FRISCO - With the economy sagging, many north Texans are reverting to an old-fashioned way to stay warm during winter, while saving money at the same time.

Chris Pepper is known as Mr. Firewood. That's the name of his Little Elm business.

Pepper says in the eight years he's been chopping, piling and delivering wood, he's never sold more.

"I'm doing three to four cords a day, [we're] extremely busy. We've gone up 27 percent since last year," he said.

Peppers' boom is because people like John Aguilar are burning more wood. In his case, he's saving money by not using as much natural gas and electricity to run his heater.

"During the evenings, we heat pretty much the entire house with this one fireplace and it cuts costs big time," Aguilar said.

The Aguilars say in the past they lit their fireplace for its coziness. They never looked at it as a money saving tool until recently.

"It's sad but true. It's fun to have a fire and all that but it's sad to think about how the economy is suffering that we have to go to fire," Aguilar added.

"Seventy five to 85 percent of my customers use it to heat their homes. They don't like the high energy bills when it comes this time of year and that's what they're getting the wood for," said Pepper.

For those not using wood, the US Energy Department predicts the average American household will spend $900 for natural gas or $1,700 dollars for heating oil to keep warm this winter.

E-mail sstoler@wfaa.com.