Poor Man
Survival
Self
Reliance tools for independent minded people…
ISSN
2161-5543
A Digest of Urban Survival Resources
To succeed, jump
as quickly at opportunities as you do at conclusions
- Benjamin Franklin
- Benjamin Franklin
You’re Never Too
Old to Be Debt-Free
by Diane Smith
We are
both in our 70s and are just finishing our home that was built out of pocket
with no debt.
We were
fortunate to have purchased our lot as a package deal when we bought and built
our former home. This lot — 2 3/4 acres with a well and septic — came with the
deal. We had to purchase both lots or nothing. We let this lot sit for about 10
years while we finished the other home. This time we wanted no debt so decided
to build as we went.
We sold
our former home too quickly and had to move into our new house way too early.
It was just a shell. We stayed in a hotel for the first two weeks while we got
some plumbing done.
We
decided on a log home and bought our logs from a mill down the road that was
milling "beetle kill" logs. We paid $4,500 for the total package.
Each square log had to be routered (to accept chinking) and set into place. We
used a "cherry picker" that my husband rigged with a small motor to
help us lift our logs into place. Some were more than 20 feet long. It worked
quite well for us. The two of us put the entire two-story shell up alone.
We have
built the entire home by ourselves over the past six years, metal roof and all.
Our kids have come down some weekends and helped with some of the heavier jobs.
Our
two-story home measures 30 by 20 feet — just under 1,450 square feet. It has
two bedrooms and a bath upstairs, as well as a great room, kitchen and bath
downstairs.
We have
spent approximately $50,000 finishing our home. It is still a work in progress,
but nearly finished.
We live
in rural Alaska and do not have to deal with building codes or building
inspectors, so that is a big plus for us.
At our
age, we probably would not do this again, but it has certainly been an
interesting journey. We live a better life without a mortgage hanging over our
heads.
>Sidebar<
Reduce Your Water Bill with Rain Barrels
Like many people, you may have planted a garden, hoping to put a dent in your food bill and put more natural and delicious food on your table. That is, until you open your water bill and cringe at the total. Before you throw in the garden towel, consider setting up some rain barrels. It is an easy and extremely affordable way to harness Mother Nature's bounty, and much more beneficial to your garden as well.
Like many people, you may have planted a garden, hoping to put a dent in your food bill and put more natural and delicious food on your table. That is, until you open your water bill and cringe at the total. Before you throw in the garden towel, consider setting up some rain barrels. It is an easy and extremely affordable way to harness Mother Nature's bounty, and much more beneficial to your garden as well.
>>><<<
Unless
you have unlimited funds (rare these days), my advice to anyone building as we
did is to be prepared to camp out in your home for an extended period of time.
Be patient when you are still installing all your plumbing and have to wash
your dishes in your bathroom sink because the kitchen is not ready. Learn to
live with particle board on your floors until you can get carpet or tile down.
(We stained the particle board to be able to scrub it). Enjoy your
particle-board countertops (we used three coats of varnish). They work great
until the permanent tops are installed.
Each new
addition to the house is a joy. Not everyone would do this, but if you can live
in the mess of construction, the joy of a debt-free home is worth every day of
building.
Excerpted
from MOTHER EARTH NEWS, the Original Guide to Living Wisely. To read more
articles from MOTHER EARTH NEWS, please visit www.MotherEarthNews.com or call
(800) 234-3368 to subscribe. Copyright 2014 by Ogden Publications Inc.
Electric rates are
going up, so cooling our homes is getting more expensive due to Obama’s war on
coal and new EPA regulations.
And, it's not just electricity for cooling. It won't be too long before
we'll be heating our homes this winter. With the exception of natural gas, most
heating oil has gone up dramatically. For instance, a gallon of #2 fuel oil has
gone from $2.36 in 2007 to $3.90 today (source
Bureau of Labor Statistics).
More cool stuff you
can do to save money, live better!
Find DIY and Homemade ideas here:
Your donations and purchases are
appreciated…
Yours in freedom,
Bruce ‘the Poor
Man’
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