Do it, make it, fix it, survive it
Do it yourself, do it with your community, just do it.
A list of books and zines about saving money, living better, and when all else fails, surviving.
The Frugal Vegan's Happy Home: Crafts, Rituals, and Recipes for Every Season
Even when you're broke, you can live a full, fun, compassionate life. Are you plant-based, penniless, and keen on…
Cook Your Own Fucking Life: Vegan Comfort Food Recipes to Feed Yourself and Build Community
For scrappy, can-do vegans on a budget, this essential cookbook eschews fancy ingredients and gets back to basics. It's…
Making Stuff and Doing Things: DIY Guides to Just About Everything
When you’re young, broke, and in search of a life of adventure, Making Stuff and Doing Things is the most useful book…
Zinester's Guide to Portland: A Low/No Budget Guide to the Rose City
Billed as a "low/no budget guide to visiting and living in Portland, Oregon, the Zinester's Guide to Portland breaks…
Save Your Food: The Sustainable Joy of Storing, Canning, Drying, and Fermenting
Overwhelmed by the bounty of your home garden? Or do you just want to get smarter about using what's in your fridge?…
Bikenomics zine: How Bicycling Will Save The Economy (If We Let It)
In the follow up to her ten-part series on Grist, bicycle activist and journalist Elly Blue continues to dissect the…
The Frugal Vegan's Happy Home in Spring & Summer
Lisa is focused on saving cash while staying socially conscious, with tips for getting rid of fruit flies, cleaning…
How to Sell Stuff at an Event
So you've got a business where you make stuff—zines, books, crafts, art, widgets. Whatever it is, you're super…
Unfuck Your Worth: Overcome Your Money Emotions, Value Your Own Labor, and Manage Financial Freak-outs in a Capitalist Hellscape
Untangle your emotions and expectations about money so that you can live your best financial life. Without fear and…
Unfuck Your Worth Workbook: Manage Your Money, Value Your Own Labor, and Stop Financial Freakouts in a Capitalist Hellscape
Untangle your emotions and expectations about money so that you can live your best financial life. Without fear and…
Broke, Not Broken: Personal Finance for the Creative, Confused, Underpaid, and Overwhelmed
A compassionate, friendly, and even fun book about personal finance for the overwhelmed. In a world with fewer and…
Temporary Shelters & Where to Find Them
Handy guidance for hobbyists, survivalists, and intrepid builders of all kinds on creating shelters from your…
Your Cozy Life: DIY Nesting Skills for a Sustainable Home
Save money, save the planet, and craft a sustainable domestic life without relying on smelly, toxic, expensive consumer…
Survival Without Rent: How to Set Up Your Own Squat
A how-to guide on setting up a squat, from the perspective of living in New York City and in response to the housing…
A Rough Guide to Bicycle Maintenance
Shelley created this as a little take home instruction guide for her bike repair workshop at the Portland Zine…
Bread of the Resistance: How to Make Sourdough Without Measuring
Build your own culture and resist! Making sourdough bread can be intimidating for most of us. The idea that we need to…
How To Make Your Very Own Menstrual Pads
Industry produced pads and tampons contain Dioxin, one of the most dangerous and toxic chemicals on the planet; known to…
A Guide to Picking Locks: Number One
"How frustrating would it be if you could magically learn everything a master locksmith knew about picking locks, but…
A Guide to Picking Locks: Number Two
Gives the basics on everything from warded locks to key shapes to lock modifications. With this zine no door will hold…
Fix Your Clothes: The Sustainable Magic of Mending, Patching, and Darning
Ever had to say goodbye to a favorite item of clothing because of a busted zipper, fallen hem, or gaping hole? Want to…
Basic Fermentation: A Do-It-Yourself Guide to Cultural Manipulation
Fermented foods are great for your health, and this book is a great resource for learning to use the microbes around…
Dwelling Portably 2008-2012
Couldn't get enough from the 500 pages in 1980-2008? Here's an update! As usual, Dwelling Portably crams in way too much…
Make It Last: Sustainably and Affordably Preserving What We Love
Fix it, ferment it, and make it fit—don't throw it out! Save money and live more sustainably with this illustrated…
How and Why: A Do-It-Yourself Guide
“I dream of a better world,” writes zinester and How and Why author Matte Resist in the intro to his new book. He…
DIY Screenprinting: How to Turn Your Home Into a T-Shirt Factory
A fascinating graphic novel that details the art and science of screen-printing from inception to printed t-shirts to…
Brew It Yourself: Professional Craft Blueprints for Home Brewing
A DIY home-brewing guide that outlines the key methodologies of the two most common home brewing techniques: extract…
Alive with Vigor: Surviving Your Adventurous Lifestyle
Alive With Vigor! compiles stories of surviving—and thriving—from a wide spectrum of contributors. Deeply personal…
Everyday Cheesemaking: How to Succeed Making Dairy and Nut Cheese at Home
Everyday Cheesemaking is an introduction to DIY home cheese making made simple and accessible. K. Ruby Blume introduces…
Grow: How to Take Your Do It Yourself Project and Passion to the Next Level and Quit Your Job
Grow: How to Take Your DIY Project and Passion to the Next Level and Quit Your Job is a practical field guide for…