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> Contracting Your Home
Check out this book. The author goes into this and other overlooked ways to save material in chapter 2. (He even uses the exact image you linked.)
A lot of other posters seem to be dismissing this as not saving that much money. But the author gives all kinds of examples about how being smart about keeping components aligned cascades down the line. But when you stay in this "lego block" mentality, small savings roll into big bucks. Being smart about staying in standard unit lengths not only saves on the framing, but also the flooring, roofing, windows, carpeting, ductwork, plumbing, and trim.
Really recommend this book. It’ll explain the whole homebuilding process, the major decisions and their relative trade offs.
Going to recommend The Tiny House Handbook by Charlie Wing. I'm just starting to go through it, but if you're inexperienced he says 3 hours per square foot... I think that's overly optimistic. the framing is probably the lowest skill part of the build, and you'll need to be able to complete plumbing and electrical too. It's a lot of different skills, but there's a YouTube video for all of it. If you have time, you can do it.
I've been reading this book here and there: The Tiny House Handbook and it got pretty good information. It has a lot of good information (not complete tho) that you can start with.
I had the original as a kid. It was my favorite bathroom book.
The Complete Guide to Contracting Your Home by Kent Lester and Dave McGuerty was the most useful step-by-step homebuilding book I've read, and it includes a lot of tips on how to reduce costs.
Fair enough, I am also slowly getting things ready. But I am also flying on a bit of faith for the moment.
I do not think we can organize and change the political and economic system at this moment.
Maybe we can when things begin to really fall apart and people are looking to change things. But at this moment, I'm simply working on things I can control. Learning skills. Learning how to grow food.
I bought this book, you may find helpful.
But realistically, what do you think can be done to get us to alter course before disaster comes ? I am not able to come up with much myself on that topic.
As an individual it’s a lot of hard work. Just veggies, you can, if you have fertile soil and a good water supply, feed yourself on roughly three acres. The biggest problem with that type of farming are grains and livestock.
If, for example, you decided to raise swine, you may be able to “trade “ pork for grains and/or silage.
This and a couple of other of Abagail Ghering’s books are an excellent introduction:
Always always have a cash emergency fund. Read and practice personal finance first, even if your job is paying well you have to know how to really manage money and actually prepare for retirement and old age.
The “Dad, How Do I?” YouTube channel is amazing for learning self sufficiency.Dad
I like the book “Back to Basics” about skills everyone should know. Limited-time deal: Back to Basics: A Complete Guide to Traditional Skills (Back to Basics Guides
Learn to make soap, its a little tricky to learn the consistencies and requires practice. However you can make the lye from white wood ash stepped in a water barrel, and the rest is rendered animal fat. (Or plant oil if you want liquid soap.) See Foxfire vol1 pg 151ish
Salt is used for scrubbing things. Salt to scrub pans, your outhouse, your whatever. Salt kills germs, is mildly abrasive, and easily rinses away. You mix it with a bit of water until it becomes paste-like and scrub away.
If you really want to go for the gold, learn how to distill and you can make your own alcohol and spirts.
For anyone interested, the Foxfire book series is a great series of how to make stuff, survive and live from the old timers in Appalachia. A prof and his students went and gleaned all their old knowledge back in the day and recorded it as the Foxfire series.
One Yard Wonders by Patricia Hoskins
One-Yard Wonders: 101 Sewing Projects; Look How Much You Can Make with Just One Yard of Fabric! https://www.amazon.com/dp/1603424490/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_KGAYG1FHF16AN3WNZFMX
I'd really recommend picking up a copy of this book.
The author walks through the entire process of building a house, step-by-step. He very clearly lays out the different options and what tradeoffs come with them. Most importantly he comes at it from the lens of being cost-effective and easy ways to save money in the process. Even if you don't end up being your own GC, it'll really help you understand how to control costs.
I'd recommend reading this book. It basically lays out all the steps to building a home, what the options and tradeoffs are, and the best way to save money if you decide to be your own contractor.
I agree on hard copies. No equipment needed, and durable enough to be passed on to others. My favorite is “Back to Basics”, by Readers Difest.
This book is like the homestead bible!
Back to Basics: A Complete Guide to Traditional Skills (Back to Basics Guides) https://www.amazon.com/dp/1629143693/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_5-klFbAQAYCGC
Such a great resource for so many things!!
It's not necessarily a survival guide but this has been a staple in my library for basic stuff and its a great easy read. https://www.amazon.com/Back-Basics-Complete-Traditional-Skills/dp/1629143693/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_14_t_0?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=JRA6ZK4QFMRCW0KAB1KE
I just purchased the updated and revised 4th edition earlier this year at my local Tractor Supply Co. but I never read any of the earlier versions to give a comparison. Edit: Correction, I have the 3rd edition which is available on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Back-Basics-Complete-Traditional-Skills/dp/1602392331
Between "Back to Basics" and a trusty copy of Fannie Farmer for cooking, you can cover a LOT of good ground. There are lots of great books, but those are two I can't live without. To be clear, both are about techniques and methods, not so much the theory behind it. They're fantastic reference books though.
That's definitely a loaded question and I think if you start now and expand a bit each year that gardening will become a hobby you enjoy, which makes the time spent tending to it rewarding. If you have raised beds, some trellises to grow vertical, a seed starting room. Inside and save your seeds you can really maximize productivity while gradually decreasing your cost over time. Here is a neat book on mini farming that you might get some good stuff out of. A lot can also be done overwinter if you build a greenhouse or cold frame which allows for multiple crops in the same soil through the year.
https://www.amazon.ca/Mini-Farming-Self-Sufficiency-Brett-Markham/dp/1602399840
I'm pretty sure I got it at Wal-Mart. It's this one: The Mindfulness Colouring Book vol. 2 It's about the size of a small paperback, but thinner.
One Man's Wilderness by Sam Keith and Richard Proenneke is an absolute classic.
Indian Creek Chronicles by Pete Fromm is another of my favorites.
Reminds me of the trestle table in <em>Back to Basics</em> which is kind of like this table.
Here is a book that is AWESOME and cheaper.
Oh man, I love vests and sweater vests. My son is so lucky I didn't put him in them all the time.
I don't sew very much, so I can't be of a huge amount of help, but I do love the Monkey Butt Pants. There is a good pattern for them available in a book called One Yard Wonders: 101 Sewing Projects. I only recommend the book because I have it; there are several other patterns in it for babies and toddlers I think you'd find something neat in there.
The other thing I really like, and I only ever bought it but I know it can be made, are shirts with attached capes. For babies they're not sewn on but attached with hook-and-loop tape. (I'd still wait on something like that until he's old enough to sit up on his own at least, but man they are cute.)
Oh, and honestly, my boy is pretty much like my girls. But he is cuddly and sometimes quite clingy. Much more affectionate than any of my daughters (I had four girls before him). It just gets a little frustrating sometimes when he does some crazy thing like climb the back of the couch and jump off and I have to listen to people saying it's because he has a penis and not because he was aping his older sister.
I don't know my model number by heart either... Hm youtube videos have helped me loads too! And books! I got this one and it's proven quite helpful and fun. Maybe you could get one on quilts if that's what you wish to do?