I'm a big fan of Kunstler--not only of The Long Emergency but also of The Geography of Nowhere. In the latter book, he speaks eloquently of walkable communities and vibrant downtowns.
A rural small town surounded by farms can be very fuel efficient, but the biggest part of the savings come from skipping the energy-intensive intermediate steps (where the wheat, corn, and soybeans are turned into crackers, chicken tenders, and ding-dongs).
Small cities and medium-sized towns are actually pretty hard to beat--there's huge energy savings possible when you have a few delivery trucks driving to a grocery store that's within walking distance of many households.
If self-sufficiency is your fall-back plan, I strongly suggest that you test the strategy with some small pilot programs--grow a big garden, talk to the village council about legalizing chickens, try going two weeks without driving to town. Real self-suffiency is a hard path, and a little practical experience will be very helpful if it turns out that you need it.
I've seen a lot of people move from our small, rural town (pop. 450) to the bigger cities where they work in an effort to save money on gas. But what I tell my kids is that when the fuel situation starts to affect deliveries to the food stores, where will all those people get their food? Our tiny town is surrounded by fields and farms. If push comes to shove, we'll be able to band together and grow our own food and raise our own animals. We'll be able to quickly change local ordinances so that we can keep chickens and goats in town, maybe even a cow. Our small rural town, where we all know each other, will be able to become self-sufficient fairly easily and quickly compared to the apartment dwellers and others in the big cities. Read THE LONG EMERGENCY by James Howard Kuntsler for more information.
If your total income is under some threshold (currently $8,749 if you're single, double that for married filing jointly), you don't need to file a return at all. If your total income is over the threshold, you're supposed to report all your income, including small cash payments.
Anyone who pays you more than $600 a year is supposed to report it. If they don't, it's easy enough to hide the money simply by spending it (that is, by not depositing it into your bank account). Of course, that only works if the amount is small compared to the part of your income that you do report. It's also leaves you vulnerable to the guy deciding to rat you out.
In further to my comments earlier, my local petrol station is now charging £1.38 for a litre of diesel. This means that each litre would cost $2.76 or $12.42 for 1 Gallon!
I actually went online to see if anyone had the same problem I did and apparently they have found a way to keep some millions of dollars out of our pockets...Same Story, typo on dependent...They stated I more than likely would not get a check, since there "correction" showed I owed 1500.00, when I asked who I could talk to about this they said I could call my congresman. They were rude and very unhelpful. It honestly broke my heart that. One number off and it cost me 1500.00.
I have the same problem with spending money. I never stop to think about it and the next thing I know, my entire paycheck has vanished and I feel like I didn't benefit from it vanishing at all. But I have to say that I have never thought about comparing my wasteful spending habits to punching a kitten. I will have to try this the next time I'm out shopping or late paying a bill.
Papa Murphys Doesnt even have a freezer in the store.
All veggies are diced and sliced the same day as served.
Their cheese (which is kosher) is grated daily in the store.
Their dough is also made from scratch daily, not frozen crusts like most pizza places.
As for the wait, there is no excuse ! but it sounds like they were quick to respond and correct it.
My # 1 reason is you can see how its prepared,
not having to wondering what is in that cheese covered pie.
Papa Murphys is #1
I think of Office Space right off the bat when I hear about money laundering. I've always wondered how to do it, not that I would ever need to.
I've been told though that if your non taxed income (like if you're a babysitter who gets paid under the table rather than through a company that would take out any taxes) is under $5,000 you don't really need to report it. I wonder if that's true ...
One more (possibly fanatical) health concern, however: if you are giving your baby expressed breastmilk from a bottle, some sources say the bottle should be plastic. Research indicates that some of the beneficial antibodies found in breast milk may cling to a glass bottle. Google it and decide for yourself.
My husband and I own a home on 7.5 acres in a very rural area. We live 20 minutes from the nearest towns with actual stores. I work 48 miles from home and my husband works 23 miles from home. My husband's work is in a town that I pass through to get to my office, so 3 days a week we carpool, the other 2 days I work from home and he takes my car. Before the gas prices reached $4 in our area, my husband and I would drive seperately (his truck only gets about 15 mpg!). However, our gas bill was getting so outrageous ($550 in one month) that we could no longer do that. I always stop by the grocery store on my way home from work so I don't have to make special trips. On the weekends we stay at home and tend to our gardens. If we run out of milk or something on the weekends, I supplement with dry milk until Monday, but I usually keep close tabs on that to make sure we don't run out. Moving into town is just not an option for us. One town would be farther from work and the other towns schools are not very good. Besides, our quality of life would change drastically if we moved to town. That is why I try not to complain too much when gas prices rise because it is our choice to life and work where we do. We just try to save where we can with gardening, carpooling, internet shopping with free shipping, and multi-tasking our trips. We try to be as resourceful as possible and hope that the gas prices go down eventually or alternatives will arise.
