Free Guide: Simple Living & Country Skills Special Collection

Simple Living & Country Skills SPECIAL COLLECTION • Choosing a Watchdog • Self-Sufficient 1-Acre Homestead • 75 Ways to Live on Less and Love It

PHOTO BY: Bryan Welch

Choosing and Training a

Watchdog

By Barbara Pleasant

Make your pet a safe and loyal guardian.

My home security system is large and black—and she pants when it’s hot and sheds hair every spring. In return for regular feeding, periodic veterinary care and grooming, I get a beloved companion that barks loudly when any strange vehicle enters my driveway. My dog also chases opossums from my deck and rabbits from my garden. But mostly, my watchdog makes me feel safe.

I am not operating under an illusion: According to the U.S. Department of

Justice, 16 percent of American households were victims of property crime in 2003. Especially in rural areas, the theft pattern goes like this: Thieves make a quick visit to a house or farm to check for security, then return later to take what they want. But a barking dog often turns off potential burglars at the scouting phase.

It’s no surprise that, of the 68 million pet canines in the United States, most are expected to perform some kind of

guard duty. Watchdogs look, listen and bark to sound the alert that something unusual is happening in their territory.

After that, humans take over.

Dogs have performed this duty for thousands of years. In Tibet, the little Lhasa apso, called the “bark lion sentinel dog,” was bred to work as an indoor watchdog. In Belgium, schipperkes earned the nickname “little captain of the boat” because of their work as ship watchdogs.

homesteading Watchdogs look, listen and bark to sound the alert when something unusual is happening in their territory. After that, humans take over. ask the previous owners how the dog performed as a watchdog. With a puppy, find out as much as you can about its parents, and if possible, spend time with the parents before you decide to take the puppy home.

Also keep in mind that some dogs are not content only as watchdogs. When they are not given appropriate work, herding dogs such as border collies or Australian shepherds can be extremely excitable, which is not a good trait in a watchdog. Predatory aggression is another bad trait that can be present in some aggressive breeds. But Luescher

PHOTO BYLBryan Welch

“Dogs have coevolved with humans for at least 12,000 years,” says veterinarian Andrew Luescher, director of the Animal Behavior Clinic at Purdue University. “Dogs are better than any other animal at reading human body language, and they are the only animals that can follow something when you point it out to them.”

Wayne Hunthausen, a veterinarian and co-author of the Handbook of Behavior Problems of the Dog and Cat, says most dogs—including mixed breeds—can be trained as good watchdogs. The exceptions are calm, lessreactive breeds such as bloodhounds or Newfoundland dogs.

“You want a dog that will pick up on unusual things and then discriminate as to what’s unusual,” Hunthausen says.

“Dogs that have been bred for territorial reactivity—Scottish terriers, Airedales and standard poodles—make good watchdogs, but so do many others.”

If you decide to adopt an adult dog,

Watchdogs don’t have to be large, imposing breeds—almost any dog can be trained to signal something suspicious. The Rottweiler mix above has a loud bark and a friendly smile. A diligent border collie keeps lookout over a homestead in Lawrence, Kan.

says even naturally friendly dogs can be trained as good watchdogs.

“Dogs are quite good at realizing when something is amiss.”

Training a Watchdog Let’s say you adopt a mixedbreed puppy after learning the puppy’s parents are good watchdogs. Where do you go from there? “Don’t encourage too much barking at an early age,” Hunthausen says, because “territorial” barking often does not emerge until a dog is 9 months to 3 years old. Then, as the dog reaches maturity, teach it how to do its job.

“I like to teach the dog to bark when something unusual happens, and then go to a family member,” Hunthausen says. “To do this, tell the dog to be quiet every time it barks, and then call it to you and give it a reward—a treat or a chew toy. You want to develop a reflex so that when a dog senses something unusual, it barks and then goes to a family member and stops barking.”

One version of this technique is “clicker training.” As the dog carries out a request, the owner sounds a small clicking device to alert the dog it has performed the correct behavior and then gives it a treat. As a result, the dog learns to associate the sound of the clicker with the treat. Using the clicker is very effective; the device allows the dog to instantly recognize that it has performed the desired task because it immediately hears the clicking noise. As soon as the dog is comfortable with the requested behavior, a verbal command can replace both the clicker and treat.

