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Are you poor? Do you expect you will be poor for the rest of your life? If the answer is yes, then congratulations! You have an opportunity to live outside the rat race! And the great thing is...
...in this modern world, you can achieve a fine standard of living with very little expense!
Evaluate your life. Do you need "stuff" to be happy? If so, you should head to some of "get rich quick" sites. Otherwise, this is a great place to start simplifying your lifestyle and creating a standard of living that is closer to nature.
BUILD AN INEXPENSIVE HOME
Most of these ideas concern making use of the good earth and sunshine God gave us. Do you want to live comfortably and cheaply, or do you want to make a contractor wealthy? You don't have to do both! (Just don't come crying to me if the building inspectors give you grief!)
THE $50 & UP UNDERGROUND HOUSE BOOK
So you already have a home or you don't want a do-it-yourself cave. But you want to cut those energy costs. Use the unlimited power of the Sun! (Except when it's cloudy. But you save money every day the sun shines!) Fantastic solutions that work!
SOLAR SURVIVAL: Designs & Information
Build your own boat! If you're too busy to fish, you're just too busy! Ahhh, the simple pleasures. These sites show you how to build your own water craft. I'll bet you can think of even cheaper ways to do it. But remember, SAFETY FIRST!
Build your own canoe.
I've sketched a design for a PVC pipe framework that you could stretch a tarp around...
Why don't you raise catfish? Now this is good eating! And CHEAP! You can do it for almost nothing, or you can spend a little money and do it on a big enough scale to make some money!
Raising Catfish in a Barrel
Next to catfish, rabbits are pound for pound the best producers of meat of all farmed animals. They even beat cattle! You can feed 'em scraps from the produce market or your garden. Plus, they provide rich compost for your garden, a bed for your worms (to feed your catfish), pelts for all kinds of purposes... And they're mighty tasty!
A Primer on Backyard Meat Rabbit Raising Practices
One of the best things you can do to cut costs is to learn to grow your own food. Intensive, raised-bed, organic gardening is the answer. You can do this cheaply, and after it is established, you will be surprised at how little work is required. Lots of planning and up-front sweat. Lots of fresh, healthy produce is the result. What are you waiting for? (Handy tip: To tell a wanted plant from a weed, pull it up. If it grows again, it's a weed.)
You would not believe how you can start saving money. Whatever you call it: thrifty, frugal, cheap, miserly, ecological, living lightly, prudent... These links take you to the masters of saving money.
FREE ENERGY FOR HEATING, COOLING, AND COOKING
BOATING
CATFISH
RABBITS
GARDENING
THRIFTY LIVING
Buy a book that tells you how to design an underground home.
SOLAR PLEXUS, Books For Sale
A list of books with great ideas.
Earth Sheltered Design
Design comments, resources, and links.
Department of Energy Factsheet: Earth Sheltered Homes
A good overview from the Department of Energy.
Underground (earth berm and earth sheltered) Homes
By Richard S. Olsen, PhD Geotechnical Engineer. Links to incredible amounts of information!
Earthship: Earth shelter home concept.
Brilliant design! Dirt, tires, sweat... brains! This is a good introduction.
EARTHSHIPS
This is the homepage of the guys who invented this. You can pay them to do it for you, or you can buy plans, but there is enough free information starting right here for the experienced do-it-yourselfer. Hard work but you can build these homes for practically nothing!
An entire product line for sale. Save money with these products or see enough on this site to get some of your own ideas.
Sustainable Communities Information Links
I've mirrored this links page because there are a lot of great links on this topic.
INTERNATIONAL SOLAR COLLECTORS, INC.
Are you serious? Then take a look at this. Then think about doing it yourself. If you've got tools and talent, you can.
Home Power Magazine's RENEWABLE ENERGY ELECTRONIC SITES
Are you interested in getting off the power grid, or even selling electricity back to the power company? This ain't cheap, but it could pay you back.
Solar Cooking
The Campus Center for Appropriate Technology provides diagrams and instructions for building a solar oven. You can do this with junk at no cost if you are really poor. It's like a sunshine slow cooker. EASY AS PIE!
The Solar Puddle
Roughing it? Need drinkable water? This was the cheapest means I could find to pastuerize water. You can spend as much as you want to, the principle remains the same.
The Solar Cooking Archive
You must stop here and look at everything. You'll come away convinced.
Solar Cooking Frequently Asked Questions
They answer your questions here. Odds are that someone else has already wondered what you're wondering.
The Global Sun Oven
These folks sell a cheap one.
USA Renewable Energy Links - A to O
An exhaustive list of links to organizations.
USA Renewable Energy Links - P to Z
An exhaustive list of links to organizations.
Are you handy with tools? This will give you some ideas.
Should you build a boat?
Great thoughts on the subject.
Boat building resources.
Exhaustive listings and advice.
