Though I did not grow up during the depression, my father did and I really got a good picture of what it was like.
One day he came home from the store crying because he was not able to get the loaf a bread he was sent out to get...the family was short by one penny. They had to wait a few days for my grandfather to get back to town with the small amount of money he earned by selling eggs door to door.
The reason the family was able to eat was because my father trapped pigeons under the bridge!
I just did a quick on-line search and you will be happy to know there are a lot of varieties of hot water bottles some for as little as $4
There was one type I saw that clamped shut and did not require a screw-in plug.
As to your comment (that I snipped for brevity) about Lowes being a clone of HD....yep!
I was in the industrial battery business and we had a national contract with HD. When we got the Lowes account they wanted a contract just like HD only with one improvement to it...and that's what we gave them.
BTW: They were both good customers and when I have a good customer at work, I support them back.