Could I live in a tent?

Exactly how cold are your "cold winters"?

Yes, you can live in a tent for a year or so, depending upon where you intend to pitch that tent, and depending upon the materials with which it is made.

Backpacking types of tents will not do, as the material is not strong enough to weather well or long. But canvas tents that have been waterproofed and/or waxed will do the job. ForChina Custom PVC Tents Suppliers winter weather like we have here in the Central Rocky Mountains (3,000 meters or 10,000 feet), you would need a stove tent or something called a "wall tent." You can find a suitable stove tent or wall tent here (Wall tents, wall tent, FREE SHIPPING including hunting canvas tents), and a decent selection of stoves for such a tent as well. Cabela's also carries them, as does "Alaska Tent and Tarp." Your cooking and heating source needs to be something that gives off as few noxious fumes as possible - stove tents are designed to vent properly, so your fuel source for them can be wood or something else.

I would hate to tell you how many years (off and on) I've spent in these things! These tents are heavy, and have heavy poles and ropes. If you are in snow and wind country, you'll want these heavy poles and ropes. In snow country, you'll also need to purchase or make some "skirts" for the tent to keep the wind from coming in around the bottom. You'll need fuel for the tent, some canvas flooring or heavy rugs for some portions of the tent (particularly for insulation under your sleeping area) and maybe for an area where you would spend a lot of time sitting.

Plan on a set of "jerry cans" for your water needs. You'll likely be hauling water. You'll need at least two plastic basins for washing and a big cooking pot for heating water for cooking and bathing and general cleaning. This is going to sound silly, but you'll need some kind of small rug at the entrance so that you track in as little dirt and debris as possible. And you really, really will need some kind of inexpensive portable folding table or two of them. Some wooden boxes for keeping your gear and provisions, and a large tough plastic cooler of course. Colemen lanterns (2), and complete cleaning and repair equipment for them. If these are your only source of lighting, you'll be stripping them China Custom PVC Tents Manufacturersapart once a week and cleaning them completely.

If you are having to make your own sanitary facilities (no public restrooms nearby), plan on a second small canvas tent for the purpose, along with a portable potty seat. (No one likes squatting for a year.)

All the rest would be conventional camping equipment, except for the sleeping bag. If you are going to be in this situation for a year, the best bag you can afford is the only answer. Please be aware that when a professional sleeping bag is rated for "10 or 40-degrees-below zero", this means only that it will keep you alive at that temperature. Not comfortable or even "warm." Plan on a set of rugs and closed-cell foam for a sleeping "platform" as within such a tent, you would lose most of your body heat through ground conduction. So, you want to have as much insulation between you and the ground as possible where you sleep.