I'm Titus Freeman

Fourteen chapters. One all-purpose bottle at eleven cents that retires the nineteen under your sink, plus scouring paste, glass, floors, grout, polish and brass.

Laundry soap by the gallon for under $3 where the jug costs $14. Whitening without bleach, grease and blood and ink and rust, hard water, line drying.

Roaches, ants, mice, weevils, fleas, wasps and silverfish. A pest contract runs about $200 a year; this list runs about $30 the first year and less after.

Soap from what's left after cooking, hand salve, tooth powder, balm, bath salts and cold cream the old way. About $180 a year of store goods for around $25.

Sixteen chapters and the biggest number in the book. Baking mix, vanilla, mustard and mayonnaise, butter and buttermilk, broth worth keeping, and bread at 40 cents a loaf.

Candles from saved wax, fire starters from the trash, lamp oil and wicks, cooling one room, holding heat in one room, and keeping metal from rusting.

Compost ready in one season, feeding the ground, rooting cuttings, mulch for nothing, saving seed, potting soil, and a cold frame for eight dollars.

Stretching feed, grit and shell and what hens need, bedding when straw is dear, feeding a dog from the kitchen, flea and tick powder.

Rags, dishcloths, doing without paper towels — $125 a year for a basket that costs nothing — napkins, twine, stuffing, wrapping and what a holiday costs.

The eight tools that do ninety percent of it, where every shutoff in your house is, what a repairman actually charges — and the five jobs to never do yourself.

Fourteen chapters and about $600 a year. Slow drains, blocked drains, running toilets, dripping faucets, leaks under the sink, frozen pipes, and shutting it all off in a hurry.

Doors that won't latch, doors that stick in summer, squeaks, stiff locks, broken panes, painted-shut windows, torn screens, loose stair rails.

Nail holes, real holes, cracks that keep coming back, hanging something heavy, finding a stud, water stains, peeling paint, painting a room properly.

Starts with what you may and may not do. Breakers, switches, outlets, ceiling fixtures, flickering lights, lamps and cords — and where the line is.

Fridges that ice up, dryers taking two cycles, washers that walk, dishwashers leaving grit, ovens running hot, humming disposals, and when a repair costs more than it's worth.

Wobbly chairs, sticking drawers, re-gluing joints, rewiring a lamp, sharpening knives and shears, and honest advice on what's worth fixing at all.

The first five minutes. A burst pipe, no heat, no power, water coming in, the smell of gas, something sparking, a tree down — and the one page to tape inside the cupboard door.

Reading a roof from the ground, finding where water gets in, loose fence posts, dragging gates, soft steps, concrete cracks, outdoor faucets, water sitting against the house.