• Keep a can of wasp spray handy. This product is designed to spray a stream of harsh chemicals up to 15ft. It’s less expensive than pepper spray, and just as effective if aimed at the intruder’s face.
• Buy a cattle prod. Stun guns are illegal in some states. Cattle prods aren’t. Granted, you have to get closer to use it than with a stun gun, but if you have to use it, I promise it will incapacitate the intruder.
• Buy a cordless staple gun. You don’t need a license. Keep it charged and keep it loaded. If you start shooting nails or staples at an intruder, they’ll get the message in a hurry.
• Get an air horn. When used in a closed environment, this device can disorient an intruder, giving you time to wallop him/her with your cast-iron frying pan.
• Keep a loaded paintball gun handy. It won’t kill anyone, but those little balls of paint fired at close range can put a real hurting on an unsuspecting intruder.

Regardless of how you choose to protect yourself, your family, and your property, have a plan. Run through the worst-case scenario in your head a couple of times so you know where your “weapon” is. If you have children, and they are old enough to participate in a safety drill without becoming terrified, practice with them so they know what they can use as a weapon and how to properly use it.  Be safe out there people.

1. The Hollywood Habit. Someone told me they paid upwards of $10 a head to see the latest mind-numbing “hit” from Hollywood. I can’t imagine parting with my hard-earned money to see anything Hollywood puts out. Ever. All commercial entertainment in this country comes with an agenda. Why pay a bunch of millionaire ideologues for the privilege of being dumbed down? Instead, learn to appreciate the value free activities offer.
2. Going Out to Eat. Why? Anyone who has any respect for themselves at all will avoid commercial eateries at all cost. The food, if that’s a term you’re comfortable using, is contaminated with chemicals and has been handled by hordes of people, many of whom have questionable hygiene routines. Why would you pay good money for nasty food? Instead, learn to cook for yourself. You won’t catch me dropping money at places like Red Lobster or McDonald’s. I don’t do chemical-laden food that comes from China and Mexico. Ick.
3. Buying pre-packaged food. I can’t tell you how many of my “green” friends throw their money away by buying pre-packaged organic food. Sure it’s trendy, and for many of these folks it gives them an opportunity for moral self-licensing, but packaging is still packaging, processing is still processing, and politically correct food is way more expensive than it needs to be. Instead, buy in bulk, grow what you can of your own, and learn to eat sustainably—you’ll find it’s cheaper, and much better tasting. Packaging of any sort makes the food taste funny.
4. Sending your kids to public school. The average family spends $600 per child to get ready for the school year. Add to that all the “fundraisers” that nickle and dime tax-paying parents to death, and the number triples or quadruples. Instead of buying cheap, foreign made clothes and supplies at the big box store, and throwing money down the fundraiser black hole, consider homeschooling or parochial school. These options allow you, the parent, to make sure you’re not paying a public employee to indoctrinate your children. Not only do public schools cost and arm and a leg, they co-opt your values and supplant them with the liberal sectarian doctrine that passes as morality in this country. And in the end, there’s no guarantee your child won’t be killed, bullied, raped, or otherwise assaulted in a public school.
5. Discount stores. Stay out of them. Rarely if ever do they offer any real value. What can you get for a dollar? Nothing that is well-built or useful. Instead, find a couple of second-hand stores and shop there. Besides being much less expensive, buying previously owned items is the one thing everyone can do to save the environment. Recycle and reuse. You’ll get a better value, and you’ll feel better about yourself knowing that soon, you’ll be debt-free.

It can be hard to change your lifestyle from going along with the crowd, dropping a ton of cash on movies and video games, and trying to live like everyone else. When the going gets tough, and it will, remember, your neighbors are in debt up to their teeth. They keep running around the debt wheel, spending money like crazy for the privilege of fitting in. Ask yourself, who wants to fit in with a bunch of people who don’t have the good sense to get out of debt and stay out? Don’t try to keep up with the Jones. They’re going nowhere, and fast.

