cheap insulation for tempory structure

Hi all I am looking at building a temporary stick frame building on my land to live in for while I build a more permanent house.

The problem is due to delays in getting finance ill only be moving there as we move into winter and with a few weeks of below zero temps im looking for ideas of ways to insulate it at low to no cost be it stuffing the walls with hay old soda bottles old packing Styrofoam. I know none of these will be as good as the bought stuff but my budget is already stretched with the purchase of the land and the other infrastructure for my cows (water and fencing) . just looking to make this winter more bearable.

Straw/clay slip?
Paper or cardboard treated with borax?

I have seen a couple of pages on clay straw now unfortunately its difficult to find straw in this region might work with hay though i havent seen this cardboard borax thing how is that used?

Hi Brian,

I did a search for SIPs panels--structural insulated panels-- in your area of the world.

I used the 'scrap' panels from a local business near me to superinsulate
my small living space in a friend's mobile home.

Here is a search for your area. there is also something on there about insulation for 'cold rooms'

maybe those places might have free scraps, also.
https://www.bing.com/search?q=pietermaritzburg%2C+South+Africa+sips+panels&qs=n&form=QBRE&pq=pietermaritzburg%2C+south+africa+sips+panels&sc=0-35&sp=-1&sk=&cvid=5E2B2509A63D41468B8DA56E9FE7E80A

the pieces of panels I got for free ranged from tiny shards of foam, which can be put in bags
or just 'stuffed into spaces' and as large as 4ft x 10ft and 7 1/2 inches thick. THAT is R-48
insulation value.

wool layers for wearing will help you retain body heat.

BEST of everything on your adventures.

Also maybe do a search on www.naturalbuildingblog.com as they have shown various ways to
insulate.

CARDBOARD is a relatively good insulator. maybe a place which recycles cardboard may have
some for giveaway.

thanks for that ill check them out i was looking into the paper and cardboard and its looking like a good option and we have a good sized dumpster at work always full of cardboard an option ive found and am now thinkind about is papercreat or a similar stuff made with sawdust thinking about plastering the walls with it to about 2" aparently ist got an r rating of around 2.5 per inch

Styrofoam seems to be everywhere. Mountains of it can be found behind stores in dumpsters, especially electronics stores and the like. If you take a board and pound a bunch of nails thru it (think bed of nails, only small enough to hold) and scrub the Styrofoam on it over a garbage bag, you can break it into those little balls it is made of. Put those balls into small trash bags, Walmart-style grocery bags, etc., and you can fill the walls with it. If you fill some bags only partly full, you can push them into any odd shaped spaces you have.

Forgot to add, if the walls are open on the inside, you can staple cardboard or plastic to the studs and put the Styrofoam filled bags in the walls behind them.

Is it worth building something temporary? If going through all the trouble to build a habitable structure, could your situation call for good durability, insulation, passive solar, structural soundness, and air sealing--all justified by it's future use as a detached outbuilding or, and likely better, the first phase of your larger house which becomes an addition to this. If so, this can be a LR, kitchen, master, attached garage, etc. I figure if it's worth doing, it's worth doing right (well built), and this means keep an evolving larger game plan, so that you may appropriately plan and collect for it. This is the key to setting up a diy homestead on a budget.
For example, if you are starting small then maybe it has a shed roof sloping E or W and French doors on the higher pitched side to which the larger gabled house can be built off the French door high side leaving you with a nice Dutch hip roof when all phases are complete. Or another example if you are going to build a little larger now, then you could start with the passive solar southfacing 1 story shed roof sloping south (if you may want any panals include bracing and conduit or pipe now), and then later add a 1 or 2 story addition to the north with clerestory Windows. Get comfy and set up before you add on (once more money, time, experience, spatial needs, and materials are collected)
You have a lot of time before winter that this doesn't have to be temporary. Though outbuildings are handy.
As far as insulation suggestions, many cheap, appropriate and available suggestions depends on where you live...
Did I help or just stray way off topic?!

here is a resource which may or may not help. now or later...for home or outbuilding.

Speaking of styrofoam, here is a link to Harvey Lacey's innovative Open Source Ubuntu Blox,
which are made from recycled stryofoam (he also has made blox out of recycled plastic bags).

People are building press for the Blox out of pallet wood, some out of metal, etc.

http://ubuntublox.com/

The photos of how to use 'trash' to build Blox is astounding.

ALSO< there are videos which show a small building made of Ubuntu BLox passing
the earthquake test--the Shake Table. as well as rain wind hurricane test.