Choosing a Watchdog

75 Ways to Live on Less and Love It

Self-Sufcient 1-Acre Homestead
Simple Living &
Country Skills
SPECIAL COLLECTION
My home security system is large and
blackand she pants when its hot and
sheds hair every spring. In return for
regular feeding, periodic veterinary care
and grooming, I get a beloved compan-
ion that barks loudly when any strange
vehicle enters my driveway. My dog also
chases opossums from my deck and rab-
bits 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 house-
holds 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 scout-
ing phase.
Its 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 senti-
nel 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.
PHOTO BY: BRYAN WELCH
Choosing and Training a
Watchdog
Make your pet a safe and loyal guardian.
By Barbara Pleasant
Dogs have coevolved with
humans for at least 12,000 years,
says veterinarian Andrew Lu-
escher, director of the Animal
Behavior Clinic at Purdue Uni-
versity. Dogs are better than
any other animal at reading hu-
man body language, and they are
the only animals that can follow
something when you point it out
to them.
Wayne Hunthausen, a veteri-
narian and co-author of the Handbook
of Behavior Problems of the Dog and
Cat, says most dogsincluding mixed
breedscan be trained as good watch-
dogs. The exceptions are calm, less-
reactive breeds such as bloodhounds or
Newfoundland dogs.
You want a dog that will pick up on
unusual things and then discriminate as
to whats unusual, Hunthausen says.
Dogs that have been bred for territorial
reactivityScottish terriers, Airedales
and standard poodlesmake good
watchdogs, but so do many others.
If you decide to adopt an adult dog,
ask the previous owners how the dog
performed as a watchdog. With a pup-
py, 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 an-
other bad trait that can be present in
some aggressive breeds. But Luescher
says even naturally friendly dogs
can be trained as good watchdogs.
Dogs are quite good at realizing
when something is amiss.
Training a Watchdog
Lets say you adopt a mixed-
breed puppy after learning the
puppys parents are good watch-
dogs. Where do you go from
there? Dont 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 rewarda 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 fam-
ily member and stops barking.
One version of this technique is
clicker training. As the dog car-
ries 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
youre barking with it, she says.
But some dogs get so carried away
barking that owners have trouble teach-
ing them a quiet command. In this
homesteading
Watchdogs dont have to be large, imposing breedsalmost 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.
Watchdogs look, listen
and bark to sound the
alert when something
unusual is happening in
their territory. After that,
humans take over.
P
H
O
T
O

B
Y
L
B
R
Y
A
N

W
E
L
C
H
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 wa-
ter. The dog will stop barking to lick the
water; follow that by giving it a treat.
With these strategies, the dog eventu-
ally will respond to the command alone,
and the noise or squirt wont be neces-
sary, Mlinek says.
Its important to understand that
youre 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 youre try-
ing to do. You also dont want your dog
to think that appropriate barking is bad,
since thats an important part of its job.
When my dog wakes me up by bark-
ing in the middle of the night, I get up
and look around before I tell her to set-
tle down. I can feel her relief when she
sees that Im doing my part.
Security Dogs
Security dogs take watchdogging
a step further by aggressively defend-
ing their territory. Because they can be
dangerous, security dogs require special
training; owning one is a serious respon-
sibility.
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 un-
trained person can be very dangerous.
Luescher adds, People want a guard
dog, so they will encourage it to be ag-
gressive 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 Statesand thats
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 in-
surance 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 homeowners policy,
I was asked about my dogs breed, age
and whether she had been spayed (she
had). I eagerly answered my insurance
agents questions, thinking that having
a watchdog would reduce my risk of
theftand reduce my insurance pre-
miums. 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 dont have a dog.
(For more information, see Dogs and
Homeowners Insurance, at left.)
I personally want my dogs job per-
formance to fall somewhere between
that of a watchdog and that of a security
dog. I dont want her to bite, but I do
want strangers to encounter a dutifully
territorial dog. Were pretty convinc-
ing, 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 dogs 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 dogs 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
dogs name to get farther than that.
People also need to be aware that
once they start encouraging barking be-
havior, their dogs may not make a dis-
tinction 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 watch-
dogs dont have to be scary, just smart
barkers.
Some insurance companies charge
higher premiumsor even deny cov-
erageto homeowners who have spe-
cific dog breeds, such as those listed
below. Owners of mixed breeds may
have to provide veterinarian state-
ments about the dogs predominant
bloodline before new policies can be
issued. The American Kennel Clubs
Web site has resources for dog own-
ers who are looking for homeowners
insurance. Visit www.akc.org, click
on dog owners, then Government
Relations from the drop-down menu,
and Dog Owners Insurance Center
from there.
Akita
Alaskan malamute
Chow
Doberman pinscher
German shepherd
Pit bull
Presa Canario
Rottweiler
Siberian husky
Staffordshire bull terrier
Dogs and
Homeowners
Insurance
Dogs that bark at an unusual visitor or
sound help deter potential prowlers and
harmful animals.
P
H
O
T

