Old-Fashioned Skills for Grandkids
Keep about $150–$350 a year as a family
Keep about $150–$350 a year as a family — while teaching your grandchildren skills they will keep for life.
Most grandparent books give you a list of activities. This book gives you something better: a system. Chapter 1 hands you the visit plan — the 2-hour rhythm (arrive → one skill → snack you made together → story), the weekend plan, and the "boredom box" shelf that turns "I'm bored" into "I made this." Every visit teaches one real skill without ever feeling like school.
Here's the honest money part, up front
The savings belong to the whole family — you, the parents, and the child — and every number is shown with its arithmetic. Six clothing mends a year at about $12 a replacement shirt = about $70. A windowsill herb pot and a few tomato plants = about $90 of herbs and tomatoes. Two small repairs instead of replacements = about $50. Five homemade gifts instead of $15 store gifts = about $75. Six batches of home baking instead of bought treats = about $50. Total: about $335 a year. So the range is about $150 to $350 a year as a family. Every price is a 2026 estimate. Nothing is guaranteed.
The difference: priced in pocket money, for the child's eyes
"This mended shirt saved $15." "These tomatoes are $3 a bag at the store." "This muffin cost 35 cents to make — the bakery charges $3." And Chapter 8 teaches what skill books always skip: HOW to teach small hands — the 3-step loop (show once slowly, guide hands-over-hands once, then hands in your lap while they try), praising effort instead of outcome, and the "mistake of the day" ritual that makes failure safe.
Inside this manual (8 chapters)
- The Visit Plan — the 2-hour plan, the weekend plan, the boredom box shelf
- Kitchen Skills — measuring, stirring, no-heat and supervised-heat baking
- Mending & Sewing Basics — buttons, hems, patches, the running stitch
- Growing Something — from one windowsill pot to a garden row
- Simple Wood & Repair Skills — sanding, gluing, a birdhouse the child built
- Money Skills — the SAVE / SPEND / SHARE jars, pricing against the store
- Gift-Making — the cookie-mix jar, the sewn sachet, the grown gift
- How to Teach Small Hands — the 3-step teaching loop, by age
Safety first
Every skill chapter opens with its age gate — who may do what, what the adult's hands do, what the child's hands do. The adult handles all heat, sharp knives, and hot glue — always, at every age.
What you get
- Instant PDF plus a reflowable EPUB for your e-reader
- The age-gate chart, printable visit-plan templates, shopping list with 2026 prices
- Secure checkout via Gumroad with a 7-day money-back guarantee
The honest note
Savings figures are approximate ranges explained within the book. Actual results vary with household, habits, prices and location. Nothing here is guaranteed.
The Backyard Forager's Manual
Keep about $100–$250 a year on groceries
Keep about $100–$250 a year on groceries — with food that grows free in your own yard.
Your lawn is growing dinner right now. Dandelion greens. Wild berries on the fence line. Nuts dropping from the trees on your street. This book turns your yard into a pantry — starting with the safest ground there is: the ground you already know.
Here's the honest money part, up front
Every number is shown with its arithmetic, every price a 2026 estimate. Wild greens replace about 8 bags of $5 store greens = about $40 a year. Summer berries — 20 pints at $4–$5 a pint = about $80–$100 a year. Fall nuts — 5 pounds at $10–$12 a pound shelled = about $50–$60 a year. One good giant puffball find = about $20–$40 in a good year. Drying and freezing your harvest saves about $20 more. Total: about $215 a year. So the range is about $100 to $250 a year on groceries. Nothing is guaranteed. A small yard in a poor berry year lands near the low end — and the walks themselves are free.
The difference: the poisonous twin FIRST
Most foraging books show you the pretty plant. This one leads every plant profile with its dangerous lookalike — then gives you the 3-point difference test that tells them apart in the field. Ten plants, ten twins, one page each — plus printable ID checklist cards and a one-page lookalike table that folds into your pocket.
Inside this manual (7 chapters)
- The 100% Rule — the 7-step ID workflow before a single leaf is picked
- Your Yard Map — the five-zone yard map, the no-spray promise, the harvest calendar
- Wild Greens — Dandelion, Lambsquarters, Plantain, Chickweed, lookalike-first
- Summer Berries — Blackberry, Raspberry, Elderberry, with the cooked-berry warning
- Nuts & Seeds — Acorns, Walnuts, Hickory, with leaching and curing steps
- The One Safe Mushroom — Giant Puffball only, the mandatory cut-in-half test
- Keeping What You Gather — drying, freezing, and labeling
Safety first
The 100% rule is absolute — if you are not 100% sure what a plant is, you do not eat it. This book teaches ONE mushroom species and says plainly why. Foraging guidance only — not medical or nutrition advice.
What you get
- Instant PDF plus a reflowable EPUB for your e-reader
- Printable ID checklist cards, the lookalike quick-reference table, the seasonal harvest calendar
- Secure checkout via Gumroad with a 7-day money-back guarantee
The honest note
Savings figures are approximate ranges explained within the book. Actual results vary with household, habits, prices and location. Nothing here is guaranteed.
The Seed Saver's Manual
Keep about $100–$250 a year on seeds and seedlings
Keep about $100–$250 a year on seeds and seedlings — with seeds your own garden already grew.
Every spring you buy it all again. Fifteen packets at $4 each. A dozen seedlings at $4.50 each. Then in the fall you throw away the seeds your plants made — and next spring you buy it all over again. This book breaks that loop, the old-fashioned way: save your own seed, store it in paper envelopes, test it every spring, and start your own seedlings.
Here's the honest money part, up front
Every number is shown with its arithmetic, every price a 2026 estimate. About 15 packets a year at about $4 = about $60. About 12 seedlings at about $4.50 = about $54. The buying habit: about $114 a year. The saving habit: paper envelopes and a marker — about $5 a year. So the range is about $100 to $250 a year on seeds and seedlings. Nothing is guaranteed. Year one you still buy starter seed; full savings begin in year two. A small garden that saves only the easy crops lands near the low end — and the seeds themselves are free.
The difference: germination testing as a complete system
Ten seeds on a damp paper towel. Count at day 7, decide at day 14. Seven or more sprouts: plant normal. Five or six: sow double. Under five: toss it. Dead seed is the #1 seed-saving failure — this system ends it.
Inside this manual (7 chapters)
- The True Seed Bill — the pencil-and-paper math of what you really spend every spring
- Save These, Buy Those Fresh — the easy list and the honest list, the F1 rule
- Collecting and Cleaning — the wet method for tomatoes and peppers, the dry method for beans, peas, lettuce
- Drying Done Right — the snap test, the mold enemy, silica insurance
- The Envelope System — one paper envelope per variety, cool-dark-dry storage, the 3-year rotation
- The Germination Test — the 10-seed system, the scoring, the retest calendar, printable log sheets
- Starting Saved Seeds and Planning Next Year's Garden
Safety
Save seed only from plants you grew yourself from known seed — never from ornamental plants or mystery volunteers. Moldy seed goes in the trash, every time.
What you get
- Instant PDF plus a reflowable EPUB for your e-reader
- Printable germination test log sheets, the storage chart by vegetable, the seed math worksheet
- Secure checkout via Gumroad with a 7-day money-back guarantee
The honest note
Savings figures are approximate ranges explained within the book. Actual results vary with household, habits, prices and location. Nothing here is guaranteed.
The Rainwater & Well Water Manual
Keep about $150–$400 a year on water
Keep about $150–$400 a year on water — with the honest math no other rainwater book shows you.
Most rain-barrel guides skip the payback. They show you a pretty barrel and a vague promise. They never show the roof math, the real gallons, or the months until the system covers its cost. This book does the opposite. Chapter 1 puts your true water-bill math on one worksheet: your price per 1,000 gallons (water + sewer together), your roof's free gallons (1 inch of rain on 1,000 square feet is about 600 gallons), and the payback timeline — barrels cover their cost over a few summers, a tank system in two to three years. Every number is checkable. Nothing is guaranteed.
Here's the honest money part, up front
A family that displaces 25,000 gallons of summer garden-and-lawn watering at $5.80 per thousand keeps about $150 a year. A bigger yard at higher town rates displaces 60,000 gallons and keeps about $400. A rain barrel setup costs $80 to $150 built yourself; a 275-gallon tank system costs $300 to $600. And the book says plainly when rain barrels do NOT win: near-zero rainfall, very cheap town water, or no yard to water. If this book is not your answer, Chapter 1 tells you before you spend a dollar.
The difference: this book also covers the water nobody talks about
Chapter 5 draws the drinking-water line in ink — roof water is not drinking water without proper filtration, disinfection, and lab testing, and a $2,000 treatment system to save $6 of town drinking water a year never pays back. Chapter 6 teaches well owners the three DIY checks that prevent most $500 panic calls: reading the pressure gauge, the 2-minute tank air-charge test, and the sediment filter swap — with the pro line clearly marked (anything electrical, anything down the well). Chapter 7 builds the 3-day outage water plan: stored gallons, the bathtub bladder, the bucket-flush method, and the hand-pump option for well owners.
Inside this manual (7 chapters)
- Your Water Bill, Decoded — The Honest Math — reading the meter, the three-number bill math, the 600-gallon roof rule, your payback timeline, and when rain barrels do NOT win
- Rain Barrels Done Right — food-grade barrels only, the first-flush diverter, screens on every opening, the overflow plan, winterizing so ice never splits a barrel
- Bigger Harvesting — Gutters, Tanks, and Overflow — the 275-gallon tote system, gutter and leaf-filter prep, the ton-of-water safety rules, gravity vs. small pump, overflow planned before the first rain
- Using It Well — Where Each Gallon Fits — garden first, lawn second (the deep-watering trick), car and cleaning, bucket-flushing the toilet, and what never to use rainwater for
- Drinking-Water Honesty — The Treatment Chain and the Line — why clear is not clean, the filter → disinfect → lab-test chain, the $6-a-year truth about town drinking water, yearly well testing for bacteria and nitrates
- Well Basics — The Three Checks That Prevent Panic Calls — reading the pressure gauge, the 2-minute air-charge test (breaker off), the sediment filter swap schedule, and the pro line in ink
- The Outage-Proof Water Plan — the 3-day kit, what to fill before the storm, the bucket-flush method, rationing, the hand pump and generator options for well owners
Honest guidance, safety first
This is a water manual with safety as its spine. Rainwater is not drinking water — the book says so on page one and repeats it in every chapter where it matters. Every container stays covered and screened against mosquitoes. Well pump wiring, the pressure switch box, and anything down the well are marked as professional-only work throughout. Shock chlorination is given only as "the way your health department says." This book gives water-system guidance, not medical, legal, or financial advice. The savings figures are worked examples from the book's own chapters — about $150–$400 a year — written as about-ranges with the arithmetic shown, never as a guarantee. Your roof, your rainfall, your bill, your yard: your numbers will differ. The back-matter worksheet lets you recompute everything with your own bills.
