RV Winter Living Guide - Staying Cozy in Your RV in 2025
- Chris Arredondo
- Jan 24
- 8 min read
Updated: Jan 28
So you decided to winter in your RV and are starting to feel the cold creep into your bones. We’ve been there, freezing our butts off in the middle of a cloudy, cold Idaho, out of power and out of hope.
So far, the winter of 2025 has been intense but our guide for winter living in your RV is the perfect piece for the winter curious RVer.
Through those experiences we’ve gathered some tips and tricks to stay warm - all without turning on your propane heat or using electricity. We have tips for your rig, your body, your bed, and most of all, your sanity.
Your rig was built for speed, not for insulation. You are getting assaulted by cold air from the top, bottom, and sides of your rig. Stopping the cold air from coming in and warm air from going out are your #1 priorities!
*Special note. The links provided in this post are Amazon affiliate links. That being said, these are NOT sponsored links. I choose these products because they are the ones that I have actually used or recommend using.
Your Rig.
Insulate. Insulating your rig is key. Keep the hot air in and the cold air out. There are lots of ways to plug up the holes, here are a few to start!
Rugs.
Insulate your feet from the cold, linoleum floor. Rugs do great, the bigger and fluffier, the better. You do not need to carpet your whole rig, but a carpet square under your sink to insulate you while you’re doing dishes can prevent you losing heat through your feet. Just be sure not to cover your furnace vents!
Plastic on the windows.
Midwest moms were right about applying plastic to the windows during cold months. Adding a clear sheet of plastic creates a pocket of air between your window and your living space, stopping drafts in their tracks while still letting the light in. Duck Brand makes these kits that include all you need, and even if you don’t have a hairdryer to make the plastic taught, applying it at all will help hugely.
Draw your curtains.
When the sun goes down make another pocket of air and layer of insulation by drawing all layers of your curtains. Pull down the accordion shades, and if you have fabric curtains draw those too. The goal is to put as many layers of insulation between the outside and you!
Paper shades.
No money for fabric curtains? Folded paper shades are a great, very affordable option to cover a window for pennies on the dollar. And, they’re at most Walmart’s!
Weather stripping.
Adding foam weather stripping around your doors, underbelly doors, and vents can prevent drafts and keep the air(and you) in your camper warm!
Towels at the doors.
Another Midwest mom favorite, take your ‘floor towel’, you know, the one you use to clean up dirty messes, roll it up like a hot dog and lay it across the bottom of your door to stop drafts.
RV Skirting.
This is a higher investment project than the others, but if you are in for the RV Winter long haul, it might make sense to see if a RV skirting kit, or a DIY foam solution could help keep your toes and heating bills in check. This can be pricey, but it will be the best bang for your buck.
Localize your heat, but keep it moving. You aren’t everywhere in your rig at once, so it might be easier to heat the space you’re in instead of the whole leaky chassis. Use curtains or doors to block off rooms that can stay cold to keep the warm where it’s being used.
The key to this technique is that while you don’t want air to move in and out of this space, you do need to keep the air moving within the hot pocket. Cold hangs out together in corners, so moving the air pushes all the air to one temperature.
Special Note about Keeping the Air Moving - MOLD. We still produce moisture through our own bodies, by breathing, sweating, farting etc. When the temperatures are low that moisture sits on our items instead of moving out the window on a breeze. Too much of this moisture buildup without any ventilation is a recipe for Mold. Keep an eye on any bins of linens, the underside of your mattress, and any other fabric that might be a good home for mold to grow and ruin your trip.
Utilize the sun! If you are in Colorado or another high altitude region you know how powerful the sun’s heat can be, even on a winter’s day.
If possible aim your rig so that your biggest windows face south. This will let you use the solar heat from the sun to passively heat your rig during the day. Windows do let in the cold at night. However, if it is sunny during the day, they certainly play a part in heating things up. Plus, the sun is a lot cheaper than propane.
Avoid huge temperature swings. While I did just say to localize your heat, you also do not want to let your possessions enter an ice age.
It is very hard to warm yourself up if you are sitting on a couch with a 32* temperature. It might be less energy and psychic damage to keep your rig at a reasonable 55* or so and heat it back up to livable when you arrive home rather than letting the whole rig reach outside temperature and trying to get that warmth back. This is highly rig dependent, and you should use your own judgement! It should also be stated that turning off your furnace in the cold can wreak havoc on your plumbing. You furnace keeps the guts of your rig from freezing, and that often includes the water lines.
Your Body.
We’ve covered tips to keep your dwelling warm, but what about yourself? You’re already wearing two pairs of socks and under three blankets, so what else can you do?
Eat enough calories.
