If you're patient, you can load out an entire workshop just in good old American vintage tools, for very little money. Learn to true up / tune up / repair older versions of new things, and you can save money on the niceties. For example, the oldest kerosene heaters like the Reddy Heater torpedo heaters and the common keroheat radiants, even if they're beat up, are dead simple to fix and cheap to run. Old small engines tend to be rebuildable, and often just have clogged carburetors. No need to spend money on new shit with a few skills in repair and an analytical mind.

And if you don't have an analytical mind, dogged determination and fearlessness will still get you very far.