Prepping: Heat Your House For Free

Free Heat. Tossing a hunk of pallet on the fire.

Ok so nothing in life is free. But some things are so low cost its almost like free. So how do I heat my house for free? Well I simply went back to the tech our ancestors used for thousands of years. Wood. Think wood is not free. Well it can be if you are willing to work for it. And if you live in the right area.

I burn shipping pallets or skids as we call them around here. Yep shipping pallets are free for the taking at most factories and stores. One skid will heat my house for 6hrs so that would be 4 a day. However I let the fire go out when I am sleeping ( That's what blankets are for ) so its only about 2 skids to keep me nice and toasty for the day.

Now to be honest I do burn a little bit of wood that is grown right here on my farm but not much. Skids are thin cut wood and that burns fast. So when a break is needed from filling the stove I will toss a log on. I don't like to get up from the table when eating just to keep the fire going.

Getting ready to cut up my skids for today.

Now I realize this only works for some people. You must have a wood stove or fire place. You must have a truck, van or trailer to haul the skids home. And you must live close to the factories or stores that have the skids. Now gas is expensive so you don't want to make special trips to get your skids. I know each place in my town that has them so on a trip to the coffee shop I can grab the skids from the places that are along the way. When I go to the bank I know the hardware store around the corner will have some. I burn almost no extra gas to get them. You get the idea.

This will not work for everyone but it works for me and it reminds us that to survive we need to use what we can find around us. WASTE NOTHING.