My office door has a half inch gap at the bottom, and every winter the cold air rolls under it like a tide. I priced draft blockers at the store and balked at twenty bucks for a fabric tube full of beans. Then I made one out of an old pair of jeans and a bag of rice, and it works just as well.

The Twenty Minute Version

1. Cut a leg off an old pair of jeans, or use any fabric tube you have: a scarf, a sleeve, a sock with the foot cut off. You want a tube roughly the width of the door.
2. Sew or tie off one end.
3. Fill the tube with rice, dry beans, or sand. Rice is the best: it is heavy enough to seal and it does not rot.
4. Tie or sew the other end shut.
5. Slide it against the bottom of the door. Done.

No Sewing? No Problem

If you cannot sew, you still have options:

• Tie off both ends with rubber bands and tuck the ends under.
• Use a long sock filled with rice and knotted at the top.
• Roll a hand towel into a log and tuck it against the door. Works fine, just looks a little more improvised.

Why Fabric and Fill Beat the Store Version

The store-bought door snakes are fine, but the homemade version has three advantages: it fits your door exactly, it costs about a dollar, and you can wash the fabric when it gets dusty. Store versions with weighted plastic pellets sometimes leak over time. Rice in a sealed tube does not.

A Few Tips From My First Attempt

• Make it a little longer than the door opening. An overhang at the ends seals the corners better.
• Do not overfill. The tube needs to lay flat, not bulge.
• If the draft still sneaks under, double up with a second layer or swap the rice for sand, which is heavier.

My rice snake has been under my office door for two winters now. The room is noticeably warmer, and my feet stopped freezing. When it gets dusty, I untie it, dump the rice, wash the denim, and refill. Zero dollars, twenty minutes, and no more drafts.