Learn to accept the seasons and changes in temperature they bring. Total dependence on heat pumps and air conditioning is not only expensive, but unhealthy. In the summer we open the doors in early morning to cool the house, closing them when it begins to warm up. Our two story home is cooled by a small, limping swamp cooler upstairs, so we have learned to close the shutters and blinds on the side of the house receiving sunshine and use fans to circulate the air downstairs. In the winter we receive solar heat from our greenhouse and by opening shutters and blinds to the sun. We have an efficient wood-burning stove whose warmth rises to heat the upstairs, eliminating most of the need for electrical heating. Besides, cool houses are healthier — fewer bugs, germs, particulates, and gases from fuel combustion. Each degree lower cuts fuel consumption by 3%.

Silk is the warmest natural material. Wear it next to the skin to retain warmth. It is especially good as underwear, hat, and glove linings. Wool is warm also, but the weave in silk is closer, retaining heat. Stay warm with layered clothing, socks, long-johns, a sleeping cap, and a warm blanket tucked under the mattress cover. In the winter, we often sleep outside on our deck under feather comforters with balaclavas to keep our heads and faces warm. To sleep under bright twinkling winter stars and breath fresh air is reward enough for bundling up.

Sleeping out in the summer is also a way to avoid keeping the air conditioner on all night. Houses are made to protect us from harsh conditions. The Pueblo Peoples, those in Jerusalem, and other people in arid climates always had flat roofs where they could escape the stuffiness of four walls for a wonderful and refreshing sleep. I remember an old Caddo Indian leader in Oklahoma who had his bed out on a raised platform in his yard. He was one of the last few Ghost Dancers left alive, and his beautiful songs of long ago were alive and filled with spirit as they drifted on the cool evening air. Consider building an elevated deck . . . you will love it!

In the winter, steer away from cold foods such as ice cream or iced drinks and eat warming foods from the oven or soups to stay off the cold chill of winter. For breakfast during the cold months, our family eats blue corn meal mush, oatmeal with raisins, buckwheat pancakes, apple sauce, refried beans, eggs and chili. For dinner we eat hearty vegetable soups like lentil and corn chowder with homemade muffins or bread. Our favorite, “Buhler Borscht “ is made of beets, beet stems and leaves, carrots, red onions, red cabbage, vegetable salt and a dollop of sour cream. Steamed vegetables with grain dishes such as whole wheat cous-cous, buckwheat groats or rice are also warmly received during the winter time. If foods are eaten fresh in their season, we will be more in harmony with the cyclic pattern of nature, stay healthier, and save money in the process.

In the summer avoid too much cooked food. Heavy, dense, fiberless foods such as meat, pastry, puddings and potatoes will only slow you down. Summer is the season for fresh cucumbers, cantaloupe, grapes and fresh fruits and vegetables of all kinds. Our family usually eats light in the summer months with watermelon, cherries and cooling mangos high on the list of favorites. The boys make their own hi-protein, yogurt, fruit smoothies and graze on raw vegetables and other easily prepared food until evening dinner. My boys are not picky eaters, but if I bring junk food into the house they will eat it and start acting like picky eaters. It’s sort of like “if you build it . . . they will come,” from the movie “Field of Dreams,” only in this case it’s “if you buy it . . . they will eat it.” If you feel bad about the junk food that your family is eating, stop buying it. Once a week cook a big pot of California short grain brown rice, beans or potatoes and use those basics to build your healthy fast food meals around. One of our favorite healthy fast foods is corn, green chili, vegetable seasoning and white corn tortillas torn in little pieces, sauteed in corn oil with a little water to steam and soften the tortillas. In summer we add yellow crooked neck and zucchini squash — cheese optional.

Give up expensive or time-consuming addictions. If you have them, you know what they are. Every hour spent in front of the television set or video game is an hour of service, meditation, reflection, reading, study, craft work, or income productivity lost forever. Be selective with television viewing in order to make it a worthwhile and enjoyable experience.