Donna Mlinek, an animal behavior educator at the Dumb Friends League in Denver, says words and phrases, such as “quiet” or “enough barking,” should be taught as firm word commands. “If you yell ‘Shut up!,’ the dog may think you’re barking with it,” she says.

But some dogs get so carried away barking that owners have trouble teaching them a “quiet” command. In this

homesteading

Dogs and Homeowner’s Insurance Some insurance companies charge higher premiums—or even deny coverage—to homeowners who have specific dog breeds, such as those listed below. Owners of mixed breeds may have to provide veterinarian statements about the dogs’ predominant bloodline before new policies can be issued. The American Kennel Club’s Web site has resources for dog owners who are looking for homeowner’s insurance. Visit www.akc.org, click on “dog owners,” then “Government Relations” from the drop-down menu, and “Dog Owner’s Insurance Center” from there.

Akita Alaskan malamute Chow Doberman pinscher German shepherd Pit bull Presa Canario Rottweiler Siberian husky Staffordshire bull terrier

to think that appropriate barking is bad, since that’s an important part of its job.”

When my dog wakes me up by barking in the middle of the night, I get up and look around before I tell her to settle down. I can feel her relief when she sees that I’m doing my part.

Security Dogs Security dogs take watchdogging a step further by aggressively defending their territory. Because they can be dangerous, security dogs require special training; owning one is a serious responsibility.

“I do not recommend that people buy or attempt to train a protection dog,” Mlinek says. “This requires a great deal of expertise and many years of training, as well as precisely the right kind of dog. A protection dog that is poorly trained or handled by an untrained person can be very dangerous.”

Luescher adds, “People want a guard dog, so they will encourage it to be aggressive because it makes them feel safe.

Then things get out of hand.”

Aggressive dogs are more likely to bite, which occurs 4.5 million times a year in the United States—and that’s only the number of bites reported to authorities. In 2011, according to the Insurance Information Institute, dog bites accounted for one-third of all homeowner liability claims, and the insurance industry paid out about $479 million for them. If a dangerous dog harms someone because the owner has allowed it to run loose, the owner also can be held criminally responsible.

With these kinds of numbers to back them up, insurance companies often ask questions about family dogs. When I applied for my last homeowner’s policy, I was asked about my dog’s breed, age and whether she had been spayed (she had). I eagerly answered my insurance agent’s questions, thinking that having a watchdog would reduce my risk of theft—and reduce my insurance premiums. Not so, because nobody knows how often property crimes are thwarted by barking dogs. The bottom line is that

insurance companies like deadbolt locks better than dogs; some companies even offer discounts if you don’t have a dog.

(For more information, see “Dogs and Homeowner’s Insurance,” at left.)

I personally want my dog’s job performance to fall somewhere between that of a watchdog and that of a security dog. I don’t want her to bite, but I do want strangers to encounter a dutifully territorial dog. We’re pretty convincing, I think. When a stranger comes to my home, I often allow my dog to bark a little before I tell her to settle down.

Not wanting to sabotage my own goals, I also avoid saying the dog’s name or using voice commands within earshot of strangers. Many dogs can be quickly neutralized if a stranger says their name and gives them a treat. (If a burglar said my dog’s name while giving her a treat, she might show the burglar where I hide my extra key!) Simply offering a treat will allow a delivery person to place a package by my door, but he or she would have to use commands and the dog’s name to get farther than that.

“People also need to be aware that once they start encouraging barking behavior, their dogs may not make a distinction between the kind of ‘intruder’ that their owner cares about and the kind that their owner is unconcerned with,” Mlinek says.

Some home security companies suggest putting up a “Beware of Dog” sign to deter would-be intruders, which might be a good idea. But good watchdogs don’t have to be scary, just smart barkers.

PHOT BY: Bryan Welch

case, it can help to use an “interrupter,” such as shaking a can with pennies in it, or giving the “quiet” command and squirting the dog in the mouth with water. The dog will stop barking to lick the water; follow that by giving it a treat.

