Ephifany!!! We can all live for FREE!

[constituent]

Know anything about handmade soap? I wish I had a comprehensive book with the survival know-how of the Indians and the Amish, etc. Once true depression hits, and it will, we'll be without electricity.

not in this day and age... you've got to have special permits and what not.


but, soap is an emulsion... start there and search around.

 

[ghemminger]

Seriously--Food. Heating (while in a house--no 'build a fire' responses, thanks ), water (preferably purified/filtered). I'd like to know how to hand wash clothes the old, cheap way. Cooking methods. Easy-to-grow, longlasting food you can grow in a small yard (I'm hoping potatoes...I don't like most veggies).

Food stamps in my area are $500-700 per month ans WIC is 200-300
My buddy owns a food bank -

Start Your own Food Bank and apply for Grants and Promote - pay yourself with escess food

Heating - Wood Stove technology and recycled insulation improvements - move to warmer climates where you don't need heat

Water - from the tap is Fine

you are on the right path -

 

[ghemminger]

Bump for replies



Know anything about handmade soap? I wish I had a comprehensive book with the survival know-how of the Indians and the Amish, etc. Once true depression hits, and it will, we'll be without electricity.

Soap is so cheap = esp when you dilute it - overwahing hurts the fabric anyways

 

[ghemminger]

That would work ... but I dunno how good I could make it ... I should try it out though!

Learn how to make it on the net and sell it during the recession - you will find many customers...

 

[mysticgeek]

Here is a link

Bump for replies
Know anything about handmade soap? I wish I had a comprehensive book with the survival know-how of the Indians and the Amish, etc. Once true depression hits, and it will, we'll be without electricity.

Here is a link on making homemade soap without lye. My grandma used to make it too... not with this method ... but I will ask her.
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2005/12/easy_homemade_s.php

 

[ghemminger]

Another great step to simplifying your life and becoming self-sufficient is --

The Raw Food Diet -- after 7 years of being a raw food vegetarian, I know for a fact we don't need to eat animals and cook food.

I like this can you tell us the intial steps to get on this diet thanks

 

[AnalogDan]

Beer.

 

[ghemminger]

I'm sorry--I can't be a vegetarian. I have to eat meat. I wish I could eat more veggies happily, but I only eat: corn, green beans, potatoes. Can stomach carrots/tomatoes/celery, but am not enthusiastic about them. I wish I had some cows to milk.

Why not volunteer some time on a farm or for a dairy seller

 

[ghemminger]

Beer.

Make it yourself

Buy it wholesale different varietys, and sell to family and friend for small mark up - do the same with sodas at you place of work

 

[ceakins]

I'm sorry--I can't be a vegetarian. I have to eat meat. I wish I could eat more veggies happily, but I only eat: corn, green beans, potatoes. Can stomach carrots/tomatoes/celery, but am not enthusiastic about them. I wish I had some cows to milk.

Get some goats. Goats milk is better for you anyways, more digestible than cows milk.

 

[ghemminger]

Get some goats. Goats milk is better for you anyways, more digestible than cows milk.

Can some one do the cost anayis of owning one goat vs. the milk they provide? Thanks!

 

[Drknows]

what are you guys thinking of starting a hippie commune?
haha

 

[Shink]

what are you guys thinking of starting a hippie commune?
haha

Nah, this thread is mostly just about survivalism. How to live on the cheap once everyone acknowledges that we're fucked economically.

 

[theantirobot]

What if we could follow the model of blimp for a nationwide solar power plant, or ethonal production infrastructure/biodeasil?

Think of a crowd funded new deal. We could organize transparent corporations. Fund them with micro investments. Everyone owns the means of production.

Free Market + Internet = MAGIC

 

[BillyDkid]

Part of the problem in terms being self sufficient is, unlike 100 years ago, the vast majority of Americans live in urban areas which being self sufficient is really out of the question. I do hope that when I retire I will be able to buy a decent bit of land - enough to have a nice garden and maybe hunt for my meat if I decide I need to have it - or raise it. That seems to me more decent and less hypocritical than going into a grocery and buying meat from an animal you didn't kill yourself. I was talking with my son about it - why he would feel bad raising his own animal for meat, but has no problem with buying it in the grocery store. He said "well, the one in the grocery store is already dead!" and I guess a lot of us feel that way. I suspect though it would only take a day or two hanging around a factory farm and slaughter house to change your opinion about meat eating. At least raising it or hunting it you can show the animal some small respect for the sacrifice it is making in feeding you.

