Bruce’s Poor Man Survival Bulletin
A Digest of Urban Survival Resources
For Independent Minded People!
ISSN 2161-5543
In
This Issue:
1. Building community, Reaching out to neighbors
2. 10 ways to pest proof
your home
3. 4 ways to secure your
home when away
4. Return of debtor’s
prison in the US
"Beware the greedy hand of government, thrusting
itself into every corner and crevice of industry."
-- Thomas Paine
(1737-1809) US Founding Father
itself into every corner and crevice of industry."
-- Thomas Paine
(1737-1809) US Founding Father
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Three Big Benefits of Reaching Out to Your Neighbors
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The most tangible benefit of setting
up a community fix-it group is that you'll save money on costly repairs and
replacements. But there are still more advantages to consider.
Setting up a neighborhood or community fix-it group gives you the opportunity to learn and practice barter and negotiation skills. Now I'm not suggesting you try to squeeze every last bit of value out of your next door neighbor in an intense business-like negotiation. I am saying that face-to-face bargaining is a great skill to keep up in an era when we accustomed to getting most of our "stuff" from a store or by pointing and clicking on a computer. Tips on starting your own community group: |
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First get the word out. Let your neighbors know you are interested in started a
fix-it group. You might be tempted to make everyone feel welcome, but you may
be better off focusing on those individuals who the skills you'd like to see
in the group: electricians, people who know how to work on small engines,
people who know woodworking, and people who know sewing might make a good
start.
Then, build a roster. Put together a list of people who are interested in participating and note what skills they bring to the group. Some might be interested in joining simply to learn, and that's okay. That means they'll be developing skills and greater self-reliance — always good traits to have in your neighbors. Next, look for a home. To fix things, you'll need to have access to tools and supplies. You may have a neighbor with a well-stocked workshop who is willing to host your fix-it group in his garage. If not, the local religious or civic organization might be able to give you access to its shop. Or you may be able to find a third-party shop to rent for cheap. Set up a meeting time. Maybe once a week or once a month, get together with your fix-it group. Ask everyone to bring items that they'd like to fix. You work on them together, teaching each other and assisting each other, sometimes learning as you go if a project requires skills the group doesn't have. A final word: I've developed these options here for your thinking. But you can start small and even stay small if you'd rather by working with just one or two friends and neighbors. And you can definitely keep more of your hard-earned money by making a decision to make your stuff last longer – taking a personal stand against our throw-away society. |
PM’s Compendium of Useful Resources
Pest control employment is expected to boom by 26 percent through
2020 according to the United States Department of Labor, suggesting Americans are having a problem
keeping critters outdoors where they belong.
But exterminators
should be your last option. If you take steps to create a hostile environment
for bugs and other pests, you won’t be spending big bucks on the bug man this
summer. Here’s a quick video Money Talks founder Stacy
Johnson put together
about keeping mosquitoes away. Check it out:
We save up for vacations, but we can spend way too much
on home security when we're away. Here are cheap but effective alternatives.
Getting Started Container Gardening
Experienced gardeners give advice for getting started as a container gardener, offering tips on everything from making your own potting soil to keeping critters away from your veggies.
Experienced gardeners give advice for getting started as a container gardener, offering tips on everything from making your own potting soil to keeping critters away from your veggies.
A powerful idea
“Building a community economy.” That ethic, heard from ADP members and workers alike, defines the Springfield-based nonprofit. Deputy Director Keya Hicks, who was an active member before joining the staff, explains the power of the idea, loosely taken from the work of the late feminist scholar Julie Graham: “These are folks who live right in the community. They want their lawns to be mowed. They want their snow to be removed. They work for United for Hire; they pay rent from those checks to keep the property running, so the wealth circulates in the community.” How residents who can’t afford to buy in still get the benefits of co-op work and housing. MORE »
http://www.yesmagazine.org/issues/how-cooperatives-are-driving-the-new-economy/how-solidarity-builds-a-community-economy?utm_source=wkly20130405&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=mrScher
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FREE eBooks
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Prudent Food
Storage and 4 Keys to Food Security
Do you know what a Monkey Hut is? It is a fantastic
design for providing shade for your garden during the hot
summer months: http://www.chromatest.net/Lovemonkey/
The
Nanny State Updates… Americans
are fat n happy while their rights are trampled!