With these strategies, the dog eventually will respond to the command alone, and the noise or squirt won’t be necessary, Mlinek says.

“It’s important to understand that you’re using aversive conditioning and that the interrupter you use should fit the dog,” she says. “If the conditioning is too strong, the device will elicit a fear response, which is not what you’re trying to do. You also don’t want your dog

Dogs that bark at an unusual visitor or sound help deter potential prowlers and harmful animals.

homesteading

Dogs for Special Jobs In addition to serving as watchdogs, some breeds can do other jobs around the homestead. These breeds are unusually good at multitasking: Livestock guardian dogs bond with sheep, goats or other livestock and protect them from coyotes and other predators.

Some sheep producers in Colorado prefer the Akbash; other talented breeds include Great Pyrenees, komondors, Anatolian shepherds and Maremmas. To be most effective, these dogs should live outdoors with their charges, rather than indoors as family pets.

Herding dogs do an amazing job working with livestock. The border collie is the top dog in this category, because it uses sharp eyes and agility, rather than nipping, to move herds.

Australian shepherds, collies, Australian cattle dogs, Welsh corgis and several other breeds also can make fine herders.

Herding dogs love their work and often will try to herd people if they are underemployed.

Border collie

Komondor

Terriers are outstanding at controlling vermin and can range in size from large Airedales to smaller Boston terriers. For centuries, terriers such as the West Highland and cairn terriers were bred to hunt and kill mice, rats and other small animals. For some terrier breeds, such as the schipperke, being a watchdog is part of the job. Good “rat dogs� tend to dig a lot of holes, because their passion for their work is nothing short of obsessive. They also make fine pets.

Jack Russell terrier

Assistance dogs, also called service dogs, can help people with disabilities. German shepherds, once the most popular guide dogs for the blind, now rank just behind Labradors and golden retrievers as assistance dogs. In Britain and Australia, labradoodles (lab-poodle mixes) are increasingly popular as assistance dogs.

Golden retriever

Hunting dogs come in a few different varieties. Sporting breeds, such as pointers, setters, vizslas and spaniels, work with human hunters. Hounds hunt on their own, using scent and sight. Some other hunting breeds work best when hunters handle them as a pack. The Weimaraner was bred to be both a hunter and a pet.

Vizsla

Komondor: Joe Glickman; G.K. & Vikki Hart/Photodisc (4)

Start a Self-Sufficient

1-acre homestead expert advice on how to establish selfsufficient food production, including guidance on crop rotations, raising livestock and grazing management.

by John Seymour

E

veryone will have a different approach to keeping a self-sufficient homestead, and it’s unlikely that any two 1-acre homesteads will follow the same plan or methods. Some people like cows; other people are afraid of them. Some people like goats; other people cannot keep them out of the garden. Some people will not slaughter animals and have to sell their surplus stock off to people who will kill them; others will not sell surplus stock off at all because they know that the animals will be killed; and still others will slaughter their own animals to provide their family with healthy meat.

For myself, on an acre of good, well-drained land, I would keep a cow and a goat, a few pigs and maybe a dozen hens.

The goat would provide me with milk when the cow was dry. I might keep two or more goats, in fact. I would have the dairy cow (a Jersey) to provide the pigs and me with milk. More importantly, I would keep her to provide heaps and heaps of lovely cow manure Hay to increase my soil fertility, because in order to derive any sort of living from that 1 acre without the application of a lot of artificial fertilizer, it would have to be heavily manured.

Raising a Dairy Cow Cow or no cow? The pros and cons are many and various for a self-sufficient homestead. In favor of raising a cow is the fact that nothing keeps the health of a family—and a farm—at a high level better than a dairy cow. If you and your children have ample good, fresh, unpasteurized, unadulterated dairy products, you will be well-positioned to be a healthy family. If your

Movable pigpen

Cow with calf

Cabbage

Kale

Broccoli

Rutabagas

Cauliflower

Brussels sprouts

pigs and poultry get their share of the milk byproducts, especially whey, they likely will be healthy, too. If your garden gets plenty of cow manure, your soil fertility will continuously increase, along with your yields.

