Create the nostalgic heirloom quilts you've always dreamed of! This follow-up to the popular Link to the '30s offers 10 authentic patterns from the 1930s. True to the era, with intricate hand-quilting patterns incorporated into every project, the quilts are nothing less than exquisite. You'll learn a variety of techniques as you feature the reproduction fabric you love in quilts to be treasured for generations.
The immensely popular blogger behind Little House Living provides a timeless and “heartwarming guide to modern homesteading” (BookPage) that will inspire you to live your life simply and frugally—perfect for fans of The Pioneer Woman and The Hands-On Home. Shortly after getting married, Merissa Alink and her husband found themselves with nothing in their pantry but a package of spaghetti and some breadcrumbs. Their life had seemingly hit rock bottom, and it was only after a touching act of charity that they were able to get back on their feet again. Inspired by this gesture of kindness as well as the beloved Little House on the Prairie books, Merissa was determined to live an entirely made-from-scratch life, and as a result, she rescued her household budget—saving thousands of dollars a year. Now, she reveals the powerful and moving lessons she’s learned after years of homesteading, homemaking, and cooking from scratch. Filled with charm, practical advice, and gorgeous full-color photographs, Merissa shares everything from tips on budgeting to natural, easy-to-make recipes for taco seasoning mix, sunscreen, lemon poppy hand scrub, furniture polish, and much more. Inviting and charming, Little House Living is the epitome of heartland warmth and prairie inspiration.
Why philosophers have advocated simple living for 2,500 years—and why we ignore them at our peril From Socrates to Thoreau, most philosophers, moralists, and religious leaders have seen frugality as a virtue and have associated simple living with wisdom, integrity, and happiness. But why? And are they right? Is a taste for luxury fundamentally misguided? If one has the means to be a spendthrift, is it foolish or reprehensible to be extravagant? In this book, Emrys Westacott examines why, for more than two millennia, so many philosophers and people with a reputation for wisdom have been advocating frugality and simple living as the key to the good life. He also looks at why most people have ignored them, but argues that, in a world facing environmental crisis, it may finally be time to listen to the advocates of a simpler way of life. The Wisdom of Frugality explores what simplicity means, why it's supposed to make us better and happier, and why, despite its benefits, it has always been such a hard sell. The book looks not only at the arguments in favor of living frugally and simply, but also at the case that can be made for luxury and extravagance, including the idea that modern economies require lots of getting and spending. A philosophically informed reflection rather than a polemic, The Wisdom of Frugality ultimately argues that we will be better off—as individuals and as a society—if we move away from the materialistic individualism that currently rules.
This updated edition shows how to combine economy with elegance. With 170 recipes from soups to main courses and desserts, this book aims to show how to make the most of your cooking, and that budget buying and cooking can be fun.
Some people are lucky enough to own beautiful heirloom quilts that were passed down through the family. The rest of us have to be content with making those eye-popping quilts ourselves! Now we can, with this fantastic collection of nine authentic 1930s patterns made using reproduction fabric. The projects feature a range of skill levels and techniques and are ideal for showcasing your talent and your fabric collection.
What if the door is open and we can leave any time we like? We will each spend an average of 87,000 hours at work before we die. We will spend another 5,000 getting to and from work. And we will spend countless more preparing for, worrying about and recovering after work. Most of us hate our jobs, so why do we insist on grinding away only to be rewarded with stress, debt, isolation and general unhappiness? Where does our commitment to these traps come from? In I’m Out: How to Make an Exit, Robert Wringham examines these questions and more, showing us how, if we are daring enough to make the attempt, we can take control of our fate and say goodbye to a lifetime of meaningless drudgery.
Bigger, Fancier, and more cutthorat than ever! When Freeman Hall left The Big Fancy to pursue his screenwriting dreams, he thought the horrors of working in a handbag department were finally over. But instead of fame and fortune, he found himself stuck behind a wall of script-killing rewrites, unable to make a living. In Return to the Big Fancy, Freeman shares his wildly entertaining journey back through the fiery gates of Retail Hell. He thought he had seen it all in his day, but with the bar set higher than ever before, employees are now graciously bowing before Corporate as they climb over fellow salespeople, and even friends, to earn enough transactions and commissions to actually survive. As he learns more of the wretchedness that has befallen the sales floor, he realizes that The Big Fancy has its customers and its employees on a short leash. But leave it to Freeman and the threat of disappearing commissions to rally the retail slaves and show Corporate who's really in charge!