Did you know that a calorie is a measurement of the heat generated when that substance is metabolized? Your body uses the calories you eat to keep you warm, but that will be the first line item on the chopping block if you are in a deficit. You deserve to eat enough food to keep you warm, so pack it in!
If you stay warm, you don’t have to get warm.
Are you running out to the car to grab your keys? While it might be super annoying to put on an actual coat and hat and boots to go outside, it is much better than losing all of that body heat in the 10 seconds you’re walking to the car, forcing your body to make that heat back up again when you get back inside. Keep the heat you’ve already made inside your coat and shoes, and you’ll come inside as warm as when you went out.
Stay hydrated.
It is quite annoying that almost every problem we have in our life could be solved by “drink more water” and this one is no exception. Your body moves heat with your blood, it’s why our fingertips and toes lose heat first, they’re the furthest from our heart and the blood vessels are the smallest. More hydration keeps everything moving more smoothly, allowing your body to use its heating system at full efficiency.
Your Bed.
How to stay warm at night is one of the oldest questions of humanity. Here are my tips.
Fuzzy bedding.
You need to find yourself a Berkshire blanket, or something similar. While regular linens feel cold before you warm them up with your body, a fuzzy blanket or flannel sheets feel warm when you touch them. Not only do they feel great, but fur is an incredible insulator, trapping air in between the hairs to keep you cozy and reduce drafts.
Sweet Pearl girl enjoying a fuzzy blanket. Tuck yourself in.
This article has a theme - keep the warm air in and the cold air out. Tucking yourself into bed, meaning that you ensure that there is a blanket touching all parts of your body, there are no air pockets under the blanket, and no way for new cold air to get in under the covers. Vacuum seal yourself into that bed, instead of just putting a piece of saran wrap on top. (pictures). Additionally, having your blanket fall over the side of the bed will be much warmer than if it does not. (picture) The fold of the blanket over the side of the bed acts as an additional seal to keep your heat in.
Ventilation.
Remember mold? The air you’re breathing at night will be the main contributor to a mold problem in your rig. We recommend having a fan, or even cracking a window the tiniest bit to let some fresh air in, and the stale moist air out.
Wait to make your bed - let your bed air out after you’ve gotten up - pull your sheets and covers back for an hour or two to be sure they dry out
Mattress underlays are products that ensure there is a layer of air between your mattress and the platform it sits on, allowing better ventilation, preventing mold. If you are in damp climate this is something you should seriously consider! Sunny and dry locales can usually get away with ventilation and checking their mattress often. (link)
Your Sanity.
You decided to live in an RV over the winter for a reason, whether that was to work at a soul crushing ski resort, to save money for your future, or just to travel the way you’ve dreamed for your whole life. Those “why’s” can get hard to remember in the middle of winter when you aren’t in Baja. Here are a few tips to keep you sane until the buds come out in Spring.
A place for everything.
Winter comes with a lot more accessories and bulk than summer. Heavy coats, stinky base layers, gloves, hats, hand warmers, puddles of snow from outside, it can all be too much. Help yourself and put a few extra hooks on the wall, or designate a place for all of the stuff. You may need to do laundry more often in winter, as pants, sweaters and base layers take up much more hamper space than a tank and some shorts.
Inside of our RV. Notice the hanging space for dumping jackets as well as the paper shade to keep the cold(and morning sun) out. Recreate outside.
If you are in a place where there are chances to get outside, take every opportunity! I remember when I moved to Colorado for the first time as a certified summer-lover. There was more snow than I had ever dealt with and learned you can’t count out snow in any month. To this day I still remember thinking “Twelve inches of snow and 10 degrees is much more manageable when I can see a mountain”. If it is something that you enjoy, go ski, hike, bird watch, people watch, fish, forest bathe, whatever activity makes you feel alive and a part of the world. Your circulation will appreciate the movement, your brain will appreciate the novelty, and your soul will thank you for getting out of the tiny ice box that feels more like a prison with each extra minute of darkness.
Use the bathtub.
I hope you have some community where you are, and I encourage you to take them up on their kind offers. Does one of them have a giant jet tub you can take a bath in? Accept that offer. Do they offer you to do a few loads of laundry while you chat over dinner? Take them up on it. As RV’ers we are proud of how much we can do on our own, it is one of our strengths! But, this can stand in our way when we’re given the chance for a bit of comfort. I can say with experience that a 3 hour hot spring soak has done more for my winter-weary soul than 6 months of therapy could have
Living in your RV or Van is full of highs and lows, and winter is one of the challenges we face. It can be hard, and it can also give you access to some incredible experiences if you’re willing to do RV life on hard mode.
What do you think? Did we miss any tips? Let us know.
We hope you enjoyed our RV Winter Living Guide!
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