On the other hand, the food that you buy in for this family cow will cost you hundreds of dollars each year. Compared with how much money you would spend on dairy products each year, the fresh milk supply from the cow plus the increased value of the eggs, poultry and pig meat that you will get, along with your ever-growing soil fertility, will quickly make a family

cow a worthwhile investment. But a serious counter-consideration is that you will have to take on the responsibility of milking a cow. Milking a cow doesn’t take very long — perhaps eight minutes — and it’s very pleasant if you know how to do it and if she is a quiet, docile cow — but you will have to do it. Buying a dairy cow is a very important step, and you shouldn’t do it unless you do not intend to go away very much, or unless you can make arrangements for somebody else to take over your milking duties while you’re gone. So let’s plan our 1-acre farm on the assumption that we are going to keep a dairy cow.

Your 1-acre homestead can be divided into land for raising livestock and a garden for raising fruits and vegetables, plus some grain and forage crops.

Beehives Mobile chicken coop Fruit trees

Dorling Kindersley

Toolshed Compost piles Cowshed

Greenhouse

Cold frames

Grass Spinach Peas

Runner (pole) beans Lettuce

Parsnips

Leeks

Onions

Herbs

French beans

Celery

Currants

Broad beans Potatoes Beets

Fodder beets

Rhubarb

Raspberries

A dairy cow can provide butter, cream, milk, yogurt and cheese, plus lots of manure to build soil fertility.

1-Acre Farm With a Family Cow Half of your land would be put down to grass, leaving half an acre arable (not allowing for the land on which the house and other buildings stand). The grass half could remain permanent pasture and never be plowed up at all, or you could plan crop rotations by plowing it up, say, every four years. If you do the latter, it is best done in strips of a quarter of the half-acre so that each year you’re planting a grass, clover and herb mixture on an eighth of your acre of land.

This crop rotation will result in some freshly sown pasture every year, some 2-year-old field, some 3-year-old field and some 4-year-old field, resulting in more productive land.

using electric fencing. A little Jersey cow quickly gets used to being tethered and this was, indeed, the system that the breed was developed for on the island of Jersey (where they were first bred). I so unequivocally recommend a Jersey cow to the 1-acre farmer because I am convinced that, for this purpose, she is without any peer. Your half-acre of grass, when established, should provide your cow with nearly all the food she needs for the summer months. You are unlikely to get any hay from the half-acre as well, but if the grass grows faster than the cow can eat it, then you could cut some of it for hay.

Good crop rotations with careful grazing management will give you rich soil.

Grazing Management At the first sign the grass patch is suffering from overgrazing, take the cow away. The point of strip grazing (also called intensive rotational grazing) is that grass grows better and produces more if it is allowed to grow for as long as possible before being grazed or cut all the way down, and then allowed to rest again. In such intensive husbandry as we are envisaging for this self-sufficient homestead, careful grazing management will be essential.

Tether-grazing on such a small area may work better than

Intensive Gardening

The remaining half of your homestead—the arable half—would be farmed as a highly intensive garden.

It would be divided, ideally, into four plots, around which all the annual crops that you want to grow follow each other in a strict crop rotation.

An ideal crop rotation might go something like this: — Grass (for four years) — Plot 1: Potatoes — Plot 2: Legumes (pea and bean family) — Plot 3: Brassicas (cabbage family) — Plot 4: Root vegetables (carrots, beets, and so on) — Grass again (for four years)

Get creative and make your own chicken coop: This ark can be made out of used fertilizer bags for nearly nothing.

