Tag: living

Living Well on Practically Nothing

Buy at Amazon

I have mixed feeling about the book Living Well on Practically Nothing.

I did get my money’s worth in ideas, but a lot of this was rehash of things I have seen before. I really expected a lot out of this book, so it may have been my expectations where too high, but I felt it could have been a little shorter and left out some of the “fluff”.

Some of the “disaster proof” jobs are things a lot of us do now to earn spare money.

I did learn some things, but most of it was good common sense, if you are familiar with using your hands, solving problems, and “thinking outside the box” when necessary, then you may not find this book useful. But if your new to disaster preparedness, and are uncomfortable doing things yourself, then this book will probably open your eyes to other ways of doing things.

I would not hesitate to do many/most of the things suggested in this book in the applicable situations, but my wife would probably rather die than eat in some of the ways suggested.

I find the book useful to start the conversation, and get her to realize there are other alternatives, and to help me realize, that not everyone shares my lack of food inhibition.

February 6, 2018
The Big Book of Self Reliant Living

Buy at Amazon

I love having big reference books like this laying around. I spend many enjoyable hours thumbing through them to get ideas. When I have a problem and time is an issue, having research materials like this book save me time by allowing me to go right to the solution.

The Big Book of Self Reliant Living is a collection of older material, much like the Storey guides, but I do find it useful, and am glad it is in my library.

The only thing I have to say about this book is that is is a BIG book of self reliant living. This book crams so much information that it can not go into too much detail in any particular area.

Some people may be turned off by this wide but narrow approach, but frankly that’s my lifestyle – I know a little about a lot, and a lot about a little so I find that this book gives me what I need to get started – plus I have a lot of more specialist types books that can help me dig deeper when this one just doesn’t have the depth on a subject that I need.

January 22, 2018
Possum Living

Buy at Amazon

After being out of print for decades, Possum Living: How to Live Well Without a Job and (Almost) No Money is being reissued with an afterword by an older and wiser Dolly Freed.

In the late seventies, at the age of eighteen and with a seventh-grade education, Dolly Freed wrote Possum Livingabout the five years she and her father lived off the land on a half-acre lot outside of Philadelphia. At the time of its publication in 1978, Possum Living became an instant classic, known for its plucky narration and no-nonsense practical advice on how to quit the rat race and live frugally. In her delightful, straightforward, and irreverent style, Freed guides readers on how to buy and maintain a home, dress well, cope with the law, stay healthy, save money, and be lazy, proud, miserly, and honest, all while enjoying leisure and keeping up a middle-class façade.

Thirty years later, Freed’s philosophy is world-renowned andPossum Living remains as fascinating, inspirational, and pertinent as it was upon its original publication. This updated edition includes new reflections, insights, and life lessons from an older and wiser Dolly Freed, whose knowledge of how to live like a possum has given her financial security and the confidence to try new ventures.

February 11, 2016