Feel like you’re trying to dig out from under a mountain of debt without a shovel? Tired of working your tail off just to break even? Is the high cost of living taking all the joy out of life? Unless you’re one of the top two percent of wealthiest Americans, all of the above should sound painfully familiar. While they’re trying to decide between the ski lodge in Telluride and the Tuscan villa, for the rest of us, it’s an endless litany of corporate lay-offs, stagnant wages, crushing credit card debt, skyrocketing medical costs, exorbitant utility bills, the high cost of higher education.... And they call this “the good life.” Is there a better way to live? Can you get what you need and what you want without killing yourself to get it? “Absolutely,” says frugal-living guru Deborah Taylor-Hough, and in Frugal Living For Dummies, she shows you how. In this warmhearted guide to living the good life on less, Deborah shows you how to live within your means and enjoy doing it. Among other things, she shows you how to: Eat like a king on a peasant’s budget Take the sting out of gift-giving Dress well on a shoestring Save big bucks on family expenses Slash household expenses Save on medical expenses Involve the whole family in saving money Save more for the things you want From basement to attic, cradle to grave, Frugal Living For Dummies covers all areas of life with common sense advice and guidance on: Working with your partner to achieve financial goals Going to the grocery without being taken to the cleaners Quick and thrifty cooking techniques Providing kids the basics on a tight budget Putting kids through school without going broke Looking good and feeling good on a tight budget Frugal holiday fun year round Saving money around the house and driveway Finding quality in pre-owned merchandise Packed with tried-and-true techniques for cutting costs and stopping the insanity, Frugal Living For Dummies is the ultimate financial survival guide for the rest of us.
Not Sure What the Future Holds? No Problem. It's hard not to be worried about the future, especially if you just lost your job, are trying to plan your career, or are suddenly missing thousands of dollars from your retirement account. In Optionality, finance journalist Richard Meadows lays out a guide for not only becoming resilient to shocks, but positioning yourself to profit from an unpredictable world. Meadows takes us on a journey from quitting his office job at age 25, to lounging on tropical beaches living the early retirement dream, to finding and adopting an ancient philosophy for systematically pursuing the good life. Learn how to: • Find investment opportunities with open-ended upside, and maximise the chances of a 'moonshot' success • Make life-changing choices under conditions of uncertainty • Achieve the kind of financial freedom that lets you live life on your own terms • Protect against disaster, build support networks, and create a safety buffer of resilience in every area of life • Develop a systems approach to making your own luck Optionality is the key to navigating an uncertain world. In this entertaining and insightful debut, Meadows delivers a timely message: optionality has never been so valuable, and only those who have it will survive and thrive.
Table of Contents Frugal Living Chapter 1: Introduction to Frugal Living Frugal Living as a Choice Frugality as a State of Mind Living Frugally Doesn’t Mean Leaving the Fun Chapter 2: What the Great Depression Has Taught Us Chapter 3: Today’s Lifestyle: Mindless and Consumerist Chapter 4: How Society Has Conditioned Our Current Lifestyles Chapter 5: Small House Living Saying NO To Expensive Home Loans Other Benefits of Small House Living Conclusion Author Bio Publisher Introduction to Frugal Living What comes into your mind when you first hear about frugal living? You may be one of the many people who are likely to utter the words such as cheap lifestyle, miserable life, boring, or unhappy life. However, frugal living does not mean any of those words. It is not a miserable way of life because it is a choice in the first place because no one ever chooses to live a miserable life. More so, it is not boring considering the number of meaningful activities one could engage in when living in frugality. And more than that, frugal living does not mean having an unhappy life because it only means finding happiness beyond what money could offer. Surely, money allows you to buy the things you need, or maybe gain significant experiences. However, with the consumerist lifestyle that most people have, there is a greater tendency to consume more, and spend for what is useless in life. Most people do not even realize that there is an abundance of ways to get to experience what they want in life. Instead, they go for expensive materials and buy those with big brand names, or get a luxury vacation package, and then show it off for others to see because it is what has been taught to them. When we talk about frugal living, we are dealing with a free lifestyle. It also means untying from a societally controlled lifestyle, which is the root of many of the pressing issues today. With the overly mindless consumption and consumerist lifestyle that most people have, we could say that the world desperately needs to learn the principles of frugal living. The proof of this frantic need for change is seen every day, when you see people drive to work in their single-occupied SUVs, whizz at the sight of beers and pack of cigarettes that minimum wage workers feast on during the day, or the group of youth holding their smartphones barely talking to each other. Regardless of your family’s income levels, no one is immune to mindless consumption and no one is exempted from rejecting frugality. Most people fail to pursue frugal living, even at the micro and macro levels. The United States economy is falling at the pit of debt, which is thrice the GNP of Japan, yet the country continues to spend more. And for the information of everybody, Japan has the world’s third largest economy. That makes it so unbelievable how we confidently spend money, while also watching a handful of European countries worry about debt and everything combined. And it is not so surprising that this consumerist behavior reflects the spending behavior of most of its people. Fortunately, at present, there is a growing return to frugal living, given the condition and the aftermath of the Great Recession. The unemployment rates serve as a wake-up call for proper execution of our financial responsibilities.