Chickens for eggs, meat and pest control are the top livestock choice on most homesteads.

the winter indoors, only being turned out during the daytime in dry weather to get a little exercise and fresh air. Cows do not really benefit from being out in winter weather. Your cow would be, for the most part, better if kept inside where she would make lovely manure while feeding on the crops you grew for her in the garden. In the summer you would let her out, night and day, for as long as you find the pasture is not being overgrazed. You would probably find that your cow did not need hay at all during the summer, but she would be entirely dependent on it throughout the winter, and you could plan on having to buy her at least a ton. If you wanted to rear her yearly calf until he reached some value, you would likely need a further half-ton of hay. I have kept my cow on deep litter: The layer of straw gets turned into good manure, and I add more clean straw every day. I have milked a cow this way for years, and the perfect milk made good butter and cheese, and stored well. Although more labor-intensive, you could keep your cow on a concrete floor instead (insulated if possible), and give her a good bed of straw every day. You

Heavily manured, intensely planted garden beds will produce more per acre than most larger farms.

Half-Acre Crop Rotation Some might complain that by having half your acre down to grass, you confine your gardening activities to a mere half-acre. But actually, half an acre is quite a lot, and if you garden it well, it will grow more food for you than if you were to “scratch” over a whole acre. Being under grass (and grazed and dunged) for half of its life will enormously increase the half-acre’s soil fertility. I think you will actually grow more vegetables on this plot than you would on a whole acre if you had no cow or grass break.

Tips for the Self-Sufficient Homestead A dairy cow will not be able to stay outdoors all year. She would horribly overgraze such a small acreage. She should spend most of You can grow your own wheat and dry it on simple tripods made from poles.

Dorling Kindersley (4)

Consider the advantages of this kind of crop rotation. A quarter of your arable land will be a newly plowed-up, 4-yearold field every year, with intensely fertile soil because of the stored-up fertility of all the grass, clover and herbs that have just been plowed-in to rot with four summers’ worth of cow manure. Because your cow will be in-wintered, on boughtin hay, and treading and dunging on bought-in straw, you will have an enormous quantity of marvelous muck and cow manure to put on your arable land. All of the crop residues that you cannot consume will help feed the cow, pigs or poultry, and I would be surprised if, after following this crop rotation and grazing management plan for a few years, you didn’t find that your acre of land had increased enormously in soil fertility, and that it was producing more food for humans than many a 10-acre farm run on ordinary commercial lines.

Omnivorous pigs will eat almost anything, and can convert your surplus crops into delicious meat and fertile compost.

Just a dozen hens will lay enough eggs for you to eat, and a few extra to sell.

Dorling Kindersley

would remove the soiled straw daily, and carefully pile it into a keeping very many birds, as just a dozen hens should give you muck heap that would be your fount of fertility for everything enough eggs for a small family with a few to occasionally sell on your acre. or give away in summertime. You would have to buy a little Pigs would have to be confined in a house for at least part grain for them, and in the winter some protein supplement, of the year (and you would need to provide straw for them), unless you could grow enough beans. You could try growing because, on a 1-acre farm, you are unlikely to have enough sunflowers, buckwheat or other food especially for them. fresh land to keep them healthy. The best option would be a Goats, if kept instead of a dairy cow (or in addition to), movable house with a strong movable fence outside it, but you could be managed in much the same way, however you could have a permanent pigpen instead. would not have as much whey and skim The pigs would have a lot of outdoor milk to rear pigs and poultry on, and work to do: They would spend part of you would not build up the fertility of their time plowing up your eighth of an your land as quickly as you could with acre of grassland, and they could run over a cow. You would only get a fraction your cultivated land after you have harof the manure from goats, but on the vested your crops. They could only do other hand you would not have to buy this if you had time to let them do it, as nearly as much hay and straw—perhaps sometimes you would be in too much of a not any. For a farmer wanting to have a hurry to get the next crop in. As for food, completely self-sufficient homestead on you would have to buy in some wheat, 1 acre, dairy goats are a good option. barley or corn. This, supplemented with the skim milk and whey Crops would be all of the ordinary garden crops (fruits you would have from your dairy cow, plus a share of the garden and vegetables), plus as much land as you could spare for produce and such specially grown fodder crops as you could fodder crops for animals. Bear in mind that practically any spare the land for, would keep them excellently. garden crop that you grew for yourself would be good for If you could find a neighbor who would let you use a boar, I the animals too, so any surplus crops would go to them. You recommend that you keep a sow and breed her. She could give would not need a compost pile—your animals could be your you 20 piglets a year, two or three of which you could keep to compost pile. fatten for your bacon and ham supply. The rest you could sell Half an acre, farmed as a garden with wheat grown in as weanlings (piglets eight to 12 the other half-acre, is worth a try weeks old), and they would probif you kept no animals at all, or ably bring in enough money to maybe only some poultry. You pay for the food you had to buy would then practice a crop roThis article is an excerpt from The for all your other livestock. If you tation as described above, but Self-Sufficient Life and How to Live could not get the service of a boar, substitute wheat for the grass It, written by the late John Seymour you could always buy weanlings and clover field. If you are a and first published by Dorling yourself—just enough for your vegetarian, this may be quite a own use—and fatten them. good solution. But you could Kindersley in Britain in 1976. The Poultry could be kept in a pernot hope to increase the soil ferbook has become a treasured classic manent house in one corner of tility, and therefore the producfor back-to-the-landers and is now your garden, or, preferably, in tiveness, of your land as much as available in a beautifully illustrated mobile coops on the land, so they with animals.