B
Y
:

B
R
Y
A
N

W
E
L
C
H
homesteading
Dogs for Special Jobs
Golden retriever
Vizsla
homesteading
Border collie
Komondor
Jack Russell terrier
KOMONDOR: JOE GLICKMAN; G.K. & VIKKI HART/PHOTODISC (4)
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, Anato-
lian 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.
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 ter-
rier 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.
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.
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.
E
veryone will have a different approach to keeping a self-sufficient
homestead, and its 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 peo-
ple 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 be-
cause 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
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 familyand a farmat a high
level better than a dairy cow. If
you and your children have am-
ple good, fresh, unpasteurized,
unadulterated dairy products,
you will be well-positioned
to be a healthy family. If your
Start a Self-Suffcient
1-ACRE HOMESTEAD
expert advice on how to establish self-
sufficient food production, including
guidance on crop rotations, raising
livestock and grazing management.
by JOHN SEYMOUR
Cow with calf
Movable
pigpen
Cabbage
Kale
Cauliflower
Broccoli
Rutabagas
Brussels sprouts
Hay
pigs and poultry get their share of the milk byproducts, es-
pecially 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-consider-
ation is that you will have to take on the responsibility of milk-
ing a cow. Milking a cow doesnt take very long perhaps eight
minutes and its 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 shouldnt 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 youre gone. So lets 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.
Peas Runner (pole) beans
French beans
Broad beans
Potatoes
Spinach
Lettuce
Parsnips
Celery
Leeks Onions
Herbs
Grass
Cold
frames
Currants
Compost
piles
Cowshed
Greenhouse
Toolshed
Fruit trees
Mobile chicken coop
Beehives
Beets
Fodder beets
Rhubarb Raspberries
DORLING KINDERSLEY
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 youre
planting a grass, clover and herb mix-
ture 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.
Grazing Management
At the first sign the grass patch is suffering from overgraz-
ing, 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
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.
Intensive Gardening
The remaining half of your home-
steadthe arable halfwould 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)
Good crop rotations
with careful grazing
management will give
you rich soil.
A dairy cow can provide butter, cream, milk, yogurt and cheese, plus lots of manure to build soil fertility.
Get creative and make your own chicken coop: This ark can be
made out of used fertilizer bags for nearly nothing.
Consider the advantages of this kind of crop rotation. A
quarter of your arable land will be a newly plowed-up, 4-year-
old 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 bought-
in 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 con-
sume 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 didnt find that your acre
of land had increased enormously in
soil fertility, and that it was produc-
ing more food for humans than many a 10-acre farm run on
ordinary commercial lines.
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 enor-
mously increase the half-acres 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
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 through-
out the winter, and you could plan
on having to buy her at least a ton. If
you wanted to rear her yearly calf un-
til 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.
Chickens for eggs, meat and pest control are the top livestock choice on most homesteads.
You can grow your own wheat
and dry it on simple tripods
made from poles.
D
O
R
L
I
N
G