I’m particularly struck by the plight of the Hess family, who according to the BBC, had a ten-acre piece of land and a home and a $320,000 mortgage. I wonder if they had read just one issue of Countryside if they would have decided that maybe they could live well for less. What if they had built a yurt, like JoAnn Skywatcher whose hand-built yurt has stood for 30+years? And what if, instead of depending on the government to feed them, they belonged to an intentional homesteading community?

As the economy sputters toward recovery, people don’t need charity—they need knowledge, the kind of knowledge that readers of Countryside share in each issue. Instead of contributing to a charity to help the Hess family and others like them, perhaps we should all buy a subscription to Countryside Magazine for them. A subscription to to Countryside will help show the recipient that it’s more important to be resourceful and sustainable than rich. You don’t need a six-figure income to have an exciting and interesting life. You only need to recognize and use the resources available to you. When you give the gift of a Countryside subscription, you give the recipient more than just a gift. You give them a chance to achieve, to believe in themselves, and to be a part of the oldest homesteading community in the country. An $18.00 subscription to Countryside is a far better gift than pity or charity.

This morning, as I was deciding what to make for breakfast, I found myself face-to-face with three over-cooked bratwurst. First served up hot off the grill, then baked at 350° for about an hour (I forgot about them). Still, when there were three left, I decided to put them back in the fridge, where they would stare at me from under the bunched up plastic wrap.

Not only were the three black brats harshing my Sunday morning mellow, Wayne had left part of a Mason jar of beer next to the blackened brats. Great. Black brats and flat red beer. What can you do with that combination? Hey, this is Wisconsin, and I’m the world’s biggest cheapskate—I can work wonders with anything, as long as there’s cheese. And in our house, there’s always cheese. Using the leftover leftovers, I whipped up a frittata (baked omlette) that was gobbled up.

Here’s the recipe:

• One dozen eggs
• Three leftover bratwurst, chopped
• One medium onion, chopped
• Half a tomato, chopped
• Half a green pepper, chopped
• Two tablespoons flat beer
• A cup of grated cheese

Preheat oven to 400°. In a large cast iron frying pan, combine the onion, green pepper, and tomato with a little olive or other oil. Cook until the onions become translucent. Add chopped bratwurst and stir until incorporated into the mixture. Turn off heat.

Beat eggs, a little water, and the beer until very fluffy. Add to pan. Top with cheese. Place pan in the hot oven and cook at 400° for ten minutes, then turn the oven down to 350° and continue to bake until the middle of the frittata has puffed to full height, about 20 minutes. When it’s done, the middle will feel solid.

Just like that, old bratwurst are new again, and I used every last ounce of the meat that we purchased. That little action is just as important as any other in the scheme of things. When you help yourself, you help the planet. Zero-sum for breakfast. Only in Wisconsin.

• The Freecycle Network The Freecycle Network™ is made up of 4,775 groups with 7,090,000 members across the globe. It’s a grassroots and entirely nonprofit movement of people who are giving (& getting) stuff for free in their own towns. It’s all about reuse and keeping good stuff out of landfills. Each local group is moderated by a local volunteer (them’s good people). Membership is free.
• SwapTree You list the books, CDs, DVDs, and video games that you want to trade and the books, CDs, DVDs and video games that you want to receive and swaptree does the rest.
• Craigslist You can find all sorts of things for free and barter, all sorts of things. Exercise extreme caution when dealing with people you meet on Craigslist, especially in the adult section.
• The Free Site A modge-podge of free Internet stuff.
• Tip Junkie One of the best blogs for finding free stuff on the Web. Right now there are 107 giveaways listed, a value of $6,391.  Fabulous products with real value – way better than your average giveaways.

The Internet often gets a bad rap from mainstream media outlets, but for those of us who are scroungers see it as a great tool for finding free stuff. We all need free stuff now and then.