400-page edition. could be moved over the grassland and improve soil fertility with their scratching and dunging. I would not recommend

Live on Less and love it!

Try these

75 inspiring ideas and enjoy life more while spending and consuming less.

By Craig Idlebrook Illustrations by Brian Orr

selfsufficiency

If you live in a forested area, cut your energy costs by heating with wood. And wherever you live, never skimp on insulation— you’ll save money and energy.

O

n paper, my wife and I are poor.

How poor? In 2005 we made $4,303.84 combined; in 2004 we made half that.

We’re in such a low tax bracket that I have trouble convincing the government of our tax return’s accuracy; they simply can’t believe Americans can live on that kind of money.

Yet in many ways, we’re better off than a Wall Street banker: We’ve saved enough money to buy land without a mortgage, we have no credit cards or monthly bills, I work 20 flexible hours a week from home, and my daughter has two stay-at-home parents. Simply put, we never want for anything, and we have a lot of fun.

We’ve arrived where we are now through a decade of daily financial decisions. Because we didn’t want to spend our time earning money at jobs we didn’t like, we instead focused on how to stretch our money. We found that by controlling our day-to-day expenses, we could save a lot of money without sacrificing our quality of life. Neither

my wife nor I will ever be confused for financial wizards; there’s nothing we’ve done that you can’t do if you’re serious about saving money.

Here are 75 money-saving tips to consider, drawn from our own experiences. Find what works for you and enjoy living on less!

Good Cheap Food

1. Buy raw ingredients instead of prepackaged foods. If you don’t know how to cook, learn. You’ll save on food bills, and your body will thank you for it in the long run.

Stock up on produce when it’s in season and at its cheapest, then can or freeze it for later use.

2. Buy in bulk from a local health food store, or place bulk orders directly with mail-order companies. If you can’t meet their minimum order size, go in on an order with another family, or organize a larger food buying club.

3. Avoid the middleman and buy directly from farmers. Look for farm stands, community supported agriculture programs and farmers markets.

4. Eat fruits and vegetables in season, when they are least expensive. (Once, we found organic watermelon for three cents a pound!) Stock up when they’re cheap and freeze or can any excess for later use.

5. Keep up with what’s in your refrigerator and make sure nothing spoils. Once a week, make soup or casseroles to use up vegetables and other leftovers.

6. Calculate the price of food per pound when you visit supermarkets.

Doing the math will help you spot good deals.

7. Don’t overeat. When you do, you’re flushing money down the drain.

How to Avoid Rent

8. Find a live-in elder care position and help someone stay out of a nursing home.

There’s always someone desperate for reliable help, and often there are no qualifications needed other than compassion.

9. Help renovate a house in exchange for lodging. This is how we came into our current home.

10. For short-term stays, become a housesitter or pet sitter.

11. For long-term stays, become a caretaker. A good place to find such caretaking jobs is www.caretaker.org.

selfsufficiency Find and Build Your Nest

12. Look beyond realtors’ listings to find cheap property. Try local penny papers.

13. Don’t be afraid to ask. If you see a piece of land you like, find the owner and ask if it’s for sale. It might be cheaper than you think.

