When living in a climate where it’s at most 0 degrees on a normal day, fashion is the last thing on your mind. Put away your shorts and skirts because if you wear that outside nowadays you will get frostbite.

There are essentials to your outfits that are needed in the Midwest winter that last most of the year and none of them are cute.

Follow these tips and outfit choices to keep yourself warm. Don’t worry; you will look just like everyone else, and if you see someone walking around in their stylish heels, skirts or shorts, at that very moment, they are regretting their decision.

Gross beanie

This isn’t that cute hat that you usually wear to spice up your outfit. This is the hat that you normally wear to hide your hair that you haven’t washed in five days.

This is that thick hat that you can still feel the breeze blowing through, but keeps you warm enough to make it from building to building.

Big a– scarf

Take that thick scarf that you never wear and put it to use. If you don’t have a thick scarf that looks ugly, too big and way too long to ever work for a cute look, you need to invest and go to a thrift store.

Wrapping this scarf around your neck and covering your mouth with it will save you the trouble of having to go to the doctor’s office constantly with a cold. You will be able to breath as you walk from class to class.

Fat jacket

Every person who lives in the Midwest has three sets of jackets: the cute light jacket, the jacket you have because it’s “jacket weather” and the bulky jacket you wear when the wind chill makes it minus 30 degrees outside.

Now the weather is at the point where you need that bulky jacket, so if you’re trying to get away with that cute light jacket, have fun with the frostbite.

Nonfunctional mittens

Get over the gloves and wanting to text people back while walking outside in a blizzard. Instead, put your phone away and put your mittens on. Your fingers will thank you.

Your hands will no longer be stinging from the wind and even though you can’t do anything with mittens on, you won’t have to wait for your hands to defrost and be functional again when you get inside.

Thick three layers

This is a minimum. You need a shirt, hoodie and a jacket when going outside. It is the worst when you finally get back inside and have to take off multiple layers because the heat is blasting everywhere. But you will be able to stay constantly warm when walking outside.

Hidden headphones

Everyone needs headphones to avoid people from talking to them constantly or striking up a conversation that you do not want to be a part of. The problem with this is that in the winter the cord becomes stiff from the cold.

To prevent the need for a new set of headphones, keep the cord inside your jacket and it will no longer need defrosting. This may seem obvious to most Midwesterners, but for those who are not from around here, they need the tip to keep them from constantly buying headphone replacements.

Bring back ankle shoes

In the winter if you wear shoes that are below the ankle, you will most likely get snow in your shoe. Even if you avoid the snow, there will be a moment where you have to cross over and the snow isn’t frozen, so you fall through, or a breeze comes through and the snow blows right into your shoe.