What you get
- The complete 7-chapter manual — instant PDF (49 pages, large readable type) plus a reflowable EPUB3 for your e-reader
- The gallon math worksheet — your roof × your rainfall × your bill rate = your savings
- The printable troubleshooting table, maintenance schedule, and shopping list with 2026 estimated prices
- The 3-day outage water plan — the kit list, the before-the-storm checklist, the bucket-flush method
- First-7-days action plan, quick-start summary, full index
Who it's for
- Homeowners tired of paying to water the lawn and garden with town water
- Anyone with a roof, a downspout, and a garden — barrels to full tank systems
- Well owners who want the simple checks that prevent $500 service calls
- Families who want water security when the power or the town supply fails
The honest note — put this near the buy button
This is a rainwater and well-water manual, not medical, legal, or financial advice. The savings figures are worked examples from the book's own chapters — about $150–$400 a year — written as about-ranges with the arithmetic shown, never as a guarantee. Rain barrels cover their cost over a few summers, not one; the book's Chapter 2 shows the exact math. Rainwater from your roof is not drinking water — this book does not teach you to drink it. Well pump electrical work and anything down the well must be done by a professional. Your roof, your rainfall, your bill: your numbers will differ. Instant access — your PDF and EPUB are emailed within seconds of checkout. Read on any phone, tablet, computer or e-reader, or print at home. 7-day money-back guarantee.
— Alexander Kustorez
The Wood Heat Home Manual
Keep about $800–$1,800 a year on heating
Keep about $800–$1,800 a year on heating — with the honest math no other wood-heat book shows you.
Most wood-heat advice skips the real costs. It skips the $2,000–$5,000 stove and chimney install. It skips the yearly sweep. Then it prints a pretty savings number that is not true. This book does the opposite. Chapter 1 puts the true heat math on one table: heating oil at about $5.10 a gallon (the EIA's 2026 forecast) costs about $43 per million BTUs of heat; bought cordwood at $300 a cord costs about $21. A family that moves 500 gallons' worth of oil heat to 4 cords of wood stops buying $2,550 of oil, spends $1,450 on wood and the yearly sweep, and keeps about $1,100 a year. Every number is checkable. Nothing is guaranteed.
Here's the honest money part, up front
Year one, your savings pay for the install — stove, chimney or liner, and professional installation run $2,000 to $5,000 or more (Angi's 2026 national average is about $2,509). Most families break even in year two or three. From then on, about $800 to $1,800 a year stays in your pocket. And the book says plainly when wood heat does NOT win: cheap piped natural gas beats wood on fuel cost, mild climates may never pay back the install, and ambiance-only fires save nothing. If this book is not your answer, Chapter 1 tells you before you spend a dollar.
The difference: safety is the product
This book was written around the three rules that keep wood heat from hurting you — a chimney cleaned and inspected every year, carbon monoxide alarms outside every sleeping area and on every floor, and never burning treated, painted, or stained wood. Clearance numbers are given as common NFPA-211-based code figures with "check your local code and your stove's manual" throughout. Every risky step carries its warning before the step, not after.
Inside this manual (9 chapters)
- Is Wood Heat Right for You? — The Honest Math — the cost-per-million-BTU table (oil, propane, electric, wood, natural gas), when wood wins and when it does NOT, the year-one vs year-three payback timeline, and the honest labor count
- Choose and Place Your Stove — EPA-certified stoves, sizing to your space (slightly small beats slightly big), placement for heat flow, used-stove checks, permits and the insurance call
- The Chimney and Flue — Set Up Safe — the 36-inch / 18-inch clearance numbers, ventilated heat shields done exactly right, CO alarm placement rules, what the pro's flue install must include, the stovepipe thermometer
- Wood: Buying, Scrounging, and Seasoning — the $20–$30 moisture meter (the highest-ROI tool), the 20%-or-less target, stacking for airflow, reading pallet stamps (HT yes, MB never), free wood from storms and tree services, honest hour counts
- The Daily Burn Routine — the top-down fire start, the 20-minute smoke check, reloading on coals, banking the overnight burn without smoldering, the morning restart
- Creosote Control and Chimney Care — the daily hot-burn habit that keeps the flue clean, reading your smoke, the monthly mirror check (1/8 inch means sweep now), the yearly pro sweep, what to do if a chimney fire happens
- Ash, Maintenance, and the Yearly Schedule — the metal-can-twice-a-week ash routine, the ash-and-newspaper glass trick, gasket and firebrick checks, the fall/monthly/weekly/spring calendar
- When Something Goes Wrong — Troubleshooting — the symptom-to-cause-to-one-fix table (smoky room, dying fire, poor draft, black glass, cold house), plus the deeper draft diagnosis
- Heating Smarter — Move the Heat Through Your House — zone heating, doorway fans, ceiling fans in winter reverse, backup heat as an honest partner, sealing the leaks
Honest guidance, safety first
Clearances, CO alarm placement, sweeping frequency, wood moisture, the never-burn list, and ash handling were verified against NFPA 211 materials, the U.S. EPA Burn Wise program, the Chimney Safety Institute of America, and fire-marshal guidance before a word was written — the source list lives in the book's notes. Where a number could not be verified, the book says "check your stove's manual and local code" instead of printing it. This book gives heating guidance, not medical, legal, or financial advice. The chimney work is professional work — the book teaches you what the pro must do so you can check it, not how to do it yourself. The savings figures are worked examples from the book's own chapters — about $800–$1,800 a year — written as about-ranges with the arithmetic shown, never as a guarantee. Your household, your fuel prices, your winter, your wood costs: your numbers will differ. The back-matter worksheet lets you recompute everything with your own bills.
What you get
- The complete 9-chapter manual — instant PDF (73 pages, large readable type) plus a reflowable EPUB3 for your e-reader
- The true heat-math tables — cost per million BTUs by fuel, and the year-one vs year-three payback timeline
- The creosote-control burn routine — the daily and monthly habits that keep the flue clean between sweeps
- The printable troubleshooting table, chimney and CO safety checklist, and yearly maintenance schedule
- The wood math worksheet — run the savings with your own bills and your own wood prices
- Shopping list with 2026 estimated prices, first-7-days action plan, quick-start summary, full index
Who it's for
- Homeowners heating with oil, propane, or electric baseboard who want a smaller winter bill
- Anyone considering a wood stove who wants the honest install math before spending
- Current wood-stove owners who want a cleaner flue, a better burn routine, and fewer problems
- Readers willing to do the safety routine — yearly sweep, CO alarms, dry wood only
The honest note — put this near the buy button
This is a wood-heating manual, not medical, legal, or financial advice. The savings figures are worked examples from the book's own chapters — about $800–$1,800 a year — written as about-ranges with the arithmetic shown, never as a guarantee. Year one costs more (stove, chimney, and professional install run $2,000–$5,000 or more); the book says so on page one. Wood heat does not beat cheap natural gas and may not pay back in mild climates — Chapter 1 says so plainly. The flue work must be done by a professional; this book does not teach DIY chimney installation. Your household, your prices: your numbers will differ. Instant access — your PDF and EPUB are emailed within seconds of checkout. Read on any phone, tablet, computer or e-reader, or print at home. 7-day money-back guarantee.
— Alexander Kustorez
The Old-Fashioned Bread Baking Manual
Keep about $200–$400 a year on bread
Keep about $200–$400 a year on bread — with the honest math no other bread book shows you.
Most bread books hide the real cost of a loaf. They skip the oven's electric bill. They skip the yeast and the salt. Then they print a pretty number that is not true. This book does the opposite. Chapter 1 puts the true loaf math on one table: your loaf costs about $1.20, every ingredient counted, energy included. The store charges $3 to $5 for the same loaf. At three loaves a week, you keep about $280 to $430 a year. Every number is checkable. Nothing is guaranteed.
Here's the honest money part, up front
In 2026, at a normal store: a sandwich loaf about $3 (store brand) to $5 (name brand). Three loaves a week = 156 loaves a year = about $470 to $780 a year. Your homemade loaf: flour about $0.75, yeast about $0.15, salt and sugar about $0.10, oven energy about $0.20 — about $1.20 a loaf, about $190 a year. Store mid-price $624 minus homemade $190 = about $430 kept. The worked example in the book lands at about $200–$400 kept, so it holds for cheap-store-bread buyers too. Rolls, buns, and pizza dough add another $100 a year you stop spending. Year one costs about $30–$60 for a loaf pan and starter supplies; the book says so plainly.
The difference: this book was written for tired hands
The flagship loaf is an overnight no-knead method — you stir for one minute at night, time does the kneading, you bake in the morning. No ten minutes of painful kneading. Every chapter carries a low-strength alternative: the parchment sling for the heavy pot, wet hands instead of flour, the heel of the hand instead of fingers.
Inside this manual (7 chapters)
- The True Cost of a Loaf — and the Six Tools You Actually Need — the cost-per-loaf table with the energy cost included, weekly and yearly totals at 3 loaves a week, and the only six tools worth owning
- The Overnight No-Knead Everyday Loaf — the flagship: stir at night, bake in the morning, crackly crust, open crumb, built for sore hands and arthritis
- Soft Sandwich Loaves for the Whole Week — milk-and-butter pan loaves with a fine even crumb that holds a sandwich together, plus the freezer plan
- Rolls, Buns, and Pizza Dough — One Dough, Three Jobs — one master dough that becomes dinner rolls, hamburger buns, or Friday-night pizza, with garlic-knot and cinnamon-roll variations
- Whole Grain and Hearty Loaves — the honest 50/50 method (half whole wheat, half white — no bricks), the oat-topped breakfast variation, and whole wheat flour storage
- Sweet Breads and Holiday Loaves — cinnamon swirl loaf and holiday fruit loaf from one sweet master dough, plus gift-loaf scaling
- When Bread Fails — The Rescue System and the Stale-Bread Kitchen — the troubleshooting table (dense loaf, no rise, pale crust, burnt bottom, and more — each with the ONE fix), plus the zero-waste chapter: bread pudding, croutons, breadcrumbs, French toast
Honest guidance, safety first
This is a wheat-bread book — every recipe is made from wheat flour. If you cannot eat gluten, this is not your book, and it makes no gluten-free promises. Oven safety runs through every chapter: dry mitts at 450°F, middle rack set before heating, a preheated Dutch oven touched only by its handles. The book states the raw-flour rule plainly once: wash hands after handling raw flour and dough, never taste raw dough. Safety warnings sit before every risky step. This book gives bread-baking guidance, not medical or financial advice. The savings figures are worked examples from the book's own chapters — about $200–$400 a year — written as about-ranges with the arithmetic shown, never as a guarantee. Your household, your store, your oven, your prices: your numbers will differ. The back-matter worksheet lets you recompute everything with your own receipts.
What you get
- The complete 7-chapter manual — instant PDF (46 pages, large readable type) plus a reflowable EPUB3 for your e-reader
- The true loaf math table — your loaf vs the store loaf, energy cost included, with weekly and yearly totals
- The overnight no-knead flagship method with the sore-hands adaptations
- The "bread never fails" troubleshooting table, printable for the cupboard door
- The stale-bread rescue chapter — four zero-waste recipes so the savings never leak
- Substitution master table, weekly baking schedule, first-7-days plan, shopping list with 2026 estimated prices, savings worksheet, full index
Who it's for
- Home bakers tired of paying $4 a loaf at the store
- Beginners who want exact spoonfuls and minutes, not "knead until it feels right"
- Readers with sore hands, arthritis, or low strength who thought bread baking was not for them
- Anyone who wants the honest cost of a loaf — energy bill included — before they believe a savings claim
The honest note — put this near the buy button
This is a bread-baking manual, not medical or financial advice. The savings figures are worked examples from the book's own chapters — about $200–$400 a year — written as about-ranges with the arithmetic shown, never as a guarantee. Year one costs more (pan and starter supplies); the book says so on page one. This book is wheat bread only — no gluten-free promises. Your household, your prices: your numbers will differ. Instant access — your PDF and EPUB are emailed within seconds of checkout. Read on any phone, tablet, computer or e-reader, or print at home. 7-day money-back guarantee.