K
I
N
D
E
R
S
L
E
Y

(
4
)
would remove the soiled straw daily, and carefully pile it into a
muck heap that would be your fount of fertility for everything
on your acre.
Pigs would have to be confined in a house for at least part
of the year (and you would need to provide straw for them),
because, on a 1-acre farm, you are unlikely to have enough
fresh land to keep them healthy. The best option would be a
movable house with a strong movable fence outside it, but you
could have a permanent pigpen instead.
The pigs would have a lot of outdoor
work to do: They would spend part of
their time plowing up your eighth of an
acre of grassland, and they could run over
your cultivated land after you have har-
vested your crops. They could only do
this if you had time to let them do it, as
sometimes you would be in too much of a
hurry to get the next crop in. As for food,
you would have to buy in some wheat,
barley or corn. This, supplemented with the skim milk and whey
you would have from your dairy cow, plus a share of the garden
produce and such specially grown fodder crops as you could
spare the land for, would keep them excellently.
If you could find a neighbor who would let you use a boar, I
recommend that you keep a sow and breed her. She could give
you 20 piglets a year, two or three of which you could keep to
fatten for your bacon and ham supply. The rest you could sell
as weanlings (piglets eight to 12
weeks old), and they would prob-
ably bring in enough money to
pay for the food you had to buy
for all your other livestock. If you
could not get the service of a boar,
you could always buy weanlings
yourselfjust enough for your
own useand fatten them.
Poultry could be kept in a per-
manent house in one corner of
your garden, or, preferably, in
mobile coops on the land, so they
could be moved over the grass-
land and improve soil fertility
with their scratching and dung-
ing. I would not recommend
keeping very many birds, as just a dozen hens should give you
enough eggs for a small family with a few to occasionally sell
or give away in summertime. You would have to buy a little
grain for them, and in the winter some protein supplement,
unless you could grow enough beans. You could try growing
sunflowers, buckwheat or other food especially for them.
Goats, if kept instead of a dairy cow (or in addition to),
could be managed in much the same way, however you
would not have as much whey and skim
milk to rear pigs and poultry on, and
you would not build up the fertility of
your land as quickly as you could with
a cow. You would only get a fraction
of the manure from goats, but on the
other hand you would not have to buy
nearly as much hay and strawperhaps
not any. For a farmer wanting to have a
completely self-sufficient homestead on
1 acre, dairy goats are a good option.
Crops would be all of the ordinary garden crops (fruits
and vegetables), plus as much land as you could spare for
fodder crops for animals. Bear in mind that practically any
garden crop that you grew for yourself would be good for
the animals too, so any surplus crops would go to them. You
would not need a compost pileyour animals could be your
compost pile.
Half an acre, farmed as a garden with wheat grown in
the other half-acre, is worth a try
if you kept no animals at all, or
maybe only some poultry. You
would then practice a crop ro-
tation as described above, but
substitute wheat for the grass
and clover field. If you are a
vegetarian, this may be quite a
good solution. But you could
not hope to increase the soil fer-
tility, and therefore the produc-
tiveness, of your land as much as
with animals.
Omnivorous pigs will eat almost anything, and can convert your surplus crops into delicious meat and fertile compost.
This article is an excerpt from The
Self-Sufficient Life and How to Live
It, written by the late John Seymour
and first published by Dorling
Kindersley in Britain in 1976. The
book has become a treasured classic
for back-to-the-landers and is now
available in a beautifully illustrated
400-page edition.
Just a dozen hens
will lay enough eggs
for you to eat, and a
few extra to sell.
D
O
R
L
I
N
G

