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Comment by SketchySeaBeast | Hacker News Reader

Living in a 1930's home with a 2010 Toyota Corolla in the garage I somehow doubt that. We're talking (where I live) $600-1200 before tax income. In the dead of winter the utilities alone can be close to $500.

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Your 1930s house is almost certainly not typical of the median house that people lived in the 1930s. One third of Americans didn’t even have full indoor plumbing in 1930.

For one the fact that it’s preserved likely means it’s one of the finest homes of the era. Two it’s heavily updated inside. Air conditioning, modern appliances, high capacity electrical circuits, fire safety, better windows and insulation, etc.

> For one the fact that it’s preserved likely means it’s one of the finest homes of the era.

Well put.

In 1930s people wouldn't heat the whole house and wouldn't heat it to 70 degrees in the dead of winter. People would heat one room to 50 degrees and stay there most of the time, and put on a jacket. Walking around in a t-shirt in the dead of winter is a very modern thing. You don't realize how much higher your standard for comfort are.

As I pointed out elsewhere, the utilities were just an example of cost. The mortgage is about double what I would make with that work schedule.

In the 1930s you would have a wood burning stove for heat and, if you were outside of a city, possibly limited or no electricity. Almost certainly no phone or a party line.

You can get those utility costs down by living right. :)

You comment implies that utility costs would be significantly lower if OP used 1930s technology, but I’d assume that using a wood burning stove to heat their house would be much costlier. Modern technology typically allows one to use resources much more efficiently, even if we tend to use much more of those resources.

The key is to use anything not just efficiently but sparingly. The heat may not be on at night, you can use thicker covers.

But the cost of wood isn't bad. The worst winter bills appear to arise from heating oil from what I've heard anecdotally, which is common in old houses in New England.

Your comment assumes heating an entire house to 60-70 in winter was normal.

That's true, but the more than $2000 / month mortgage isn't something that's so easily overcome.

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