WINTER FIXES: A hack for fruit that's reluctant to ripen

In the summer, fruit ripens too quickly, and seemingly overnight you have a surfeit of black bananas sitting on the counter, suitable only for smoothies or banana bread. In the winter, just the opposite: my avocados and kiwis just sit there and simply refuse to ripen.
I looked online and found an answer: put the stubborn fruit in a brown paper bag with a banana, and close the bag. It works! Within a couple of days, the fruits were perfectly ripe.
I still haven't come up with an answer for a few other chilly-house irritants though, like toothpaste and lip balm that want to stay in their tubes.
But looking on the bright side, the chilly indoor temps are keeping my paperwhites in bloom and fragrant for much longer than usual (I spotted two stink bugs nestled in a blossom the other day).