Warm This Winter

A well heard phrase this winter is being able to either heat or eat because times are tough, money is tight and Brexit and Liz Truss has effed our economy right up so before you contemplate whether you would rather starve to death or die of hypothermia, allow me to pass on some tips for staying warm from our ancestors who wouldn't know a radiator if you hit them over the head with one.
First up is one from my grandparents era who would say how they would encourage the family dogs to sleep in their bed and the body heat from the animals would keep them warm like some sort of living hot water bottle, only one that shed hairs which means you would go to sleep on a sheet but wake up on a dog hair carpet.  
If you happen to have a gerbil or cat for a pet rather than a dog, you could always build yourself a saunas which is what the Scandinavians have been doing for the last 2,000 years to survive their harsh winters which were basically a cave with hot stones with water poured over them so warm steam is released and warms you up. Would probably work in a shed also if you have one.
The Ancient Egyptians would hang animal hides over doorways and windows and essentially acted as heavy curtains and in Medieval times, people would hang tapestries as curtains and then glass windows were invented but animal hides, tapestries or a tasteful pair of curtains will stop any draughts coming through the windows or doors.
Before the white man went to North America, the Native Americans would use stone bowls to cook their meals over open fires and once the bowl was cooled down enough to touch, they would put the bowl in their bed and the residual heat would warm them throughout the night which would be great as long as dinner that evening wasn't curry and you woke up in the morning smelling of Vindaloo.
There is some evidence that in prehistoric times, the Neanderthal's just avoided winter by Hibernating to survive the winter just like some animals still do today but as the Winter in the Northern Hemisphere is December, January, February, you would miss out on Christmas, New Years and Valentines Day and i'm not sure if your boss would accept you sleeping for 3 months as an excuse not to pin your P45 to your head as you slept.
One final way to stay warm in winter during these economically difficult times involves your pets again but if you have read the previous ones and either don't want to invite your dog into your bed or skin him alive to hang their pelt as curtains, then this last one is for you and it has two advantages.
Animal dung has been used for years as fertilizer but it can also be used as a fuel source. Ancient Persians found that when the dung is dried, it burns far longer than wood so if you clear out your fireplace and teach your pets to poop in there, you have a never ending source of something to burn
and you don't have to go outside in the cold to do its business, a win-win even if you can handle the smell which by all accounts, isn't exactly Fresh Pine & Eucalyptus.