldn’t recommend that kids use a heating pad in their beds or unsupervised, but I would have to say that this is definitely one of the cheapest, most used luxuries I’ve ever enjoyed!