K
I
N
D
E
R
S
L
E
Y
Try these
75 inspiring ideas
and enjoy life more
while spending and
consuming less.
LIVE ON
LESS
AND LOVE IT!
By Craig Idlebrook
Illustrations by Brian Orr
O
n paper, my wife
and I are poor.
How poor? In
2005 we made $4,303.84 com-
bined; in 2004 we made half that.
Were in such a low tax bracket that I have
trouble convincing the government of our
tax returns accuracy; they simply cant be-
lieve Americans can live on that kind of
money.
Yet in many ways, were better off than
a Wall Street banker: Weve 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.
Weve arrived where we are now
through a decade of daily financial deci-
sions. Because we didnt want to spend our
time earning money at jobs we didnt like,
we instead focused on how to stretch
our money. We found that by con-
trolling 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;
theres nothing weve done that you cant
do if youre 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 pre-
packaged foods. If you dont know how to
cook, learn. Youll save on food bills, and
your body will thank you for it in the long
run.
2. Buy in bulk from a local health food
store, or place bulk orders directly with
mail-order companies. If you cant meet
their minimum order size, go in on an or-
der with another family, or organize a larger
food buying club.
3. Avoid the middleman and buy directly
from farmers. Look for farm stands, com-
munity 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 theyre cheap
and freeze or can any excess for later use.
5. Keep up with whats in your refriger-
ator 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. Dont overeat. When you do, youre
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.
Theres always someone desperate for reli-
able help, and often there are no qualifica-
tions 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 care-
taker. A good place to find such caretak-
ing jobs is www.caretaker.org.
selfsufficiency
If you live in a forested area, cut
your energy costs by heating
with wood. And wherever you
live, never skimp on insulation
youll save money and energy.
Stock up on produce when its in
season and at its cheapest, then
can or freeze it for later use.
FIND AND BUILD YOUR NEST
12. Look beyond realtors listings to
find cheap property. Try local penny pa-
pers.
13. Dont be afraid to ask. If you see a
piece of land you like, find the owner and
ask if its for sale. It might be cheaper than
you think.
14. Salvage materials for your new
home. There are lots of possible sources:
Look for someone whos 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
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 an-
other family. Be sure to check local zon-
ing ordinances to be sure you can legally
subdivide a property before you buy it.
18. Build with natural materials
found on-site. If you have wood, the
equipment to mill it yourself is rela-
tively inexpensive, compared to buying
lumber. (You can resell the sawmill after
youre 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 youre go-
ing to use the oven. Let your woodstove
also be your dryer and water heater.
21. Take advantage of natural weath-
er patterns to heat and cool your
house. In the summer, open the win-
dows 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. Its
the friction that does most of the cleaning,
not the heat.
24. Switch off your water heater when
youre not going to use it for extended pe-
riods 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
Make a habit of eating at home: Its almost always cheaper, healthier and better-tasting
than eating at restaurants or fast food joints.
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 pro-
gram or start one with people you trust.
29. Convert a diesel car to run on used
vegetable oil. Youll pay once for the con-
version or kit, but after that all your fuel
can be free. All you have to do is find a res-
taurant 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 itkeep your
tires properly inflated and dont speed.
31. Do as many errands as possible
with each car trip around town instead
of making multiple trips. Youll 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 CANT AVOID SHOPPING
33. Dont go into stores unless you
need something. Always carry a shop-
ping list. Remember, stores are designed
to get you to buy things you didnt
know you needed.
34. Hit end-of-season sales for as many
items as possible, from kayaks to gar-
dening 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 high-
quality, durable items. Its often cheaper to
spend more upfront if you wont have to re-
place the item in the near future.
38. Instead of shopping, scavenge. Watch
the curbs at the end of the semester in a col-
lege town. If you live near a high school, try
talking to the janitor the last day of school
when theyre 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. Its al-
ways 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 re-
duce stress. Quit smoking.
46. Campaign for a national health
care system!
CUTTING EDUCATION COSTS
selfsufficiency
If you build your own home,
take full advantage of natural
materials already on the
property, such as timber,
sand or clay.
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.
Dont give in to the monopoly of the col-
lege bookstore!
50. Watch for unique scholarship op-
portunities, including those that involve
resources other than cash. (I once received
a case of organic macaroni and cheese for
making the deans list.)
51. Audit classes that you only want for
the learning, not the credit.
52. For lessons, try bartering. For ex-
ample, my wife is planning to do some
photography in exchange for dance lessons.
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 thou-
sands of books, CDs and DVDs for free!
55. Volunteer to usher for concerts, plays
and other events. (I havent paid for a play
in years.)
56. Find low-cost fun in your local pa-
per. 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 moneys like going on
a diet: If you try to starve yourself, youll
end up consuming more in the long-run. If
theres a form of entertainment you value,
thats a good place to consider splurging.
SEE THE WORLD FOR LESS
60. Volunteer for organiza-
tions such as Willing Workers on
Organic Farms (WWOOF) that
provide food and lodging in ex-
change for a reasonable amount of
daily work.
61. Trade your home with
friends around the country and
enjoy free lodging in a new loca-
tion.
62. Go camping, or rent a cab-
in. Dont overlook state parks and
national forests, theyre often less
expensive and less crowded than
national parks.
63. Try a local vacation. Chances
are, theres something great to see
within a 100-mile radius of where
you live.
64. Ask hotels about discounted dis-
tressed-traveler rates, especially if you
hadnt planned to stop but must because of
inclement weather.
65. Theres no law against haggling with
a hotel on the room rate!
66. Make your vacations pay for you by
combining them with work. I once volun-
teered for my school to check out an in-
novative learning program in Vermont and
got to stay in a bed and breakfast with my
wife for free.
67. Buy food at local supermarkets
when traveling. Its much cheaper than
eating at restaurants.
68. wChoose a vehicle with fold-down
seats if youre renting a car or truck. Find
a safe place to sleep for the night, and you
have instant, snug lodging.
HAPPY FAMILIES FOR CHEAP
69. Definitely choose used clothes for
babies. Theyre so cute, they dont 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 ev-
erybody. A fun variation or addition to
this is the white elephant holiday party,
where everyone brings unwanted items
and other joke gifts.
72. Invoke a gift giving spending cap.
73. Give homemade gift certificates for a
home-cooked dinner, massage or babysit-
ting time.
74. Donate to a good cause that a friend
or family member supports instead of
buying a gift they dont need. Not only do
you support a worthwhile organization,
but youll save on sales tax and transporta-
tion costs.
75. Swallow your pride; accept your fam-
ilys help every now and then. Itll make
them feel good.
These suggestions are just a starting
place. Youll find lots of new ways to save
that work best for you. Make a game of it if
you can, and keep it fun. After all, its only
money. Happy penny pinching!
selfsufficiency
Rediscover the radical notion of a public library:
Get books, music and movies for free!
The author and his family live
happily and frugally in Maine.
F
R
A
N
C
E
S

I
D
L
E
B
R
O
O
K