What are some household items used for insulation?

Answer 1

From the times people first made places to live, to colonial times, to the present, people have used a variety of materials as insulation, including these in any combination:

1. dried grasses
2. dried plant material
3. straw, hay
4. mud that dries onto any plant materials
5. bark strips
6. any bark or timber scraps not needed for anything else
7. hides, hide material
8. fat from slaughtered bear
9. paper - starting in colonial times
10. cardboard - much later
11. pieces of building materials, such as flooring, tiles, pieces of broken boards
12. sawdust