14. Salvage materials for your new

heating system.

16. Barter for services with carpenters.

Some communities have organized time banks, to make bartering these kinds of services easier. You can learn more about them at www.timebanks.org.

17. Buy into a piece of land with another family. Be sure to check local zoning ordinances to be sure you can legally subdivide a property before you buy it.

Make a habit of eating at home: It’s almost always cheaper, healthier and better-tasting than eating at restaurants or fast food joints.

home. There are lots of possible sources: Look for someone who’s renovating a house and might let you cart away old materials; check the yellow pages for used building materials; or look for online groups, such as Freecycle, where people trade all kinds of unwanted items.

15. Never skimp on insulation or good windows. Build your home tight enough, and it will cost much less to heat. You may even be able to get away with a woodstove or other supplemental heating and avoid the cost of buying and running a central

18. Build with natural materials found on-site. If you have wood, the equipment to mill it yourself is relatively inexpensive, compared to buying lumber. (You can resell the sawmill after you’re done with it.) Building with stone or straw bales and using clay for plasters are other relatively inexpensive natural building options.

Keep Home Upkeep costs Down

19. Close off unused rooms to save on heat and air conditioning.

20. Be efficient with your appliances.

Have a big baking night when you’re going to use the oven. Let your woodstove also be your dryer and water heater.

21. Take advantage of natural weather patterns to heat and cool your house. In the summer, open the windows at night and close them again by noon.

22. Place your refrigerator in the

coldest part of the house so it requires less energy to keep the temperature low.

23. Wash your clothes in cold water. It’s the friction that does most of the cleaning, not the heat.

24. Switch off your water heater when you’re not going to use it for extended periods of time.

25. Buy energy-efficient light bulbs.

The savings on your electric bills add up fast.

26. Unplug any unused electric items with lights, clocks or timers. They use an amazing amount of power just sitting there. You can plug multiple items into one

selfsufficiency If you build your own home, take full advantage of natural materials already on the property, such as timber, sand or clay.

power strip to make shutting them all off faster.

Creative Transportation

27. Carpool with friends or co-workers.

Some cities maintain online listings to help people connect with other carpoolers.

28. Ask if your city has a carshare program or start one with people you trust.

29. Convert a diesel car to run on used vegetable oil. You’ll pay once for the conversion or kit, but after that all your fuel can be free. All you have to do is find a restaurant that wants to dispose of their used oil and will let you cart it away.

30. Keep track of your gas mileage and look for ways to improve it—keep your tires properly inflated and don’t speed.

31. Do as many errands as possible with each car trip around town instead of making multiple trips. You’ll save a lot of gas.

32. Book any airplane trips well in advance to get the lowest possible fare.

Then show up early and offer to be bumped in exchange for free tickets if a plane is overbooked.

When You Can’t Avoid Shopping

33. Don’t go into stores unless you need something. Always carry a shopping list. Remember, stores are designed to get you to buy things you didn’t know you needed.

34. Hit end-of-season sales for as many items as possible, from kayaks to gardening supplies.

35. Before you shop, try borrowing the items you need from family or friends.

Check out local Freecycle groups to find out what people are giving away. Set up borrowing co-ops for tools.

36. Try to find it used before you buy new. You can find a wide variety of items online, in the classifieds or penny papers, and at garage sales, estate sales and thrift stores.

37. When buying new, choose highquality, durable items. It’s often cheaper to spend more upfront if you won’t have to replace the item in the near future.

38. Instead of shopping, scavenge. Watch the curbs at the end of the semester in a college town. If you live near a high school, try talking to the janitor the last day of school when they’re cleaning out the lockers.

Get Some Clothes On!

Buy clothing used whenever possible.

You may have good luck finding clothes at garage sales, or find a wider selection at thrift stores, consignment shops and on eBay. 40. Have a clothing exchange party to trade unwanted clothing with friends.