ATF Uses
Brain-Damaged Man To Set Up Gun and Drug Deals Then Shuts Down Operation And
Charges Brain-Damaged Man
From our
‘stupid government stunts’ pages…
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The ATF continues
to struggle in the aftermath of its moronic Fast and Furious operation where
they allowed powerful weapons to walk into the hands of gangs. One of those
guns led to the killing of a U.S. Border Patrol agent. However, in true lunacy,
a more recent operation would seem to demand similar ridicule. In Milwaukee,
ATF agents ran an operation using Chauncey Wright, a brain-damaged 28-year-old
man with a low IQ in the 50s to set up gun and drug deals. They then shutdown
the operation and, you guessed it, they arrested Wright.
Do you still wonder why the Poor Man always
says, We don’t need another election, We need another revolution?
Homemade cleaner for jetted tubs, shower heads and sprayers
read more here
The
Parting Thought- A
return to the ‘good old days in America.’
In October of 2010, the
American Civil Liberties Union published a report titled In for a Penny: The Rise of America’s
New Debtors’ Prisons. The ACLU had found that debtors’ prisons
were “flourishing” in this country, “more than two decades after the Supreme
Court prohibited imprisoning those who are too poor to pay their legal debts.”
In 2011, Huffington Post reported that debtors’ prisons were legal in more
than one-third of the states in this country.
According to the ACLU
report, some state and local governments “have turned aggressively to using the
threat and reality of imprisonment to squeeze revenue out of the poorest
defendants who appear in their courts. These modern-day debtors’ prisons impose
devastating human costs, waste taxpayer money and resources, undermine our
criminal justice system, are racially skewed, and create a two-tiered system of
justice.”
Federal imprisonment for
unpaid debt has been illegal in the U.S. since 1833. It’s a practice people
associate more with the age of Dickens than modern-day America. But as more
Americans struggle to pay their bills in the wake of the recession, collection
agencies are using harsher methods to get their money, ushering in the return of
debtor’s prisons.
Two years ago, the Wall
Street Journal reported—after interviewing twenty judges across the
country—that the number of borrowers who were threatened with arrest in their
courtrooms had “surged since the financial crisis began.” The Wall Street
Journal added that some borrowers who were jailed had “no idea before being
locked up that they were sued to collect an outstanding debt” because of “sloppy,
incomplete or even false documentation.” Diamond said it was becoming more and more common for debtors to
serve time in jail. She added that some debtors are even required to pay for
their time spent in jail—which, she said, exacerbates their dire financial
situations.
To be governed is to be watched, inspected,
spied upon, directed, law-driven, numbered, regulated, enrolled, indoctrinated,
preached at, controlled, checked, estimated, valued, censured, commanded, by
creatures who have neither the right nor the wisdom nor the virtue to do so. To
be governed is to be at every operation, at every transaction noted,
registered, counted, taxed, stamped, measured, numbered, assessed, licensed,
authorized, admonished, prevented, forbidden, reformed, corrected, punished. It
is, under pretext of public utility, and in the name of the general interest,
to be placed under contribution, drilled, fleeced, exploited, monopolized,
extorted from, squeezed, hoaxed, robbed; then, at the slightest resistance, the
first word of complaint, to be repressed, fined, vilified, harassed, hunted
down, abused, clubbed, disarmed, bound, choked, imprisoned, judged, condemned,
shot, deported, sacrificed, sold, betrayed; and to crown all, mocked,
ridiculed, derided, outraged…
“Until the next revolution”, the Poor Man
Join others striving for Financial
Independence in the Poor Man Survival community on how to take back control
of your money. Updated for 2013 and now includes a Will Kit.
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Love the content, love the images, love what you stand for!
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