— Alexander Kustorez
The Home Apothecary Manual
Keep about $150–$400 a year on remedies
Keep about $150–$400 a year on everyday remedies — with the honest math no other home-remedy book shows you.
Most herbal books pretend everything is replaceable. This one does the opposite. Chapter 1 walks you shelf by shelf through your medicine cabinet and sorts every product into three columns: what a home remedy can fairly replace (teas, simple syrups, skin salves), what it can only partly replace (pain relievers, allergy pills), and what it must never replace (every prescription, ever). That honesty is the backbone of the whole book.
Here's the honest money part, up front
In 2026, at a normal drugstore: cough syrup about $11–$16 a bottle, chest rub about $6–$12 a jar, herbal tea boxes about $5 for 20 bags, skin salve about $8–$12 a tin. A typical household's yearly basket of these comfort products runs about $170 for one person, about $330 for a couple. The homemade versions — honey-onion cough syrup at about $2.50 a batch, loose-leaf teas at about 8 cents a cup, calendula salve at about $2 for two tins — cost about $40–$80 a year. The worked example in the book lands at about $155 kept for one person, about $250 for a couple, up to about $400 in a heavy cold season. Every number is checkable. Nothing is guaranteed. Year one costs about $60–$100 for jars and the starter herbs; the book says so plainly.
Inside this manual (10 chapters)
- Know the Line — Safety First, and the Cabinet Audit — the green/yellow/red sort no other book does, with a worked example of a real 7-item cabinet
- Set Up Your Apothecary Shelf — jars, labels, and the starter 10 herbs (buy store-bought and labeled; no wild foraging in this book), with the honest startup table
- Teas and Infusions — the base method plus four exact recipes: throat-coat tea, cold-season tea, sleep tea, tummy tea — every amount in spoonfuls, every steep timed
- Syrups and Honey Preparations — honey-onion cough syrup and ginger honey, with the under-12-months honey rule stated twice and a diabetes note
- Salves and Skin Preparations — calendula salve, lip balm, and oatmeal skin soak, with the 24-hour patch-test rule before the first recipe and no essential oils
- Steams, Compresses and Baths — eucalyptus steam (adults only, 3 drops, never swallowed), warm and cool compresses, the warm foot soak with the diabetes water-temperature check
- Sleep and Calm-Evening Routines — the 45-minute wind-down, the 3 a.m. rule, slow breathing for a restless mind — a routine, not a sleeping pill, with the sleep-apnea gate
- The Interaction Ledger and the Pharmacist Visit — the one-page system no other remedy book builds: every remedy plus every prescription on one page, the word-for-word ask-the-pharmacist script, and a filled-in example
- Potency, Expiry and Restocking — the sniff/color/date test, the 6–12 month rotation rule, and the one-remedy-at-a-time testing method so you learn what actually works for you
- When It Did Not Work — The Troubleshooting Table — weak tea, grainy salve, spoiled syrup, and the three questions to ask before you retry, with a hard stop at worsening symptoms
Honest guidance, safety first
A doctor-first gate opens every chapter: pregnancy and breastfeeding, children under 12, blood thinners, blood pressure and heart medicines, diabetes medicines, and ragweed-family allergies each get explicit ask-the-doctor-or-pharmacist gates. The book never diagnoses, never claims to cure or treat any disease — remedies are for minor, everyday complaints only, in "may help soothe" and "traditionally used for" language. Safety warnings sit before every risky step. This book gives home-remedy guidance, not medical or financial advice. The savings figures are worked examples from the book's own chapters — about $150–$400 a year — written as about-ranges with the arithmetic shown, never as a guarantee. Your household, your store, your prices: your numbers will differ. The back-matter worksheet lets you recompute everything with your own receipts.
What you get
- The complete 10-chapter flagship manual — instant PDF (73 pages, large readable type) plus a reflowable EPUB3 for your e-reader
- The medicine-cabinet replacement audit — green/yellow/red, with a worked example
- The interaction ledger template plus the word-for-word pharmacist script plus a filled-in example page
- The potency and expiry system — sniff/color/date test, 6–12 month rotation rule, expiry chart to pin inside your cabinet door
- Starter shopping list with 2026 estimated prices, remedy log sheets, savings worksheet with the book's worked examples, your first 7 days mapped out, full index
Who it's for
- Homeowners tired of $11 syrups and $9 rubs for every minor cold
- Beginners who want exact spoonfuls and minutes, not "a handful of herbs"
- Anyone taking daily prescriptions who wants a safe way to use home remedies alongside them
- Readers who distrust herbal books that pretend everything is replaceable
The honest note — put this near the buy button
This is a home-remedy manual, not medical or financial advice. The savings figures are worked examples from the book's own chapters — about $150–$400 a year — written as about-ranges with the arithmetic shown, never as a guarantee. Year one costs more (jars and starter herbs); the book says so on page one. Your household, your prices: your numbers will differ. Instant access — your PDF and EPUB are emailed within seconds of checkout. Read on any phone, tablet, computer or e-reader, or print at home. 7-day money-back guarantee.
— Alexander Kustorez
The Backyard Chicken Manual
Keep about $100–$300 a year on eggs
Keep about $100–$300 a year on eggs — with the honest math no other chicken book shows you.
Most chicken books say "free eggs!" and hide the coop cost. This one does the opposite. It shows you, line by line, that year one costs $400–$650 before the first egg — about $7.50 to $11 a dozen. More than store eggs. Then it shows you year two: the coop is paid for, your eggs cost about $2.56 a dozen, and against cage-free store eggs (about $3–$3.50 a dozen in 2026) four hens keep about $100 a year. In a price-spike year like 2025, when eggs hit $6.23 a dozen, the same flock keeps about $300. Every number is checkable. Nothing is guaranteed.
Here's the honest money part, up front
The low end of the promise ($100) is a normal year: 80 dozen eggs at $2.56 a dozen cost you about $205 to produce, vs about $260 for cage-free at the store, plus about $30 of free garden fertilizer. The high end ($300) is a spike year — bird flu comes back every few years, and your hens' feed bill barely moves when it does. Chapter 2 lays out year one vs year two vs year three in full tables, plus a blank worksheet so you can run it with your own store's prices. All prices are dated 2026 estimates. Your town, your feed store, your egg prices: your numbers will differ.
Inside this manual (10 chapters)
- Start Here — Rules, Hens, and Honest Costs — the town and HOA check that comes before you buy, four hens as the sweet spot, point-of-lay pullets vs chicks, the true startup table ($400–$650)
- The True Egg Math — Year One vs Year Three — the chapter nobody else writes: full line-by-line costs, the plain-egg comparison (where you lose), the cage-free comparison (where you win), the spike-year math, the Leghorn shortcut
- Build a Cheap, Strong Coop — the exact 4×4-foot plan: every board, every screw, 8 steps, $150–$250 in materials instead of a $300–$500 store coop
- Predator-Proofing on the Cheap — chicken wire keeps chickens in, not predators out: the five weak points, the $20 fixes, the apron-vs-buried-wire answer, the lock-up routine that stops midnight losses
- Chicks and Pullets — Start Safe — heat lamps burn coops down (said plainly, with the safer brooder heat plate), the full brooder steps, or skip it all with pullets
- Feeding — What Each Egg Really Costs — the quarter-pound-a-day rule, layer feed vs scratch vs scraps (the 10% rule), water, the $150-a-year feed math
- Daily and Weekly Care — the 5-minute morning and evening routines, the 20-minute weekly job, the deep-litter method that means cleaning twice a year
- Eggs — Collect, Clean, Store — salmonella safety (hands, daily collecting, prompt refrigerating), the bloom question answered simply, fridge and freezer storage
- Keep the Flock Healthy — what healthy looks like, the "off" list, the $25 first-aid kit, mites, pecking, molting — and clear "call a vet" gates throughout. This book does not diagnose.
- Seasons and Troubleshooting — Winter Eggs Without the Electric Bill — draft vs ventilation (the distinction beginners get backwards), deep litter heat, water that doesn't freeze without gadgets, the $1-a-month light math — plus summer heat survival and the full troubleshooting table
Honest guidance, safety first
Safety warnings sit before every risky step. Heat lamps are called a fire risk plainly, with the safer alternative. Egg handling follows food-safety basics: wash hands, collect daily, refrigerate promptly. The health chapter describes signs and first-aid steps but never diagnoses — "call a vet" gates are printed where they matter. This book gives chicken-keeping guidance, not veterinary or financial advice. The savings figures are worked examples from the book's own chapters — about $100–$300 a year — written as about-ranges with the arithmetic shown, never as a guarantee.
What you get
- The complete 10-chapter flagship manual — instant PDF (69 pages, A4, large readable type) plus a reflowable EPUB3 for your e-reader
- The true-egg-math chapter — year 1 vs year 2 vs year 3, line by line, with the spike-year test
- The exact 4×4 coop build plan — cut list, 8 steps, materials with 2026 prices
- The predator-proofing five-fix system and the winter-without-electricity system
- Feed math worksheet, daily, weekly and seasonal schedules, shopping list with dated prices, troubleshooting table, your first 7 days mapped out, full index
Who it's for
- Homeowners who want backyard eggs for the family and want the real costs first
- Beginners deciding between chicks and pullets
- Anyone who built (or bought) a coop and lost birds to predators or winter
- Readers tired of "free eggs!" promises with the math hidden
The honest note — put this near the buy button
This is a chicken-keeping manual, not veterinary or financial advice. The savings figures are worked examples from the book's own chapters — about $100–$300 a year — written as about-ranges with the arithmetic shown, never as a guarantee. Year one costs more than store eggs; the book says so on page one. Your flock, your prices: your numbers will differ. Instant access — your PDF and EPUB are emailed within seconds of checkout. Read on any phone, tablet, computer or e-reader, or print at home. 7-day money-back guarantee.
— Alexander Kustorez
The Safe Senior Home Manual
Keep about $1,000–$2,500 a year
Stay on your feet. Stay in your home.
Most safety advice for older adults has one answer. Buy something. A monthly alert necklace. A gadget from a TV ad. A handyman visit for a ten-minute job. The money flows out, month after month, and the loose rug is still there.
This book takes a different road. You fix the home first — room by room, in plain steps, with the safety rules printed where they matter. A fixed home beats a bought gadget almost every time. And fixing the home costs far less.
Here's the honest money part, up front
Each chapter ends with its own "What this saves you" box, and the floor of the math is about $1,005 a year: about $480 a year kept by replacing a medical-alert subscription with the free plan (phone SOS, daily check-in call, fridge medicine list), about $300 a year doing ten-minute fixes yourself instead of calling a handyman, about $150 a year skipping "senior safety" gadgets that gather dust, and about $75 a year from the LED lighting swap. The book states the promise as about $1,000–$2,500 a year — the high end covers readers who also cancel a pricey alert plan and avoid one urgent-care visit (about $100–$300 out of pocket, labeled an estimate, not a promise). Every figure is an about-range with the arithmetic shown, in 2026 prices you can recompute any time. Nothing here is guaranteed.