 

[ceakins]

Can some one do the cost anayis of owning one goat vs. the milk they provide? Thanks!

I have two goats, they cost me $100 for both. Both are dairy breeds. I spend about $15 a month during the winter to feed them and hay for their barn. During the summer I have two fields and don't spend any money on feed. I haven't started milking them yet, but let's just say once I breed them, they will produce a lot more milk than you can drink, since they need to be milked once or twice a day. The intial cost is raising them to where they are old enough to breed, and there might be a stud fee, unless you bought a male goat also. I don't care if they are pure bread or not, so a stud fee should be low or nothing once they are ready to breed.

 

[GeneralFreeman]

hell yeah. i'm saving up enough money to become comfortably self-sustainable. i'm going to buy a small plot of land abutting a state park - if you really look you can find land for $3K/acre or less. So I might get 10 acres at $30K. I can build myself a simple house for another $15K. Solar panels for another $15K. Dig a well. Plant a garden and some fruit trees. Then maybe retire. Or maybe work part time if I feel like it. My grocery costs will be negligible, and I'll have to pay some property tax. Other than that, I'll be living free. Except I really love the internet, so I'll probably have that one bill. Oh, and auto insurance, if I want to keep my car. (liability only, of course)

So, save up 60K, and be willing to live cheaply, and you can make yourself basically self-sustaining. Or at least you'll only need to spend a couple thousand dollars a year (mostly on property tax).

That is of course, until a lot of us do it. Then the government will have to crack down on us free-living individuals. The government's got to have its money. Its got bills to pay. I guess it will just have to make property taxes ten times higher, to cover its costs, thereby ensuring that we are indeed enslaved no matter how hard we try to escape them.

 

[Shink]

Can some one do the cost anayis of owning one goat vs. the milk they provide? Thanks!

Here's something on 'meat goats.' I'd like to find specifically 'milk goats,' I guess.

Niche opportunity gets Iowa farmer’s goat – in a good way
Compared to conventional hogs, meat goats bring a relatively quick return with high consumer demand, yet have low overhead costs and management needs. Even the skeptics are starting to ask questions.

 

[ghemminger]

hell yeah. i'm saving up enough money to become comfortably self-sustainable. i'm going to buy a small plot of land abutting a state park - if you really look you can find land for $3K/acre or less. So I might get 10 acres at $30K. I can build myself a simple house for another $15K. Solar panels for another $15K. Dig a well. Plant a garden and some fruit trees. Then maybe retire. Or maybe work part time if I feel like it. My grocery costs will be negligible, and I'll have to pay some property tax. Other than that, I'll be living free. Except I really love the internet, so I'll probably have that one bill. Oh, and auto insurance, if I want to keep my car. (liability only, of course)

So, save up 60K, and be willing to live cheaply, and you can make yourself basically self-sustaining. Or at least you'll only need to spend a couple thousand dollars a year (mostly on property tax).

That is of course, until a lot of us do it. Then the government will have to crack down on us free-living individuals. The government's got to have its money. Its got bills to pay. I guess it will just have to make property taxes ten times higher, to cover its costs, thereby ensuring that we are indeed enslaved no matter how hard we try to escape them.

Great Post - in califorinia - 20 minutes from a metro area 400,ooo people+ you can find 3k Ac - and live very cheap - cheapest way is to park an old mobile on it first and build up from there.

 

[Drknows]

Nah, this thread is mostly just about survivalism. How to live on the cheap once everyone acknowledges that we're fucked economically.

Well its not a bad idea. We could buy solar panels, wind powered generators, water purifiers, computers for every room.

we could make our own pepsi and frozen burritos.

Plus satellite internet access. I cant live without the internets.

Hippie commune 2.0

Ideally my commune would look like the space station.