Analog living can feel almost like off-grid living in a way. It’s slow and intentional, working with our hands to create and make, moving our bodies, getting off of the couch. Basically, if our grandmas and great grandmas did it, it’s probably safe to list it under analog living. Winter Storm Fern encouraged some analog living in winter this January 2026. Here are 13 ways to indulge in analog living this winter:
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What is analog living?
Before you read on for 13 ways to indulge in analog living in the winter time, be sure to check out the preface
Then come back here for inspiration this chilly winter!
1. Daily walks outside
I know it’s cold! But walking has so many health benefits. Walking OUTSIDE, even more. Walking outside IN THE COLD… look it up. Folks in European countries bundle their babies up and let them nap in the winter air. Outside!
Get your steps in, enjoy nature, and get some fresh air and a natural serotonin boost! You won’t be disappointed.
2. Jigsaw puzzles
Grandma had the right idea. Puzzles!
I have very fond memories of our yearly beach vacation involving a puzzle. If the sun was too hot or we just needed to refuel with a tomato sandwich, we’d come inside and try a few puzzle pieces while we ate lunch.
But a puzzle in the winter just hits different.
A small card table set up in the family room with a Christmas or winter scene on it, a warm blanket over your legs, and a steaming mug of some warm beverage. No TV or music. Just puzzling away.
Something about it clears the brain. Like a silencing of the noise within. Worth it. Give it a try this winter!
Not to romanticize this or anything but take a Saturday and put a pot of soup on the stove to simmer all day and SHEWWW, girl. YES! Things you didn’t realize your soul needed.
3. Warm mugs by the fire
If you have a fireplace or wood stove, then you already know the blessing! Maybe you’re like me and you have gas logs. Works too!
Let’s say you don’t have a fire to sit by. Put YouTube on your smart tv and fire a fireplace screen saver. Turn up the heat in your place and pour a mug.
Close enough! Bet you’ll still get the warm and fuzzies.
4. Deleting the TBR pile
To be read… the pile gets high in a year.
In the winter it’s the time to stop the scroll and grab a book.
If you’re a Kindle girlie, then okay do that but there’s NOTHING that can replace the feel and smell of a real, tangible book. Get it from the library and honey!! That’s living.
5. Baking bread
Homemade bread any day of the year in elite in my opinion.
But it really shouldn’t be because bread baking is so simple and takes so few ingredients.
Something about a warm, crusty bread fresh out of the oven in the winter time served with a steaming hot bowl of homemade soup is so comforting and nourishing. Perfect for the wintertime blues.
6. Crossword Puzzles and Word Finds
When the temperatures are frigid out, it’s best to spend majority of the day inside (though back to number 1, definitely get outside at some point for fresh air and a little exercise break!)
Crossword and word find puzzles are great boredom busters as well as exercise for the brain. Maybe numbers are more your thing. Add in a Sudoku book of puzzles.
These are simple additions to your winter time analog living that reduce brain rot from screens and devices.
7. Watching the sun go down
There are studies out there that I won’t be citing here today that prove watching the sun come up (or getting 10 minutes of morning sunlight) and watching it go down reset your circadian rhythm. This helps you to get more restful sleep.
Pair sun watching with no devices or screens (blue light) 1 hour before bed time for the best quality sleep. You’re allowing your brain and body to work in tandem with the day and night as God designed.
8. New soup each week
Maybe you stumbled on this blog post on Pinterest. If so, congrats! You’ve found the motherload of soup recipes.
I recently found a new inspiration for Sausage Chowder by searching “sausage and potatoes soup”. Those were the two ingredients I had on hand along with a pot of chicken bone broth simmering. Pinterest sent me quite a few to choose from and from those, I created my own concoction that the family asked me to add to our list of favorite meals.
Winter time is great for carb-loading (I’m not a nutritionist so take this as you will) as your body needs more energy to heat up. Potatoes are a healthy carb. When not fried or ultra processed.
Here are two family favorite soup recipes at Johnson Home:
Sausage, Kale, and Potato Soup
9. Snow day play
If you get snow in the winter, get out and play in it! Young and old!
In North Carolina, we don’t get much snow but when we do, we make sure to get out in it. This is easy for the kids to do. Us adults, not so much. We have to REALLY prepare our brains and bodies to go get in the cold.
It’s worth it, though. Not just for the movement and exercise but the calorie burn from the body heating up. Then there’s the view and the peace. The snow brings a quiet peace to nature that is simply beautiful. Of course, the looks of everything covered in snow is easy on the eyes too.
If you come from a place that gets TOO MUCH SNOW, maybe the beauty is harder to find because it’s something you see so often. I challenge you to get outside and look for the beauty in Creation.
This leads me to number 10.
10. Full moon photography
This is my favorite analog living in winter idea when paired with a nighttime winter walk.
The way the moon shines and cast trees in silhouette is my favorite.
But don’t limit this just to the once a month full moon! Get into nature and snap some photos of snow day trees, iced branches, the sun shining through the woods, your kids making snow angels.
11. Garden planning
One sure way to warm up after a few hours of winter outdoor play is to come inside, grab a warm mug of tea, and plan your spring and summer garden on paper.
I have a journal I started in 2021 for my garden. This is where I take notes on what grew well, what had a heavy pest load, when I fertilized which crops, and more. I also sketch out my garden lay out and begin to plan where the spring and summer crops will go.
Keeping this all in one place (a notebook), helps me to remember where I planted crops so I can crop rotate and decide which seeds I need to purchase before spring.
12. Basking in winter sunshine
This is my favorite analog living winter idea!
February is now my favorite month. It’s about mid-way of the winter season and the sun is shining more and more.
Front porch sits (it faces south and generally the wind comes from the north so I have a wind block) are my afternoon go-to. Homeschooling and lunch are wrapped up for the day and it’s that time between that and dinner cooking that I get some time to myself.
The porch is where you’ll find me on a sunny day in the winter.
Oftentimes when the weather is just too good, we will take homeschooling to the porch too and do our chapter book read aloud in the sunshine.
As hard and uncomfortable as it sounds, a nap on the steps of the porch is dang near perfection.
13. Foraging for natural decor
In the winter time, there is still plenty of green to be seen.
Evergreens get their name honest.
Cypress, cedar, holly berry, rosemary, juniper and a few others can be found in North Carolina this time of year and they make the best arrangements for a natural bouquet.
There’s a few months yet before the real flowers bloom for fresh bouquets but in February is when you can find roadside bouquets. Jonquils, daffodils, tulips and more begin to bloom sometime in February and March.
Bring the outside in and liven up your home with a foraged bouquet.
Honorable mention analog living in winter ideas
- Air out your house each morning. This one is hard to do in the winter because you don’t want to waste the heat but the fresh air purification is a great way to clean the air, get out the stuffiness, and awaken everyone! Simply open a front and back door or window and set a timer for 3 minutes. Then close it all up!
- Take up a new craft. Soap making, candle making, knitting, cross stitching, anything you’ve been wanting to try. Now is the time to try it. What else will do you with any free time you have this winter? Scroll it away? Reduce your brain rot and produce something YOUR hands made!
Remember, we aren’t throwing away our devices and screens during analog living; we are simply not choosing those first.
Read more on what analog living actually is.
Follow along for more analog living content
Homesteader or not, slow, intentional, analog living is making a comeback and for good reason. We’ve seen technology advancements and don’t love all it has to offer. We see technology has its place and is useful but we’ve also seen it trying to take over every single aspect of our human lives. Attempting to even take away our own thinking.
But no more!
It doesn’t take much to “go touch some grass” and “snap back to reality” (where are my fellow millennials??). Analog living is how.
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