Inside this manual (13 chapters)
- The Home Walk-Through — the 30-minute safety audit that finds every hazard before you spend a dollar
- The Entryway — steps, rails, lighting, and the package-drop zone done right
- The Living Room — furniture layout that can't trip you, cords tamed, the chair you can get out of
- The Kitchen — everything between knee and shoulder height, burn and cut prevention, the reacher that ends climbing
- The Bathroom — grab bars that actually hold (suction cups rejected, plainly), the shower and toilet made safe
- The 3 A.M. Bathroom Trip — the most dangerous walk in your home, designed like a bridge: lit, clear, with something to hold at every step
- The Bedroom — the bed you can get out of, the nightstand that catches you, the phone within reach
- Stairs and Hallways — rails both sides, contrast on step edges, what to do when stairs win
- Lighting — the $75-a-year LED swap and motion-sensor math, room by room
- The Medical Alert Subscription Trap — the three-question need test, the free alternatives, no-contract buying rules, and the cancellation script that keeps about $480 a year
- Mobility Aids — cane and walker fitting done right, what to buy used, what never to buy
- Emergency Readiness — the bedside box, power-outage plan, the fridge list that speaks for you
- Scam-Proofing the Door — the call-back rule, the practiced "no" script, door hardware that holds, phone defenses
Honest guidance, safety first
Safety warnings sit before every risky step. Suction-cup grab bars are rejected outright — they fail, and the book says so. Mounting means studs or rated systems, or a pro for that one job. This book gives home-safety guidance, not medical or financial advice. If a fix is beyond your strength, the book tells you to get help — pride is not a safety device. The savings figures are worked examples from the book's own chapters — about $1,000–$2,500 a year — written as about-ranges with the arithmetic shown, never as a guarantee. Your home, your shops, your prices: your numbers will differ.
What you get
- The complete 13-chapter flagship manual — instant PDF (91 pages, A4, large readable type) plus a reflowable EPUB3 for your e-reader
- The room-by-room safety audit checklist — print it, walk it, fix it
- The medical-alert chapter — need test, free plan, cancellation script
- The 3 A.M. bathroom trip system — the night path, mapped and lit
- Shopping list with 2026 prices, weekly and monthly maintenance schedule, emergency contacts worksheet, and your first 7 days mapped out
Who it's for
- Anyone 65+ who plans to stay in their own home — and the family who worries about them
- Readers paying (or considering) a medical-alert subscription
- New retirees setting up a safer home on a fixed income
- Anyone who wants the calm, plain, old-fashioned version of "aging in place"
The honest note — put this near the buy button
This is a home-safety manual, not medical or financial advice. The savings figures are worked examples from the book's own chapters — about $1,000–$2,500 a year — written as about-ranges with the arithmetic shown, never as a guarantee. Your home, your needs, your prices: your numbers will differ. Instant access — your PDF and EPUB are emailed within seconds of checkout. Read on any phone, tablet, computer or e-reader, or print at home. 7-day money-back guarantee.
— Alexander Kustorez
The Senior Dog Care Manual
Keep about $450–$900 a year
Your dog is slowing down. He sleeps more. She takes the stairs one step at a time. And somehow the spending speeds up.
The groomer every few weeks. The "senior dog" treats, the special shampoos, the calming chews, the orthopedic bed, the pill pockets, the stain sprays. None of it feels optional when it's for a dog you love. But most of it has an old, plain answer that costs pennies and does the job just as well — the way dogs were cared for long before there was a product for everything.
This book is that answer: 8 chapters of gentle everyday care — brushing, baths, nails, feeding, comfort, walks, rest, and the troubles old dogs bring — all done at home, all in plain steps, all with the safety rules printed where they matter.
Here's the honest money part, up front
Each chapter ends with its own "What this saves you" box, and the boxes add up to about $520–$980 a year: home grooming instead of groomer visits (about $150–$250), homemade treats and pill pockets instead of store bags (about $110–$200), a blanket bed and DIY ramp instead of store versions (about $60–$120), brushing that replaces de-shedding treatments (about $80–$150), vinegar-and-baking-soda cleaning instead of pet sprays (about $60–$100), and small comforts done the plain way. The book states the promise as about $450–$900 a year — set below the top of the range, because no family saves the top of every chapter. Every figure is an about-range with the arithmetic shown, in 2026 prices you can recompute any time. Nothing here is guaranteed.
Inside this manual (8 chapters)
- What Old Really Means for Your Dog — what's normal, what's not, the monthly body check, and the "call the vet" list
- A Soft, Safe Home for Old Bones — the blanket bed that replaces a $100 store bed, fixing slippery floors, water close by, light in the hall
- Feeding the Older Dog, the Simple Way — plain feeding, homemade treat bits, and homemade pill pockets (with the xylitol warning first)
- Brushing — The 10 Minutes That Save You the Most — the de-shedding treatment you do yourself, paw checks, mats handled gently
- Baths and Nails at Home — the calm bath method, nail trims without fear, the vet's free first lesson
- Gentle Walks and Easy Rest — the DIY car ramp, shorter walks done right, rest that actually restores
- Common Old-Dog Troubles and What To Do — accidents without anger, night waking, smells handled the plain way
- When Ears and Eyes Fade — caring for a deaf or blind old dog: hand signals, floor-stomp calls, vanilla scent markers, the shoulder-touch hello that prevents startle bites
Honest guidance, safety first
This book covers ordinary home care only. It does not diagnose, and it does not replace your vet. The vet-first rule runs through every page: sudden blindness or deafness, not eating, trouble breathing, new fast-growing lumps — call your vet first, always. Never give your dog your own pills, and never guess a dose. The savings figures are worked examples from the book's own chapters — about $450–$900 a year across the eight chapters, written as about-ranges with the arithmetic shown, never as a guarantee. Your dog, your shops, your prices: your numbers will differ.
What you get
- The complete 8-chapter manual — instant PDF (41 pages, A4, large readable type) plus a reflowable EPUB3 for your e-reader
- The "What this saves you" box in every chapter — yearly math you can check yourself
- Homemade treat bits and pill pockets — exact recipes, with the safety notes first
- The deaf-and-blind care chapter — hand signals, scent markers, the startle-bite prevention habit
- Daily and weekly care schedules, checklists, the shopping list, and your first 7 days mapped out
Who it's for
- Anyone with a dog past seven or eight who wants to care for him well at home
- Readers tired of the groomer bill and the shelf of "senior dog" products
- 65+ owners who want gentle methods that respect stiff hands and tired backs
- Behind The Hug readers — the old dogs you already love, cared for the old way
The honest note — put this near the buy button
This is a home-care manual, not veterinary or financial advice. The savings figures are worked examples from the book's own chapters — about $450–$900 a year across the eight chapters — written as about-ranges with the arithmetic shown, never as a guarantee. When in doubt about your dog's health, your vet's word comes first. Instant access — your PDF and EPUB are emailed within seconds of checkout. Read on any phone, tablet, computer or e-reader, or print at home. 7-day money-back guarantee.
— Alexander Kustorez
The Complete Home Saving System
Keep around $2,000+ a year
Six leaks. One system. Around $2,000+ a year kept.
Most "save money" advice is a pile of disconnected tips you'll never follow — a coupon here, a gadget there, and by February it's all forgotten. A grandmother's household didn't run on tips. It ran on a system: the kitchen fed the pantry, the pantry fed the table, the cleaning had its rhythm, the seasons had their work — and the money stayed home. This book is that system, written down for today: one plain old-fashioned way of running your whole home — kitchen, cleaning, energy, water, garden and repairs — with every savings figure sourced, dated, and shown as an about-range. Not promises. Arithmetic.
Here's the honest money part, up front
The savings table is printed on page one, and here it is: about $1,500 a year of food thrown away (USDA) — the system keeps about $750–$1,450 of it. About $2,000 a year on home energy (DOE/EIA) — about $200–$400 kept. Water at $1,000–$1,300 a year (EPA) — about $150–$400 kept. Cleaning and housekeeping supplies at $877 a year (BLS) — about $100–$300 kept. A little garden and preserving, worked example — about $200–$500 a year. Basic DIY repairs at $150–$300 a callout — about $200–$600 a year kept. Add the kept columns: roughly $1,600–$3,650 a year, which the book states as around $2,000+ a year. Every figure is sourced and dated (USDA, EPA 2025, DOE/EIA, BLS 2024 — checked September 2026), the low case is shown first, and the book gives you a tracking sheet to prove your own numbers to yourself. Your home, your habits — your numbers will differ. Nothing here is guaranteed.
Inside this manual (10 chapters)
- The Kitchen — Stop Throwing Away $1,500 of Food — where the biggest leak is, and the first habits that plug it
- The Pantry That Pays — the old-fashioned pantry as a savings engine, stocked once and drawn down all year
- The 20-Minute Cleaning System — the weekly rhythm that keeps the house clean without the hundred bottles
- Energy — The Invisible Bill — where the roughly $2,000 a year goes, and the no-cost fixes that come first
- Water — Every Drop Has a Price — the EPA figures and the plain habits that cut the bill
- Grow a Little, Save a Lot — one bed, one barrel: the worked garden example at $200–$500 a year
- Keep the Harvest — preserving the old way, so nothing you grew goes to waste
- Fix It Yourself — The $150 Callout — the beginner-safe repairs that keep the callout money at home
- The Seasonal Rhythm — what each season asks of the house, in order
- Your Yearly Savings Plan — the one-page plan and the monthly tracker that turn the system into a habit
Honest guidance, proof you can check
This book shows its working. Every savings figure names its source and its date — USDA, EPA 2025, DOE/EIA, BLS 2024, all checked September 2026 — and the low case is always shown first, because honest averages beat big promises. The printable monthly savings tracker is the heart of it: fill in your own numbers and watch the system prove itself in your home, not in the book's. This is a home-keeping manual, not financial advice, and it will not replace a professional for the jobs that are truly theirs — the book says so plainly where it matters.
What you get
- The complete 10-chapter manual — instant PDF (104 pages, large readable type) plus a reflowable EPUB for your e-reader
- The one-page $2,000 Savings Table — the whole system on a single sheet, for the fridge door
- The printable monthly savings tracker — your own numbers, month by month
- The seasonal checklists — one task a season, nothing forgotten
Who it's for
- Households watching every dollar on a fixed income — and wanting a system, not tips
- Anyone who suspects their home is leaking money but can't see where
- Readers who like their advice sourced, dated, and checkable — not promised
- Beginners setting up a first home, and longtime keepers who want the old rhythm back
The honest note — put this near the buy button
This is a home-keeping manual, not financial advice. The savings figures are worked examples from the book's own chapters — roughly $1,600–$3,650 a year kept across the six leaks, stated as around $2,000+ a year — written as about-ranges with the arithmetic shown, never as a guarantee. Your home, your habits, your stores: your numbers will differ. Instant access — your PDF and EPUB are emailed within seconds of checkout. Read on any phone, tablet, computer or e-reader, or print at home. 7-day money-back guarantee.
— Alexander Kustorez
The Grandmother's Cleaning Cabinet
Keep about $200+ a year
Twenty minutes a week. No harsh fumes. A clean house from ten plain staples.
Open the cupboard under the sink and count. The glass spray, the bathroom spray, the kitchen spray, the floor cleaner, the air freshener, the softener, the stain remover — each one a few dollars, each one bought again and again, year after year. And Saturday disappears into it: the fumes, the scrubbing, the whole afternoon gone — and by Wednesday the bathroom is grimy again anyway.
A grandmother's household ran the whole house from ten plain staples and a weekly rhythm — and the house was clean. This book is that system, written down room by room: one idea that makes everything else easy, an under-$30 kit that fits in a single caddy, and a twenty-minute weekly round that stops dirt getting a head start. No harsh fumes. No hundred bottles. Nothing you have to order from anywhere special.