Mackenzie River Trip: Raft Construction
Raft building photos. Easy!
Believe it! Set up for less than $15! Sheer genius!
New Catfish Hybrid
Auburn University does it again!
Beginner's Page for Channel Catfish
Detailed information for getting started.
Channel Catfish Production
Detailed information. A must read for serious production.
Fishing for dollars
Inspirational. Some people actually make money this way.
This lady knows what she's doing.
MANNA PRO - RABBIT MANAGEMENT AND FEEDING
These pages also link to information on raising horses, swine and poultry. Naturally, they want to sell their products, but they have provided a lot of information to help you manage your animals.
The Rabbit Web
These guys will link you to the world of rabbitry.
The Electronic G@rden
Sustainable Living Information Site. Provides internet users with links to sources of information on environmental responsibility and appropriate technology. A little haughty, but good links. Even some gardening information.
Urban Agriculture Notes by City Farmer
The Canadians provide some of the best resources on the internet. This group has done a great job of demonstrating that entire cities can be self-sufficient if need be.
GARDENING.COM Home Page
A great place to start.
VIRTUAL GARDEN
One of the best known internet sites for gardening.
Gardener's Library
An electronic reference center for gardening.
The Gardening Launch Pad
A great place to find lists of links on all subjects pertaining to gardening. Categories: African Violets, Alpines, Bamboo, Bonsai, Botanical Garden and Arboreta Sites, Bromeliad, Bulbs, Butterflies, Cacti & Succulents, Carnivorous, Composting, Daffodil, Dahlia, Databases, Daylilies, Deer Control, Design, Diseases and Insects, Extension Services, Ferns, Fruits, Fuchsia, Garden Accessories & Gifts, Garden Centers & Nurseries, Garden Journals, Garden Hardware, Garden Software, Garden Tools, Garden Tours, General Sites, Gesneriad & Gloxinia, Greenhouses, Herbs, Hibiscus, House Plants, Hostas, Hydroponics, Irises, Kids & Gardens, Magazines & Newsletters, Miscellaneous, Newsgroups & Message Forums, Orchids, Organic Gardening, Palms, Perennials, Personal Gardening Pages, Pictures and Images, Ponds, Poisonous Plants, Retail Links, Roses, Trees, Tropicals, Turf, Lawn, Ornamental,Grasses, Vegetables, USDA Growing Zone Finder, Weather Links, Wildflowers, Weed Guide (Get the idea?)
HandiLinks(tm) To Gardening
This is a great set of links all on one page.
ROCHESTER GARDENING WEB SITE
A great list of links. This arrangement is easy and comprehensive
Square Foot Gardening
Have you ever noticed as you look at farms or on the back of seed packages that everyone plants in long rows spaced just-so? Ever see anything grow naturally in that fashion? Why do it on the farm? So that you can drive your big machine down the rows and effectively till, fertilize, weed, spray pesticide, and harvest. OH! YOU DON'T HAVE A BIG COMMERCIAL FARM AND YOU DON'T DRIVE A BIG COMBINE? Then why waste all that space in your garden on weeds? Mel Bartholomew has pioneered a technique for gardening by the square foot instead of by the row. YOU SAVE SPACE, TIME, EFFORT AND GET MORE OUT OF YOUR LITTLE GARDEN!!!
Rebecca's Garden
She has her own TV show... It's a really nice looking site. Rebecca says, "Keep your hands dirty!"
HOW TO GROW YOUR OWN FOOD
This is the best site of links for gardening information on the internet.
The Worm Page
Worms are absolutely 100% essential. You can't do without them. Note to me: I've saved the source code to worm.htm.
Rodale Press Organic Gardening
These people have been doing it for years.
Frugal Corner
Originally inspired by the Tightwad Gazette, the aim of this site is to provide and continually expand the informational resources needed to be successful at pursuing frugality. Because everyone has different priorities, the key is to minimize your spending of money and consumption of products in ways that allow you to be happy and not feel deprived.
Frugal Living Tip File
Tips on frugal living, largely collected from the Usenet newsgroup misc.consumers.frugal-living.
Julie's Tip of The Week
A new tightwad tip every week. Plus a great list of links!
Homemaking / Parenting / Homeschooling
Another good collection of links.
Cook for a Day/Eat for a Month
Once A Month Cooking. Or OAMC for short. Shop one day. Cook one day. Thaw and reheat the next 30 days. Get your menu organized and you can shop in bulk, save money, and save time! (Ok. Maybe twice a month... or once a week...)
The Web Of Simplicity
A homepage of a large number of pages devoted to simple living.
Contents of My Garden Journal
robertwgardner@hotmail.com
(C) Copywrite 1999.
LEGALESE: This is an internet site and nothing more. Advice and information, on, or connected to, this site, are not necessarily correct. None here are responsible in anyway for anything. Live at your own risk.