If you think you can live without the latest timesaving gadget, you are probably right. I love my blender, though I could probably live without it, but I would never trade the grinding stone and smooth hand held grinding rock that my father gave me for the most expensive food processor in the world. It is a part of our family and preforms its work very well, crushing herbs, grinding grain, sprouted wheat, or cracking nuts perfectly with a light tap.

Just say “NO!” to vending machines and expensive impulse buying. Bring lunch to school or work. Jog or visit libraries, museums or parks during lunch hour instead of window shopping. If you want to lose weight, make a hi-protein powder/frozen fruit/apple juice/ low-fat yogurt smoothie before leaving the house in the morning and put it in a thermos to keep it ice cold.

Refuse and recycle 99.99% of all moneymaking offers. They will get rich . . . at your expense! Most of us have already learned this from experience. Forget the magazine subscription 100 Million Dollar Grand Prize Sweepstakes and read the magazines at the library or share with friends if possible.

Wash dark, slightly soiled clothing on the cold setting or by hand, with less soap. Rinse with white distilled vinegar to remove the last of the soap and soften the clothes. Dry clothes on the solar dryer (with clothespins!). If it rains, let the distilled water rinse and soften them further. Iron wrinkled clothing by hanging it on the inside shower door while showering. Turn the nozzle away from the door so only steam touches them.

We wash our hair with liquid Castile soap and rinse with apple cider vinegar for shine. For body we use pure aloe vera gel. One of my luxuries is the occasional use of Herbal Hair Conditioner by Nature’s Gate. The smell takes me right back to the mountains. The indigenous Peoples have long used pounded Yucca root for shampoo . . . but it is a lot of work.

Put a filled jug of water in the toilet tank to conserve water or use new advances such as clean and efficient self-composting toilets. If a faucet leaks and cannot be fixed right away, use a container to catch and save. Use cooled, mineral-rich vegetable cooking water to water house plants. They will show their appreciation with abundant growth.

Keep the freezer compartment of the refrigerator filled to prevent overworking the motor, even if it means filling empty milk jugs with water and freezing them. These ice containers also make great cooler ice blocks to keep your picnic food cold. They have the added benefit of not leaking and wetting everything in the food cooler.

Use Hydrogen Peroxide to lift bloodstains out of clothing. Wash only full loads, and have everyone change out of their good clothes and hang them up when returning from church, temple, mosque, or other dress-up functions. Mend small tears before they become large ones. To remove oil or grease stains from soft leather, rub in dry cornmeal and brush off. Cornmeal also makes a good dry shampoo for those confined to bed.

Always check grocery receipts. Surveys reveal that supermarket scanners overcharge one in every ten items! Eat before grocery shopping and always make a list. Check all charges on receipt — especially sale items, before leaving the store.

When renting a hotel room, call the 800 number first, then the desk number. Be sure to use the telephone first, even if just a block away, as there are several different prices for the same room, depending on availability and other factors. Simply call first, and you’ll probably be offered a better price than if you show up tired, carrying a heavy suitcase, or with cranky, sleepy children. We called from the lobby of an expensive Salt Lake City hotel, to our favorite motel, an older one with tile bathrooms, big bathtubs and an outdoor Jacuzzi, and got a room for several dollars less, so we know this strategy really works.

Big business always finds ways to convert social sentiment to cold hard cash. One of the worst examples of this is fast food outlets touting their environmentally correct packaging while destroying the rain forests to raise cattle. The same can be said about most nonrenewable resource users. The concept of simplicity will no doubt suffer the same fate. Beware of any corporate advertisement that promises a simpler, less complicated life if you buy their product.

Millions who practice the biblical law of tithing believe the remaining 90% of their money and resources go farther and lasts longer. These well-balanced people have no reason to lie about the results of following The Authority on wise resource use.

By Laura Buhler, © 1997