Here's the honest money part, up front
A year of baking soda, white vinegar, bar soap and washing soda runs about $30–$50 — call it $40 to keep the math round — against about $260 a year of shop-bought cleaners. That is about $220 kept; the book calls it around $200+ a year. Not a promise. The worked example in Chapter 8 goes further: a professional deep-clean service charges about $150–$300 a visit, so two visits a year is $300–$600 — done yourself with about $5 of soap and water, that keeps about $295–$595 a year. Every figure is an about-range with the arithmetic shown, because your stores and your habits are yours, not mine. Nothing here is guaranteed.
Inside this manual (8 chapters)
- The One Idea — the single principle the whole system rests on: a little, often, beats a lot, rarely
- Your Under-$30 Cleaning Kit — the small kit of good tools and ten plain staples that fits in one caddy and does the work for years
- The 20-Minute Weekly Rhythm — the three rules and the weekly round that keeps the whole house clean in twenty minutes
- The Kitchen Reset — the five-minute habit that keeps the heart of your home clean all week, and why the kitchen goes first
- The Bathroom, Without the Fumes — the weekly round that stops mold, soap scum and grime before they ever get a head start
- Floors, Dust & Whole-House Air — top-to-bottom order, the vacuum path, and the simple habits that keep the air fresh without plug-ins
- Laundry & the Stain-Rescue Chart — sorting that works, the old laundry ways, and the stain chart that starts with "what is it?"
- The Seasonal Deep-Clean Weekends — the spring and autumn weekends, day by day: windows, curtains, baseboards and all — the $295–$595 worked example, with the arithmetic shown
Honest guidance, safety first
The safety rules are real and they are repeated where they matter: never mix bleach with vinegar, ammonia, or any acid cleaner — the fumes can hurt your lungs. Use one cleaner at a time, rinse well before you switch, open a window while you clean, wear gloves when your hands will be wet a while, and keep every cleaner away from children and pets. When in doubt, the book's rule is soap and water. This book will not replace a professional for the jobs that are truly theirs — mold that keeps coming back, and anything beyond ordinary household cleaning, belongs to an expert, and the book says so plainly. In the book's worked comparison, the under-$30 starter kit replaces a shelf of store-bought bottles worth roughly $200+ a year — individual results vary.
What you get
- The complete 8-chapter manual — instant PDF (82 pages, A4, large readable type) plus a reflowable EPUB3 for your e-reader, with 9 interior images
- The under-$30 cleaning kit list — every tool and staple, with rough 2026 store prices
- The 20-minute weekly checklist — printable, for the fridge door
- The seasonal deep-clean calendar and the yearly calendar — one task a month, nothing forgotten
- The stain-rescue chart and the never-mix safety boxes — plain rules, printed where they matter
Who it's for
- Anyone who wants a clean home without the fumes — and without the hundred bottles
- Thrifty households tired of buying a separate product for every job in the house
- Readers past sixty who want twenty minutes a week, not a lost Saturday
- Beginners setting up a first home, and longtime keepers who want the old rhythm back
The honest note — put this near the buy button
This is a home-keeping manual, not financial or medical advice. The savings figures are worked examples from the book's own chapters — around $200+ a year on cleaners, about $295–$595 a year on the two deep-clean weekends — written as about-ranges with the arithmetic shown, never as a guarantee. Your stores, your habits, your home: your numbers will differ. Instant access — your PDF and EPUB are emailed within seconds of checkout. Read on any phone, tablet, computer or e-reader, or print at home. 7-day money-back guarantee.
— Alexander Kustorez
The Lights-Out Manual
Keep about $2,000–$4,000 a year
Keep about $2,000–$4,000 a year with calm, step-by-step outage readiness — heat, food, water and medicines, in the right order, in large print.
The lights go out at half past six on a January evening. The fridge hums into silence. The heating clicks off. The phone says 12% and the street outside is dark. And you stand in the hallway thinking the one thought nobody admits out loud: I don't actually know what to do first.
That is what this manual is for — not for preppers with bunkers, but for ordinary households, and especially for those of us past fifty, who need a calm, plain, step-by-step answer: what to do in the first ten minutes, what to do tonight, and what to have ready before it ever happens.
Here's the honest money part, up front
A single frozen pipe that bursts costs about $2,000–$5,000 to put right — plumber, water damage, the lot. One multi-day outage can take $200–$500 of food with it if you guess wrong about what's safe. A winter outage sends people to hotels at $80–$150 a night. And a generator bought in a panic is often the wrong size — a $500–$1,000 mistake. Add it up over a year of storms and outages and a prepared household keeps about $170–$330 a month — about $2,000–$4,000 a year. Every one of those numbers is shown as a range with the working beside it, because your house and your outages are yours, not mine. Nothing here is guaranteed. What the book gives you is the worksheets — the pipe map, the fridge timeline, the wattage sheet — so you measure your own numbers and bank your own savings.
Inside this manual (18 chapters in 4 parts)
- Before it happens — the first-ten-minutes drill, your home's power map, the 72-hour kit built senior-sized over four weeks (about $60–$100), water without power, food safety on the clock, light without the grid
- Heat, cool and cook — the one-warm-room strategy, safe heat without the furnace with the red-border never-list, cooking with no power (with the hay-box cooker), the generator question with the wattage worksheet you fill in BEFORE you shop, heatwave outages
- Health and safety — medicines and medical devices (the wallet card, the pharmacist's list, backup-power math), the safe-corner system that prevents night-time falls, carbon monoxide: the silent killer (the $25 detector, where it goes, what the alarm means), the call-for-help-or-ride-it-out flowchart, the neighbour network
- After — the comeback checklist (what to switch on first, plus the outage-scam warning), and your 30-day readiness plan: the whole book in four weeks for about the price of one weekly shop
Honest guidance, safety first
This book will not replace an electrician, a gas engineer, or your doctor. Generators never run indoors — never. Gas smells mean leaving the house and calling emergency services. If a medical device fails and someone feels unwell, that's a call for help, not a chapter. Every chapter ends with an honest "What This Will NOT Do" box, and the most valuable page in this manual is the one that tells you when to put the book down and call someone.
What you get
- The complete 18-chapter manual — instant PDF (240 pages, large print) plus a reflowable EPUB3 for your e-reader
- The fill-in worksheets — the pipe map, the fridge timeline, the generator wattage sheet — so the math is yours, not mine
- The 72-hour kit plan — built senior-sized over four weeks for about $60–$100
- The generator chapter — the wattage worksheet you fill in BEFORE you shop, so you never buy the wrong size
- The 30-day readiness plan — the whole book in four weeks for about the price of one weekly shop
- The comeback checklist, the outage-scam warning, the medicines wallet card
Who it's for
- Ordinary households who have stood in a dark hallway not knowing what to do first
- Readers past fifty who want calm, plain steps — not prepper bunkers
- Anyone with medicines or medical devices that need a backup-power plan
- Families who want one winter outage to cost them nothing instead of thousands
The honest note — put this near the buy button
This is an outage-readiness manual, not electrical, gas, or medical advice. The savings figures are worked examples from the book's own chapters — about $2,000–$4,000 a year — written as about-ranges with the arithmetic shown, never as a guarantee. Generators never run indoors. Gas smells mean leaving the house and calling emergency services. Your house, your outages: your numbers will differ. Most readers earn the $37 back in the first week — one fridge of food saved on the timeline covers it several times over. Instant access — your PDF and EPUB are emailed within seconds of checkout. Read on any phone, tablet, computer or e-reader, or print at home. 7-day money-back guarantee.
— Alexander Kustorez
The From-Scratch Pantry
Keep about $2,280–$3,600 a year
Keep about $2,280–$3,600 a year cooking the old way — 104 plain recipes from 30 basic staples, every cost per serving shown.
The shop receipt was three feet long. Bread — two kinds, neither of them cheap. Three packets of biscuits you hadn't planned to buy. A ready-made lasagne, because Tuesday had been a long day. And the total at the bottom read like a small electric bill: for one weekly shop.
"I don't even know where it goes," you say out loud, to nobody. That's the sentence this whole book is about. Not "how do I cook?" — you already know how to cook. The question is: where does the grocery money actually go, and how much of it can stay home instead?
Here's the honest money part, up front
A plain loaf baked at home costs about $1.20–$1.50 in ingredients; the shop charges about $3.50–$4.50 for the equivalent — about $2–$3 kept per loaf, and a household that bakes five loaves a week keeps about $43–$65 a month on bread alone. Overnight oats cost about $0.40–$0.55 a jar against about $2.50–$3.50 for the chilled single-serve pot. A litre of homemade soup runs about $1.00–$1.50 against about $6.00–$9.00 worth of tins. Add the waste halved, the "nothing in" takeaway nights killed, and the disciplined weekly shop, and a typical 1–2 person household that cooks most meals at home keeps about $190–$300 a month — about $2,280–$3,600 a year. Every figure is an honest about-range with the arithmetic beside it, because your shops and your prices are yours, not mine. Nothing here is guaranteed. What the book gives you is the worksheets — the audit sheet, the price book, the tally — so you measure your own numbers and bank your own savings.
Inside this manual (16 chapters in 3 parts)
- The pantry reset — the grocery bill audit (four weeks of receipts into one table: find the leak before you fix it), the 30 staples that replace 200 packaged products, the price book (real bargains vs fake sales, in your own handwriting), tools you already own (the honest equipment list — what NOT to buy)
- Cook from scratch — bread without the bakery (the plain loaf step by step, plus rolls, soda bread, flatbread, pizza base), breakfasts from the jar, soups and stocks (six soups, stock from scraps), beans, lentils and grains, sauces, dressings and condiments (the dearest shelf in the shop, made for cents), snacks and baking, the 30-day meal rotation with shopping lists
- Waste nothing — the waste audit (weigh one week's waste, see your 20–30%, then halve it), leftovers planned (cook once, eat twice, on purpose), preserving the glut, the weekly shop method, your first $2,280 year (the annual tally worksheet)
Honest guidance, safety first
Red-bordered safety boxes mark every rule that matters: cooling stock fast, the 2-hour perishable rule, and the pressure-canning rule for low-acid foods. Follow them as written. And the honest limits: this book will not make restaurant food cheap, will not replace your doctor or your national food-safety authority, and will not work if the recipes stay on the page. The savings come from cooking, not from reading about cooking.
What you get
- The complete 16-chapter manual — instant PDF (235 pages) plus a reflowable EPUB3 for your e-reader
- 104 plain recipes with the cost per serving printed beside each one
- The grocery bill audit worksheet — four weeks of receipts into one table, the leak found before you fix it
- The price book system — real bargains vs fake sales, in your own handwriting
- The 30-day meal rotation with shopping lists, the waste audit, the annual tally worksheet
- The 30 staples list that replaces 200 packaged products, and the honest equipment list — what NOT to buy
Who it's for
- Anyone who looked at a shop receipt and said "I don't even know where it goes"
- 1–2 person households that cook most meals at home and want the money to stay home
- Readers who already know how to cook — this book is about the money, not the basics
- Anyone ready to halve their food waste and kill the "nothing in" takeaway nights
The honest note — put this near the buy button
This is a from-scratch cooking manual, not medical or financial advice. The savings figures are worked examples from the book's own chapters — about $2,280–$3,600 a year — written as about-ranges with the arithmetic shown, never as a guarantee. Follow the red-bordered food safety rules as written. The savings come from cooking, not from reading about cooking. Most readers earn the $47 back in the first two weeks — the bread maths alone covers it. Your shops, your prices: your numbers will differ. Instant access — your PDF and EPUB are emailed within seconds of checkout. Read on any phone, tablet, computer or e-reader, or print at home. 7-day money-back guarantee.
