Grew up in fairly rural upstate New York, where you can expect lots of snow and you can unironically envy neighbors who have working Franklin stoves when the power goes out.
I can confirm all of the above, plus: if you are lucky enough to have an Army-Navy surplus store around, one of your handmedowns is likely to be an N3B parka. Definitely not Russian or German or stylish. But it will keep everything above your thighs warm, except your hands. The pockets are uninsulated.
Oh man, I once bought the most glorious winter coat at an army-navy store. Lightweight, cheap, and so warm.
Once I had money I discovered the glory of high-quality thermals, but if you don’t have money and live in a cold house, you try to keep at least one room warm with a lot of closed doors, plastic on the windows and draft stopper door snakes if the house is drafty, warm socks, layers. Nobody without money is buying pregnancy corsets from Etsy to stay warm, what the shit is that.