41. Try sewing. Look for cheap material in thrift stores, or try reincarnating your outfits into something new.

42. Watch the clearance racks. It’s always amazing how much stores are willing to mark down unsold clothing.

For Your Health

43. Ask a doctor or dentist if they have sliding-scale fees.

44. Look for free or low-cost clinics and/ or medical schools for treatment. (But be warned, sometimes you get what you pay for. I have a couple of bad fillings from a new dentist.)

45. Do preventive maintenance on your body. Exercise and eat well. Try yoga to reduce stress. Quit smoking.

46. Campaign for a national health care system!

Cutting Education costs

selfsufficiency See the World for Less

Cheap Entertainment

53. Discontinue your Internet service and utilize a wireless “hotspot” where you can connect to the Internet for free.

Even the smallest towns tend to have at least one.

54. Rediscover the radical notion of the library. Imagine Internet access and thousands of books, CDs and DVDs for free!

55. Volunteer to usher for concerts, plays and other events. (I haven’t paid for a play in years.)

56. Find low-cost fun in your local paper. Take full advantage of free concerts, events and movies.

57. When at a concert or movie, avoid buying anything to eat or drink. Some places even let you bring your own snacks.

58. Take turns entertaining with friends holding parties, potlucks or music nights.

59. Occasionally, go ahead and spend the money. Saving money’s like going on a diet: If you try to starve yourself, you’ll end up consuming more in the long-run. If there’s a form of entertainment you value, that’s a good place to consider splurging.

60. Volunteer for organizations such as Willing Workers on Organic Farms (WWOOF) that provide food and lodging in exchange for a reasonable amount of daily work.

61. Trade your home with friends around the country and enjoy free lodging in a new location.

62. Go camping, or rent a cabin. Don’t overlook state parks and national forests, they’re often less expensive and less crowded than Rediscover the radical notion of a public library: national parks.

63. Try a local vacation. Chances Get books, music and movies for free! are, there’s something great to see within a 100-mile radius of where where everyone brings unwanted items you live. and other joke gifts.

64. Ask hotels about discounted dis- 72. Invoke a gift giving spending cap. tressed-traveler rates, especially if you 73. Give homemade gift certificates for a hadn’t planned to stop but must because of home-cooked dinner, massage or babysitinclement weather. ting time.

65. There’s no law against haggling with 74. Donate to a good cause that a friend a hotel on the room rate! or family member supports instead of 66. Make your vacations pay for you by buying a gift they don’t need. Not only do combining them with work. I once volun- you support a worthwhile organization, teered for my school to check out an in- but you’ll save on sales tax and transportanovative learning program in Vermont and tion costs. got to stay in a bed and breakfast with my 75. Swallow your pride; accept your family’s help every now and then. It’ll make wife for free.

67. Buy food at local supermarkets them feel good.

These suggestions are just a starting when traveling. It’s much cheaper than place. You’ll find lots of new ways to save eating at restaurants.

68. wChoose a vehicle with fold-down that work best for you. Make a game of it if seats if you’re renting a car or truck. Find you can, and keep it fun. After all, it’s only a safe place to sleep for the night, and you money. Happy penny pinching! have instant, snug lodging.

Happy Families for Cheap

69. Definitely choose used clothes for babies. They’re so cute, they don’t need to be stylish.

70. Trade babysitting time with other couples and have rotating playgroups with other families.

71. During the holidays, draw names for gift giving with groups of family or friends rather than buying a gift for everybody. A fun variation or addition to this is the white elephant holiday party,

The author and his family live happily and frugally in Maine.

Frances Idlebrook

47. For the college bound, take some general education classes at a state school or community college where the tuition is low, even if you plan to take most of your classes at a more expensive college.

Just check carefully with your school of choice to make sure the classes will transfer.

48. Attend an in-state college. Establish residency for a year or two beforehand, if need be. The money saved can be well worth the time it takes to establish residency.

49. Buy your college books used online.

Don’t give in to the monopoly of the college bookstore!

50. Watch for unique scholarship opportunities, including those that involve resources other than cash. (I once received a case of organic macaroni and cheese for making the dean’s list.)

51. Audit classes that you only want for the learning, not the credit.

52. For lessons, try bartering. For example, my wife is planning to do some photography in exchange for dance lessons.