— Alexander Kustorez
The Fix-It-Yourself Home Manual
Keep about $1,590–$3,300 a year
Keep about $1,590–$3,300 a year with 20 common household repairs — taps, toilets, drains, doors, windows, grout, painting and more — without the callout fee.
Something is dripping in your house right now. Or sticking. Or staining the ceiling a little more each month — and every one of those small faults is quietly translating itself in your head into a stranger's bill.
This book changes that equation with a simple question: "Is it on the never-DIY list? No — this book shows the fix. Yes — call a pro early, which is itself the saving."
The Fix-It-Yourself Home Manual is written for homeowners who have never held a spanner and have no intention of becoming handymen. You don't need to become one. You need twenty clear, senior-proofed procedures, an under-$75 toolbox (the kit totals about $45–$75), and the good sense to know which jobs are not yours.
The honest money line: about $130–$275 a month → about $1,590–$3,300 a year kept — with the arithmetic shown on the ledger page. Not a promise. The book's year tally shows every line of arithmetic: small DIY jobs net of parts, a decorated room amortised over the two years it actually recurs, a re-grout amortised over five (counted only if you'd genuinely have hired it), and capped expected value for small fixes caught early by the maintenance calendar. Lumpy jobs are amortised over the years they actually recur — because your house and your quotes are yours, not mine. Nothing here is guaranteed. Chapter 17 then gives you the repair ledger to log your own quote-vs-spent figures, job by job, and watch your own total accumulate in your own handwriting. Measured, not promised.
Inside this manual (18 chapters in 4 parts)
- Before you touch anything — the under-$75 toolbox (every tool, what it about costs, where to buy), safety first: water, electric and gas (your fill-in shutoff map and the master never-DIY list), reading the problem (the symptom-to-chapter table, and how buying the right part first time beats three wasted shop trips)
- Water jobs — the dripping tap: about $120–$180 pro vs about $3 for a washer (the classic first win), the running toilet, blocked sinks and drains (plunger technique and the bottle-trap clean), shower heads and hoses, and when it's the plumber (the red lines for water jobs, plus the flooded-house protocol you hope never to use)
- Around the house — doors that stick and won't latch, windows (draughts, stiff handles), cracks in plaster (which are filler and which are a structural pro's, with the worry/not-worry diagram), grout, silicone and sealant (the bathroom refresh), painting like it'll last, shelves, curtains and flat-pack (the right fixing for every wall), weatherproofing the outside (gutters from the ground — no ladders, ever)
- The system — the home maintenance calendar (one 30-minute job a month: the early-catch engine), your repair ledger (the year tally in full, plus your own ledger page), building your pro list (finding honest tradesmen, fair quotes, the three-quote rule)
Honest guidance, safety first
The red lines are real: gas, mains electrics, boiler internals, structural work, roofs, asbestos and lead paint, sewage, burst mains — those jobs are always a qualified professional's, and the book puts that in red boxes before you're allowed to touch anything. Every chapter carries an honesty box telling you what the repair will NOT do. Calling the right job early is half the saving.
What you get
- The complete 18-chapter manual — instant PDF (243 pages) plus a reflowable EPUB3 for your e-reader
- 20 senior-proofed repair procedures — taps, toilets, drains, doors, windows, grout, painting and more
- The under-$75 toolbox list (about $45–$75 total) — every tool, what it about costs, where to buy
- The master never-DIY list and your fill-in shutoff map — the safety system first
- The repair ledger — the book's full year tally plus your own quote-vs-spent pages
- The home maintenance calendar — one 30-minute job a month, the early-catch engine
Who it's for
- Homeowners who have never held a spanner and have no intention of becoming handymen
- Anyone with something dripping, sticking, or staining — translating itself into a stranger's bill
- Readers who want the good sense to know which jobs are NOT theirs — and to call those early
- Seniors who want the fix done right, safely, without a ladder and without a callout fee
The honest note — put this near the buy button
This is a home-repair manual, not professional, legal, or financial advice. The savings figures are worked examples from the book's own chapters — about $1,590–$3,300 a year — written as about-ranges with the arithmetic shown, never as a guarantee. The red lines are real: gas, mains electrics, boiler internals, structural work, roofs, asbestos and lead paint, sewage, burst mains — always a qualified professional's. Most readers earn the $47 back with the first avoided callout — a single tap washer against a $120–$180 pro visit. Your house, your quotes: your numbers will differ. Instant access — your PDF and EPUB are emailed within seconds of checkout. Read on any phone, tablet, computer or e-reader, or print at home. 7-day money-back guarantee.
— Alexander Kustorez
The Winter-Ready Home Manual
Keep about $250–$600 a year
Keep about $250–$600 a year with the old way to winterise a house — heat that stays in, bills that come down.
The January bill lands on the doormat. You open it standing in the hallway, because sitting down would make it feel worse. It's the biggest single bill of the year — and the house, if you're honest, never felt that warm anyway. The sitting room is fine. The hallway is an ice box. The bedroom upstairs could store meat.
Here's the truth nobody in the heating industry is in a hurry to tell you: a large share of that bill is heat that left through gaps you can feel with a bare hand. The draught under the back door. The sash window that never quite shut. The letterbox with no brush. The loft hatch that's a square hole in your ceiling. You don't need a new boiler. You need to find the leaks and plug them — the old way, with materials that cost a few dollars and jobs an ordinary person can do in an afternoon.
Here's the honest money part, up front
A household spending about $2,000–$3,000 a year on heating keeps about $250–$600 a year by working this book's winter programme: about $150–$400 a year from keeping heat in (draught-proofing, heavy curtains, window film, seals, the loft hatch, the unused-chimney balloon — net of about $40–$80 of year-one materials), plus about $100–$200 a year from the one-warm-room winter (the heating on but zoned, unused rooms turned down — counted net of the first row, never double-counted). Households that buy oil, wood or LPG in bulk can add a conditional bonus of about $120–$375 a year by buying in August instead of January — labelled in the book as bulk-fuel households only, never in the headline. Every figure an honest about-range with the arithmetic beside it, because your house, your fuel and your winter are yours, not mine. Nothing here is guaranteed. What the book gives you is the worksheets — the draught-hunt checklist, the fuel calendar, the winter budget sheet — so you measure your own numbers and bank your own savings.
Inside this manual (15 chapters in 4 parts)
- Find the leaks — the winter bill explained (read the bill like a detective), the draught hunt (the candle walk, room by room, with the printable checklist), windows the old way (sash windows, budget secondary glazing, the glazing-film trick and when to skip it), doors and letterboxes (brush strips, thresholds, the back-door test), the chimney and the fireplace (the draught you pay for all summer too)
- Keep the heat — the loft hatch and the attic edge (the square hole in your ceiling, sealed without climbing), pipes that must not freeze (lagging, the pipe map, where to lag first), radiators working properly (bleeding step by step, the foil trick, the cold-spot test), the boiler's winter service (the annual checklist, what the engineer should actually do)
- Buy heat cheap — the fuel calendar (buy oil, wood and LPG by the month, never by the panic), wood that burns right (seasoned vs green, the moisture test, stacking that dries), the one-warm-room winter (heat one room properly instead of five badly — the honest comfort math)
- The storm week — when the cold gets serious (the severe-cold drill: taps, heating, the neighbour check), the January money plan (the winter budget worksheet), spring check and summer prep (the 30-minute spring walk that makes next winter cheap)
Honest guidance, safety first
This book will not replace a gas engineer or an electrician, and it says plainly where their territory starts — gas smells mean leaving the house and calling emergency services, and boiler internals are never a DIY job. It will not make a bad winter cheap; it makes an ordinary winter cheaper. Red-bordered safety boxes mark every rule that matters: carbon-monoxide alarms, never blocking all ventilation to a gas appliance, the frozen-pipe thawing rules. And the honest pairing: it does not cover what to do when the power itself goes out — for that, it pairs with The Lights-Out Manual, and the two together are whole-winter protection.
What you get
- The complete 15-chapter manual — instant PDF (220 pages) plus a reflowable EPUB3 for your e-reader
- The draught-hunt checklist — the candle walk, room by room, printable
- The fuel calendar — buy oil, wood and LPG by the month, never by the panic
- The winter budget worksheet — your January money plan
- The severe-cold drill and the 30-minute spring walk — the storm week and next winter's prep
- Every job senior-proofed — no loft-crawling, no climbing, no great strength needed
Who it's for
- Anyone whose January bill is the biggest single bill of the year
- Homeowners with a hallway like an ice box and a bedroom that could store meat
- Readers who don't need a new boiler — just the leaks found and plugged
- Seniors who want every winter job doable in an afternoon, without climbing
The honest note — put this near the buy button
This is a winterisation manual, not professional, legal, or financial advice. The savings figures are worked examples from the book's own chapters — about $250–$600 a year — written as about-ranges with the arithmetic shown, never as a guarantee. It will not make a bad winter cheap; it makes an ordinary winter cheaper. Gas smells mean leaving the house and calling emergency services; boiler internals are never a DIY job. Most readers earn the $42 back in the first month — a $10 roll of foam tape against a $200 winter bill. Your house, your fuel, your winter: your numbers will differ. Instant access — your PDF and EPUB are emailed within seconds of checkout. Read on any phone, tablet, computer or e-reader, or print at home. 7-day money-back guarantee.
— Alexander Kustorez
The Backyard Food Manual
Keep about $970–$2,280 a year
Keep about $970–$2,280 a year with the complete small-plot food system — hens for eggs, a no-dig vegetable garden, fruit that looks after itself, and the preserving loop that turns the August glut into winter food.
Your grocery bill is the one bill you pay every single week without ever questioning it — and a surprising share of it is for things a small backyard could be producing: eggs, salad greens, herbs, berries, and the vegetables that cost the most per kilo at the shop.
This book is the complete small-plot food system, written for ordinary backyards and first-timers: no acreage, no expensive kit, no experience assumed. Each chapter follows the same shape — a short story to set the scene, then the money table up front (what it costs, what it replaces, what you keep, with the working shown), then numbered steps, an honesty box saying what the chapter will NOT do, and one small action to take that week.
The honest money line: about $80–$190 a month → about $970–$2,280 a year kept — with the arithmetic shown on the ledger page. Not a promise. The book's year tally shows every line of arithmetic: egg money net of the feed bill, vegetable savings net of seeds and compost, fruit amortised over the years a planting actually produces, preserving counted only for food you'd genuinely have bought. Feed bills, seed costs, replacement hens, jar lids and freezer energy are subtracted before any line is banked; lumpy costs are amortised over the years they actually recur; nothing is counted twice. Every figure is an about-range with its working shown — the book promises method, not outcomes. Nothing here is guaranteed. Chapter 16 then gives you the annual tally worksheet to log your own kept-vs-spent figures, line by line, in your own handwriting. Measured, not promised.
