Sample pages

Eight real pages from the book.

Read them full size: a 30-day plan, two diagrams, the buy/repair/borrow/skip test, two one-page chapter summaries, a worksheet and the list of sources. The full 181-page book (PDF + EPUB) comes with your purchase.

p. 14 · 30-day start
p. 21 · Real cost
p. 59 · Buy or skip
p. 83 · Battery time
p. 135 · Summary page
p. 145 · Skip it
p. 169 · Worksheet
p. 179 · Sources

Page 14, A 30-Day Start. Week 1: quick wins and the scan. Week 2: cold and leaks. Week 3: loads and water. Week 4: money leaks and records. Day 30: the first review.

Page 14 · Getting started

The 30-day plan

If you only follow one page in the book, make it this one: four weeks, a few hours a week, from three quick wins to your first look back at what worked.

Tip: put the four weeks on your calendar tonight.

Page 21, Figure 3: shelf unit price versus usable unit cost. Bulk rice at $24 for 20 pounds is $1.20 a pound on the shelf but $1.33 a pound if 2 pounds are lost. A $6 family pack with a third wasted costs $9 per portion used, against $7 for a small pack fully used.

Page 21 · Chapter 2

Why the big pack isn't always cheaper

Whatever gets thrown away changes the real price, and the shelf tag never shows it. The page goes on to whether a warehouse-club membership actually pays off.

Example numbers, labeled as such in the book.

Page 59, Figure 11, the general-store test. A need appears, with four branches: Buy if used often or failure is costly; Repair if it still fits and repair buys real life; Borrow or rent if needed a few times a year; Skip if already solved well enough. Cost per use equals total ownership cost divided by meaningful uses.

Page 59 · Chapter 11

Buy, repair, borrow or skip

The four options for any purchase, and the one question that decides each. As the book puts it: if you've already solved the problem well enough, the product has to beat zero.

Page 83, Figure 17, battery runtime arithmetic: rated 2,000 watt-hours times a usable share of about 85 percent is about 1,700 watt-hours; divided by a 150-watt average load gives about 11 hours. The same battery runs a 1,500-watt space heater for roughly one hour.

Page 83 · Chapter 17

How long a backup battery really lasts

How to work out how long a home battery will run your essentials, why a space heater drains one in about an hour, and how you'd recharge it on day two.

Example values. The book says to check the maker's numbers and test at home.

Page 135 · Chapter 1 summary

Give the Freezer a Job

Every chapter has a one-page summary like this: what to write down, the answer on the most tempting purchase, and a line for what would change your mind.

Page 145, one-page summary of Chapter 11, the General-Store Test. Fields: problem, alternatives, cost per use, consequence. The answer: skip it, for owning a tool you will use once or twice a year; rent or borrow it until your own records show ownership costs less per use.

Page 145 · Chapter 11 summary

Skip it, and here's why

The answer always comes with its reasons. Here: rent or borrow a tool you'll use once or twice a year, until your own records say otherwise.

Page 169 · Worksheet

Buy, repair or skip: the worksheet

What you're deciding, your options, the upfront cost, the ongoing cost and your answer. Print it, or write on it in a PDF app. It's a printable page, not a fill-in form.

Page 179, Source Notes: official U.S. sources checked on 1 to 2 October 2026, including the Department of Energy, Federal Trade Commission, FoodSafety.gov, Ready.gov, the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the CDC and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.

Page 179 · Sources

Where the advice comes from

The safety and factual advice comes from U.S. government sources, each one linked. The book also tells you to check the latest version before acting on anything safety-related.

The full book

181 pages. 28 decisions. One PDF.

28 chapters, 25 diagrams, a one-page summary of every chapter, checklists and worksheets. PDF + EPUB.

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