January 2021

During our cold Rochester winters, the furnace runs a lot, which reduces the humidity in your apartment. That can lead to dry skin, worsening of allergies, and sinus issues. While using a humidifier can increase the moisture in your home, they can be expensive to purchase and raise your electric bill. As an alternative, consider these low-effort, green approaches to raising the humidity in your home.

• Leave the bathroom door open when showering, or open the door when you’re finished. This allows the steam to naturally humidify nearby rooms.
• Grow houseplants – lots of them. In addition to cleaning the air in your apartment, houseplants can add moisture through a process called transpiration. After a plant is watered, moisture travels up through the roots and out from the pores on the underside of leaves.
• Place a clear vase of water on a sunny windowsill. The sun will speed up evaporation and help increase humidity in the room. You can add a decorative touch by putting colored stones or marbles in the vase.
• Place a bowl of water near a heat register. The heat causes the water to evaporate and humidify the room. The wider the bowl is, the more surface area of exposed water and the more evaporation that occurs.
• Hang your wet laundry to dry in your apartment. You can use a drying rack, improvised clothesline or even a chair. This also saves energy because you won’t use the clothes dryer as much.
• Indoor fountains not only look and sound beautiful, they add humidity.