Inside this manual (16 chapters in 4 parts)
- The plan — the backyard food audit (what your household actually spends, and where the backyard can touch it), mapping your plot (sun, shade, and the 10-minute map that stops every later mistake), the $970–$2,280 year on paper (the full money model before you spend a penny)
- Eggs — hens for the small backyard (how many, which kind, and the honest maths of a laying hen), the cheap coop and run (the build-it-cheap plan with fox-proofing that actually works), feed math and free food (the feed bill cut down with kitchen scraps and garden surplus, safely), the egg year (moult, winter laying, and what a dozen eggs really costs you)
- The vegetable garden — soil without the garden centre bill (no-dig beds from free materials), the 10 crops that pay best (ranked by dollars per square foot, not by romance), succession planting (three harvests where most gardeners get one), watering without waste (the butt-and-hose setup and the mulch that halves the water bill), pests the old way (barriers, timing, the slug patrol — without the spray aisle)
- Fruit and the loop — fruit that looks after itself (the plant-once strip: raspberries, currants, one dwarf tree), the hen–garden loop (kitchen scraps to hens to compost to soil, with the hot-compost heat rule and the 6-month manure rule), preserving the glut (freeze, dry, bottle: the decision flowchart, with the red-box bottling safety rules), your first $970 food year (the annual tally worksheet and the one-action-a-week system)
Honest guidance, safety first
The red lines are real: pressure-canning rules, the 6-month manure rule, and the hot-compost heat rule are in red boxes, stated plainly and repeated where they matter. Fresh manure never goes on growing crops, and low-acid foods are never bottled at home — those lines don't move. And the honest sorting: if you would never have kept hens at all, the egg chapters are about the maths of deciding, not a nudge to start — and the book says so.
What you get
- The complete 16-chapter manual — instant PDF (224 pages) plus a reflowable EPUB3 for your e-reader
- The backyard food audit and the 10-minute plot map — the full money model before you spend a penny
- The hen chapters — how many, which kind, the cheap coop and run plan, feed math, the egg year
- The 10 crops that pay best — ranked by dollars per square foot, with succession planting and no-dig beds
- The plant-once fruit strip and the preserving decision flowchart — with the red-box bottling safety rules
- The annual tally worksheet — log your own kept-vs-spent, line by line, in your own handwriting
Who it's for
- Anyone paying a weekly grocery bill without ever questioning it
- Ordinary backyards and first-timers — no acreage, no expensive kit, no experience assumed
- Readers who want every line net of costs, honestly counted — feed bills subtracted before anything is banked
- Anyone who wants the August glut turned into winter food instead of wasted
The honest note — put this near the buy button
This is a backyard food manual, not professional, legal, or financial advice. The savings figures are worked examples from the book's own chapters — about $970–$2,280 a year — written as about-ranges with the arithmetic shown, never as a guarantee. Fresh manure never goes on growing crops, and low-acid foods are never bottled at home — those lines don't move. Most readers earn the $47 back in the first month — one week of shop eggs and salad replaced. Your plot, your shops: your numbers will differ. Instant access — your PDF and EPUB are emailed within seconds of checkout. Read on any phone, tablet, computer or e-reader, or print at home. 7-day money-back guarantee.
— Alexander Kustorez
The Grandmother's Home Cabinet
Keep about $960–$1,940 a year
Keep about $960–$1,940 a year with the complete home-cabinet system — one audit, ten staples, every recipe costed, the safety rules first.
Your cleaning cupboard, your laundry shelf, your bathroom cabinet, and the drawer of half-used comfort remedies are a quiet monthly leak — about a hundred separate products, each bought again and again, when a grandmother's household ran the whole house from ten plain staples.
This book is the complete home-cabinet system: one consumables audit that measures what your household actually spends, the ten staples that replace the product aisle, every recipe with its cost per use shown next to the shop price, the safety rules that come first (red boxes, repeated where they matter), and the annual tally that adds it all up — honestly, about-range by about-range, with your own audit as the senior figure in every line.
The honest money line: about $960–$1,940 a year kept — with the arithmetic shown on the ledger page. Not a promise. The book's year tally shows every line of arithmetic: cleaning kept net of the ten staples, laundry net of the powder batch (about $0.10 a wash against about $0.40+ at the shop), soap net of the base and moulds, personal care net of the ingredients, reusables net of the kit, remedies counted only for shop products genuinely replaced. Every figure is an about-range with its working shown; the book promises method, not outcomes. Nothing here is guaranteed. And the audit-cap rule is the series law: your Chapter 1 audit is the ceiling for every figure in the book — you cannot keep money you never spent. Chapter 16 then gives you the annual tally worksheet to log your own kept-vs-spent figures, line by line, in your own handwriting. Measured, not promised.
Inside this manual (16 chapters in 5 parts)
- The cabinet audit — the consumables audit (the receipt-envelope method: your audit is the ceiling for every figure), the 10 staples that replace 100 products (the whole shelf for about $40–$60 a year), labels, dilutions and safety (the dilution chart and the never-mix red box)
- A cleaner house — the all-purpose everything (one spray for the whole house, and where never to use it), kitchen and bathroom (degreaser, limescale, toilet care — bleach appears once, with the full red box), laundry the old way (the money chapter: about $0.10 a wash against about $0.40+ at the shop), floors, glass and wood (the vinegar-on-stone warning, repeated), the fresh-smelling house (simmer pots, sachets and linen spray instead of plug-in refills)
- Soap and self — soap without fear (melt-and-pour first as the senior-safe default; the lye method only with the full red box), shampoo, deodorant and basics (the patch-test rule, repeated; honest limits stated), balms, oils and lip care (the beeswax double-boiler rule)
- Remedies and comforts — teas, honey and the winter cupboard (comfort, honestly: soothing, never curing; the infant honey rule), kitchen spices and garden herbs (traditional uses with honest limits), for restful nights, achy joints, sniffles (comfort routines in third person, with doctor red-flag boxes), when it's the doctor, not the cabinet (the medicine list, the red flags, and the cost conversation)
- The year — your first $960 cabinet year (the annual tally worksheet and the one-action-a-week system)
Honest guidance, safety first
The red lines are real and they don't move: never mix bleach with vinegar, acids, or anything else; vinegar does not neutralise lye on skin — water only; never give honey to infants under one; never eat, brew, or dry a wild plant without an expert at your elbow. Everything is labelled, everything is stored away from children and pets, the patch-test rule is on every page it belongs on — and the remedies chapters are comfort-only, in third person, with doctor red-flag boxes: soothing, never curing. When it's the doctor, not the cabinet, the book says so plainly.
What you get
- The complete 16-chapter manual — instant PDF plus a reflowable EPUB3 for your e-reader
- The consumables audit — the receipt-envelope method (your audit is the ceiling for every figure)
- The 10 staples list — the whole shelf for about $40–$60 a year, replacing 100 products
- Every recipe with its cost per use shown next to the shop price — laundry at about $0.10 a wash
- The safety system first — the dilution chart, the never-mix red box, the patch-test rule
- The annual tally worksheet — your first $960 cabinet year, logged in your own handwriting
Who it's for
- Anyone whose cleaning cupboard, laundry shelf, and bathroom cabinet are a quiet monthly leak
- Readers who want the safety rules first — in red boxes, repeated where they matter
- Seniors who want melt-and-pour as the default and the lye method only with the full red box
- Anyone who understands: comfort, honestly — soothing, never curing — and the doctor's red flags
The honest note — put this near the buy button
This is a home-cabinet manual, not medical, legal, or financial advice. The savings figures are worked examples from the book's own chapters — about $960–$1,940 a year — written as about-ranges with the arithmetic shown, never as a guarantee. The audit-cap rule is the series law: your Chapter 1 audit is the ceiling for every figure — you cannot keep money you never spent. Remedies are comfort-only: soothing, never curing. Most readers earn the $47 back in the first month — the laundry chapter alone covers it. Your household, your shops: your numbers will differ. Instant access — your PDF and EPUB are emailed within seconds of checkout. Read on any phone, tablet, computer or e-reader, or print at home. 7-day money-back guarantee.
— Alexander Kustorez
The No-Spray Pest Manual
Keep about $450+ a year
Save $450+ a year the old-fashioned way. Stop ants, roaches, mice, fleas and garden pests — without harsh chemical sprays. A practical, senior-friendly home manual with 19 chapters, step-by-step methods, a complete recipe vault and a four-season prevention calendar. PDF + EPUB included.
Here's the part nobody tells you in the hardware aisle. A can of spray kills the ants you can see on the worktop. It does not touch the colony under the step — the several thousand of them, and the queen who is laying more while you wipe the counter. So they come back on Thursday. You buy a different can. The shelf gets longer, the smell lingers on the surface where the grandkids put their hands, and the problem never actually ends.
That's not bad luck. That's the method being wrong.
This manual works the other way round. Every pest in a house needs five things — food, water, shelter, a way in, and a place to breed. Take one away and it leaves on its own. Bait the nest instead of the bug and the colony ends. That's the whole book: nineteen chapters of the old, patient, no-spray methods, written down properly, with the exact recipes and the exact places to put them.
Here's the honest money part, up front
The spray-bottle method costs a typical household about $510 a year — store sprays and refills (about $120), exterminator visits (about $320), foggers and plug-ins (about $70). The no-spray kit in this book costs about $57, most of it cupboard staples: borax and sugar for the ants, boric acid for the roaches, food-grade diatomaceous earth for the crawling things, white vinegar and plain soap for almost everything else, steel wool and a caulk gun for the mice, a hot wash and a mattress encasement for bed bugs, marigolds and basil among the tomatoes. Nothing exotic, nothing you have to order, nothing that makes you empty the room before you use it. $510 versus $57 — the sums are shown line by line in the "Do the Math" chapter so you can check them against your own home. Every figure is an honest about-range with the arithmetic beside it, because your house and your pests are yours, not mine. Nothing here is guaranteed.
Inside this manual (19 chapters)
- Foundations — Chapters 1–6: Why the Spray Bottle Keeps Losing · The Real Enemy Is the Nest, Not the Bug · The Five Things Every Pest Needs (and How to Take Them Away) · Your No-Spray Arsenal · Do the Math: What One Year of Pests Really Costs · Your First Weekend: The 48-Hour Quick-Start Plan
- Indoors — Chapters 7–12: Ants — and the Borax-Bait Method That Breaks the Colony · Cockroaches — the Boric-Acid Bait System · Mice and Rats — Without Poison in the Walls · Flies, Fruit Flies, Drain Flies and Gnats · Pantry Pests — Moths, Weevils and Beetles in the Flour · Spiders, Silverfish and Other Crawlers
- Pets and People — Chapters 13–15: Fleas and Ticks — The Three-Tier System · Bed Bugs — the Heat-and-Diligence Method · Mosquitoes — Indoors and in the Yard
- Garden and Yard — Chapters 16–17: Garden Pests and Companion Planting · Wasps, Hornets, Moles and Larger Critters
- Keeping Them Gone — Chapters 18–19: The Four-Season Prevention Calendar · Sealing the House for Good
Honest guidance, safety first
Every chapter carries an honest note on what each method does and does not do, plus plain safety guidance — when to wear gloves, when to keep children and pets away from a bait or trap, and when to call a licensed professional. An active termite colony, a large or high wasp or hornet nest, a heavy bed-bug infestation, a real rat problem, or wildlife in the roof belong to the expert: the book names them, tells you how to recognise them, and says plainly that calling early is the money-saving choice. You'll always know where home methods end and the expert begins.
What you get
- The complete 19-chapter manual — instant PDF (97 pages, 6×9, large readable type) plus a reflowable EPUB for your e-reader. Read on any phone, tablet or computer, or print at home.
- The Recipe Vault — every bait, trap and spray in one place, with US and metric measurements: the borax–sugar ant bait, the boric-acid roach bait, the vinegar trail wipe, the soap spray for the garden, food-grade diatomaceous earth, the apple-cider-vinegar fruit-fly trap, the flea bath and comb routine, and the pantry freeze-and-jar method.
- The Quick Pest-ID Matrix — what you're actually looking at, and the first thing to do about it.
- The 48-Hour Quick-Start Plan — build the $57 kit, seal the entries, set the first baits: your first weekend, mapped out.
- The Four-Season Prevention Calendar — what to do in which month, so next spring is quiet.
