🧱🔥 Why 1930s Families Heated With a Brick ❄️💰

What if the best heater in your house was a brick? In the winter of 1933, millions of American families got through brutal winters with one small stove, no furnace and almost no money. Here are the 20 winter tricks they used to cut the cost of staying warm, and how each one can shrink your heating bill this year. Most of these tricks cost nothing. One costs about twenty cents a night. Together, just a few of them could keep a couple hundred dollars in your pocket before spring. During the Great Depression, about one worker in four had no job, and every lump of coal was paid for in cash. Families could watch the coal bin shrink by the back door. Today, the Energy Information Administration says a typical household spends about six hundred dollars a winter on heat, and many spend well over a thousand. But we never see the pile get smaller. We just open the bill a month later. The 20 tricks fall into three simple ideas: 1. Heat the room you live in, not the whole house. Close doors to unused rooms, hang a blanket over open doorways, and set your thermostat back 7 to 10 degrees for 8 hours a day. The Department of Energy says that can save up to 10 percent a year on heating and cooling. 2. Keep the heat you already paid for. A draft stopper under the door, gap filler and foam strips around windows, heavy winter curtains and a plastic window kit. Energy Star says sealing air leaks and adding insulation can save about 15 percent on heating and cooling. 3. Warm the people, not the air. Sweaters and wool socks indoors, a hot water bottle (the modern version of the hot brick), flannel sheets, and an electric blanket that costs roughly twenty cents a night to run. Then comes the real secret behind all 20 tricks, and why simply seeing your energy use changes how much you use. Your plan for this week: look up last January's heating bill, check your daily usage in your power or gas company's app once a week, and pick three tricks to start tonight. Safety first: never use a gas stove or gas oven to heat your home. It can fill your house with carbon monoxide, a poison gas you can't see or smell. If heating costs are more than you can handle, look up LIHEAP, the federal program that helps families pay heating bills. 1933 was not cozy, and the hardship isn't worth bringing back. Watching where your heat goes is. CHAPTERS 00:00 The Best Heater in Your House... a Brick? 01:03 January 1933: The Shrinking Coal Bin 02:15 Tricks 1-3: Heat One Room, Not the House 03:11 Tricks 4-6: Thermostat, Sunlight and Rugs 04:51 Trick 7: Cook on the Coldest Days (Safety Rule) 05:26 Tricks 8-10: Stop the Drafts 06:42 Tricks 11-14: Windows, Floors and Early Fuel 08:36 Tricks 15-17: Warm the People, Not the Air 09:36 Tricks 18-20: The 20-Cent Electric Blanket 10:26 The Real Secret: See Your Heat 11:42 Your Winter Plan This Week 12:40 Turn It Down Two Degrees SOURCES - U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: unemployment of about 25 percent in 1933 - U.S. Energy Information Administration: Winter Fuels Outlook, household heating costs - U.S. Department of Energy (energy.gov): thermostat setback savings, window coverings and passive solar heating - Energy Star: sealing air leaks and adding insulation - CDC: carbon monoxide poisoning prevention - Hunt Allcott (2011), Social Norms and Energy Conservation, Journal of Public Economics - LIHEAP, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services This video is for education only and is not financial advice. Follow the safety instructions for any heater, blanket or appliance you use. Your turn: walk over to your thermostat, turn it down just two degrees, then type your new number in the comments, like 68. Then subscribe to Juniper Court for a new forgotten money habit every week. #HeatingBill #FrugalLiving #MoneyHabits 4. TAGS lower heating bill, how to save on heating, winter money saving tips, heating bill tips, 1930s money habits, great depression frugal habits, depression era tips, frugal living, thermostat tips, draft stopper, how to keep house warm, save money in winter, old fashioned frugal habits, grandparents money tips, energy saving tips, cut energy bill, money psychology, personal finance for beginners, frugal winter tips, electric blanket cost, window insulation kit, how to stop drafts, budget billing 6. PINNED COMMENT What number is your thermostat set to right now? Turn it down just two degrees, then type your new number below, like 68. And if your grandparents had a winter trick that isn't on this list, tell me. The best ones will end up in a future video.