I live in Chicago, I have a styrofoam cooler and pillow cases for everybody. Enough heat packs for three days. If I can't get it fixed in a day. Everyone, wife, kids and snakes are going to the local holiday inn. And the best part is, nobody will even think twice about us bringing in a cooler to the hotel. I've used this method in a emergancy before. It might not be perfect, but it gets the job done. I guess it also matters how big your collection is. My furnace just went out about a month ago, put everyone in there. But it got fixed relatively fast. So no mini bar or swimming pool. I also use this set up for winter vet trips.