- The 5-Minute Weekly Sweep — the five-room round that stops most problems before they start.
- 18 full-colour photographs showing the methods step by step.
Who it's for
- Anyone who has bought three different sprays for the same ants and would like the problem to actually end.
- Grandparents and parents who read the back of a can once and put it down again.
- Dog and cat owners dealing with fleas, ticks, or ants in the food bowl.
- Gardeners who want the vegetables edible and the aphids gone, without a spray schedule.
- Thrifty households who'd rather spend about $57 once than $510 every year.
- Anyone drawn to the old-fashioned, self-reliant way of keeping a home — the way it was done before the aisle existed.
The honest note — put this near the buy button
No-spray, and honest about it. This is a method, not a miracle. It won't promise a pest-free house forever, because nobody honestly can, and it never claims to kill anything "100%". What it will do is show you the old, patient methods and the cheap kit that end the ordinary troubles at the source — and be straight with you about the rest. Bites and stings are a doctor's business, never the book's. And the money is a range with the arithmetic shown — about $510 a year on sprays versus about $57 on the kit — never a guarantee. Instant access — your PDF and EPUB are emailed within seconds of checkout. Read on any phone, tablet, computer or e-reader, or print at home. 7-day money-back guarantee.
— Alexander Kustorez
The Pet & Grandkid-Safe Home Protection System
Keep roughly $300+ a year
Keep roughly $300+ a year with pest methods designed around the homes that need the most care — homes with kids, grandkids and pets. A ten-minute weekly routine and an under-$30 cupboard kit: 28 chapters, 4 printable cards, 60+ illustrations. PDF + EPUB included.
Look at the floor in your kitchen for a second. The grandkids crawl on it. The dog sleeps on it. A dropped cracker gets picked up and eaten off it. Now think about what the old answer to a line of ants actually was — a can of spray, a held breath, everyone out of the room for twenty minutes, and a faint chemical smell for two days afterwards on the exact surface where the baby puts her hands.
That was never really an answer. It was a truce, bought at a price nobody wanted to pay.
This book is the other way round. It treats a pest problem as what it honestly is: a door left open, a crumb left out, a puddle left standing. Close those three and there is nothing to spray, because there is nothing coming in. That is the whole system — and it takes about ten minutes a week.
The cupboard kit behind it costs under thirty dollars and replaces well over a hundred dollars a year of sprays, foggers and impulse buys. Borax and sugar for the ants. A ten-cent moat under the dog's bowl. Warm soapy water and a fine metal comb for the fleas. A box fan on the porch. A mosquito dunk in the rain barrel. Copper mesh and a caulk gun where the mice come in. Nothing exotic, nothing you have to order, nothing that makes you empty the room before you use it.
And it is honest about its limits, which is rare in this corner of the internet. There are jobs in a house that belong to a licensed professional — an active termite colony, a large or high wasp or hornet nest, a heavy bed-bug infestation, a real rat problem, wildlife in the roof. The book names them, tells you how to recognise them, and says plainly that calling early is the money-saving choice. It also flags the popular "natural cures" that genuinely don't work, so you don't waste a fortnight on them.
Here's the honest money part, up front
A typical family spends $400–$800 a year fighting pests: quarterly service visits ($400–$600 a year), single call-outs ($150–$300 each), and the shelf of sprays, foggers and plug-ins ($100–$150 a year). The home kit costs under $30 once, with about $10–$15 a year in top-ups. The gap between the two ways is $370–$770 in the first year — which is why this book says you'll keep roughly $300+ a year: the conservative end of the range, typical figures, not a promise. The full working is shown line by line in the book's cost-comparison chapter so you can check it against your own home. Every figure is an honest about-range with the arithmetic beside it, because your house and your pests are yours, not mine. Nothing here is guaranteed.
Inside this system (28 chapters across 7 parts)
- Part One — The System: Why a Routine Beats Reacting · The Room-by-Room Inspection · The Year at a Glance · What I Check Every Sunday Before the Grandkids Visit
- Part Two — The Pet-Safe Home: The Flea You See Is 5% of the Problem · The Hidden Tick Zone in Your Own Backyard · Ants in the Dog's Bowl? The Ten-Cent Fix · The Mosquitoes Are Breeding Right Next to the Dog · The Little Flies at the Litter Box · The Mouse Is After the Kibble · The "Natural" Cure That Isn't
- Part Three — The Grandkid-Safe Home: Where the Poison Actually Lands · A Net and a Breeze Beat Any Fogger · They're Not After the Baby — They're After the Crumbs · A Play Zone That Doesn't Invite Stings · The Fifteen Minutes That Let You Relax
- Part Four — Garden, Porch and Backyard: A Garden the Grandkids Can Eat Straight From · The Backyard Mosquito System · Outdoor Living
- Part Five — Rodents and Larger Invaders: The Buffet You Didn't Know You Were Running · Seal the Door, Set the Line
- Part Six — The Next 30 Minutes: Dog Has Fleas Today · Tick Found on the Dog · Mouse Droppings Found Today · Wasp Nest Discovered Today · A Toddler's Been Bitten
- Part Seven — Ready for Anything: Reading the Label — What to Avoid When You Shop Pest Products · The Seasonal Pet-and-Grandkid Protection Calendar · The Emergency Quick-Reference Card · The Honest Cost Comparison: Pro Pest Control vs Your Home Kit
- Plus the Reference Shelf — the Recipe Vault, the Quick Pest-ID Finder, the Savings Map, and the Printables, all gathered at the back where you can find them in a hurry.
Honest guidance, safety first
Every method is designed to be gentler around children and pets when used exactly as directed — and every chapter says plainly when a problem needs a licensed professional instead: termites, established bed bugs, large or high wasp nests, wildlife or structural threats. Baits go where only insects reach, traps go where paws don't, nothing is fogged into the air of a room people live in, and where a mix needs care in handling — gloves for borax and boric acid, locked high storage, tamper-resistant bait stations — the book says so plainly rather than glossing over it. You'll always know where home methods end and the expert begins.
What you get
- The complete 28-chapter manual — instant PDF (297 pages, 6×9, large readable type) plus a reflowable EPUB for your e-reader. Read on any phone, tablet, computer or e-reader, or print at home.
- The 10-minute weekly routine — the room-by-room round that does almost all of the work, laid out so you can run it without thinking once you've done it twice.
- 4 printable cards — the 10-Minute Weekly Home Check for the fridge door, the Year-at-a-Glance Seasonal Calendar, the Emergency Quick-Reference Card, and the Pre-Visit Sweep for when they're already on their way.
- The Recipe Vault — the pet-and-child-sensible mixes the book actually uses: borax–sugar ant bait, boric-acid roach bait, the vinegar trail wipe, garden soap spray, food-grade diatomaceous earth, the fruit-fly cup, Bti mosquito dunks, the flea bath and comb, the ten-cent bowl moat, and the pantry freeze-and-jar routine.
- The Quick Pest-ID Finder — what you're actually looking at, and the first thing to do about it.
- The "Next 30 Minutes" walkthroughs — "it happened today" emergencies, handled calmly step by step: fleas on the dog, a tick found, mouse droppings in the pantry, a wasp nest discovered, a toddler bitten.
- 60+ illustrations showing the methods step by step.
Who it's for
- Grandparents who want the house genuinely ready for small visitors.
- Dog and cat owners dealing with fleas, ticks or ants in the food bowl who don't want to treat their home like a warehouse.
- Parents of toddlers who read the back of a spray can once and never bought it again.
- Anyone tired of reacting — buying a product every time something appears — who'd rather have a routine that stops it starting.
- Thrifty households who'd like the pest budget to be a one-off under-$30 cupboard kit instead of a running bill.
- Readers of the library who want the safety spine that sits underneath every other book in the set.
The honest note — put this near the buy button
This is a prevention system, not a miracle. It won't promise a pest-free house forever, because nobody honestly can. What it will do is show you the routine and the cheap cupboard kit that keep the ordinary troubles out, and be straight with you about the rest: a few jobs are a licensed professional's, and for those, calling early is the money-saving choice. The comfort measures are called comfort, never treatment — bites and stings are a doctor's business, never the book's. And the money is a range with the arithmetic shown — roughly $300+ a year kept, the conservative end of the range — never a guarantee. Instant access — your PDF and EPUB are emailed within seconds of checkout. Read on any phone, tablet, computer or e-reader, or print at home. 7-day money-back guarantee.
— Alexander Kustorez
The Grandmother's Natural Pain-Relief & Mobility Manual
Save $150+ a year
Save $150+ a year.
Ease everyday aches, stay mobile and keep doing what you love. 19 chapters and 8 bonus appendices.
What you get
- Instant PDF plus a reflowable EPUB for your e-reader
- Read on any phone, tablet, computer or e-reader, or print at home
- Secure checkout via Gumroad with a 7-day money-back guarantee
The honest note
Savings figures are approximate ranges explained within the book. Actual results vary with household, habits, prices and location. Nothing here is guaranteed.
The Old-Fashioned Natural Garden Manual
Save $400+ a year
Save $400+ a year.
Grow food worth about $400 more than the garden costs to run in a typical established year. 20 chapters.
What you get
- Instant PDF plus a reflowable EPUB for your e-reader
- Read on any phone, tablet, computer or e-reader, or print at home
- Secure checkout via Gumroad with a 7-day money-back guarantee
The honest note
Savings figures are approximate ranges explained within the book. Actual results vary with household, habits, prices and location. Nothing here is guaranteed.
The Thrifty Home Savings Manual
Save $4,800+ a year
Save $4,800+ a year.
Old-fashioned habits that may help save $4,800+ a year, with clear figures and realistic cautions.
What you get
- Instant PDF plus a reflowable EPUB for your e-reader
- Read on any phone, tablet, computer or e-reader, or print at home
- Secure checkout via Gumroad with a 7-day money-back guarantee
The honest note
Savings figures are approximate ranges explained within the book. Actual results vary with household, habits, prices and location. Nothing here is guaranteed.
The Harvest-Keeping Manual
Save around $450 a year
Save around $450 a year.
Can, dry, ferment, freeze and cellar your harvest safely, with tested methods and honest numbers. 15 chapters.
What you get
- Instant PDF plus a reflowable EPUB for your e-reader
- Read on any phone, tablet, computer or e-reader, or print at home
- Secure checkout via Gumroad with a 7-day money-back guarantee
The honest note
Savings figures are approximate ranges explained within the book. Actual results vary with household, habits, prices and location. Nothing here is guaranteed.
The Natural Pet Care Manual
Save around $400 a year
Save around $400 a year.
Natural feeding, home grooming and flea-and-tick care, with a clear line on when to call the vet. 15 chapters.
What you get
- Instant PDF plus a reflowable EPUB for your e-reader
- Read on any phone, tablet, computer or e-reader, or print at home
- Secure checkout via Gumroad with a 7-day money-back guarantee
The honest note
Savings figures are approximate ranges explained within the book. Actual results vary with household, habits, prices and location. Nothing here is guaranteed.
The Forgotten Home Wisdom Manual
Keep around $500 a year
Keep around $500 a year.
Pantry staples, laundry rescue, mending and seasonal home care. 17 chapters and 8 keepsake pages.
What you get
- Instant PDF plus a reflowable EPUB for your e-reader
- Read on any phone, tablet, computer or e-reader, or print at home
- Secure checkout via Gumroad with a 7-day money-back guarantee
The honest note
Savings figures are approximate ranges explained within the book. Actual results vary with household, habits, prices and location. Nothing here is guaranteed.