That looks like a nice exercise. Everyone should do an exercise like that at least once in there life. I have a vison board, which is really cool.
I put on the board pictures of everything I want to accomplish no matter how big, and I look at it everyday. It helps me figure out were I'm are going. Which is the first step to getting there.
I do feel your pain. Hubby quit working a job that required commute to the nearest town (we are very small, less than 1900 people.) The 17 minute drive was killing us. In fact, we didn't have a doctor within 20 minutes until just a few months ago, and our local dentist folded up shop, leaving us with little health care alternatives.
I am close to my family (mother lives right next door) so we often carpool into the nearest town and also go once a month to the city (Omaha) for all the things we can't mail-order or to do garage sales and maybe even take in a movie. It's a long day with all the kids, but it really gives us a chance to get out, get it done, and we are thankful to be back home after spending all that money. (It seems like a lot when you do it all on one day of the month!)
We used to have a membership to the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha, see movies regularly, eat at nice restaurants (there are none where I live), and really get into the culture of the area. Our culture now is to simply stay home, use the library's free services, homeschool the kids, attend local events, take advantage of church fellowships and camps, and maybe we'll get a membership to the local pool.
Once everyone else committs to sticking around our home town, maybe they'll be enough of an opportunity for us to have a booming social life where we live (instead of driving 30+ miles in search of it.).... maybe.
This doesn't really help those that live in truly rural areas or farmers. I grew up in a town of under 3000. The town now has very little in the way of retail space. These days to buy most anything besides groceries, domestic cars and medicine (good luck if you want something like leeks or ethnic foods) is in a town of about 15,000 which is 30 minutes away. Small hybrid cars are all Honda and Toyota still, so those need to be bought in the larger town. If you need it fixed or serviced, there's more gas down the drain. These rural areas are also often the places that actually need trucks and other gas guzzlers.
Take control of everything in your life. Outsourcing bring additional problems such as cost factors. Every item outsourced has to be paid for. Not every person/company will provide an excellent service. Cut down on the areas in your life you cannot control. Concentrate on the areas that matters.Maybe less of the stressful job, and more on your hobbies that can bring in extra cash if you sell your ideas.
Take control of everything in your life. Outsourcing bring additional problems such as cost factors. Every item outsourced has to be paid for. Not every person/company will provide an excellent service. Cut down on the areas in your life you cannot control. Concentrate on the areas that matters.Maybe less of the stressful job, and more on your hobbies that can bring in extra cash if you sell your ideas.
I think it's worth getting an honest buyers agent to deal with the negotiations and to have some legal protection. Seller's agents do not have to disclose even known faults (bad plumbing, water damage, foundation problems) of the property in my state. Good, honest buyers agents look out for that stuff.
As for the seller, I think a great selling agent can get your house sold in a hurry, but if you have time and can afford to go the DIY route, it could save you some cash.
and at how many people of all kinds ride them, even on Sundays. Of course, the buses seem better designed and faster, ha-ha, than when I rode them to high school 30-odd years ago. I donated my 10-year-old car (transmission kaput) a few months ago to the Salvation Army and made up my mind ahead of time I'd try life without one, not difficult as I work from home and most everything is within walking distance save church, so I take the bus downtown for that. I just hope to reach the point soon when I can stop having to reassure friends and family not to worry, quit feeling sorry for me, I'm not suffering in any way, yes, it's safe, yes, I can afford to buy another car, just don't want to. Happily, I truly actually like not driving and don't miss it, and it works for me.
MLM?
Run your washing machine with just a couple towels and a cup of vinegar to clean it regularly. Makes your washing machine last longer!
I named my daughter Hero!
Hm, I guess I don't need to worry about her becoming a firefighter or caped vigilante any time soon.
@Guest:
I'm a big fan of Kunstler--not only of The Long Emergency but also of The Geography of Nowhere. In the latter book, he speaks eloquently of walkable communities and vibrant downtowns.
A rural small town surounded by farms can be very fuel efficient, but the biggest part of the savings come from skipping the energy-intensive intermediate steps (where the wheat, corn, and soybeans are turned into crackers, chicken tenders, and ding-dongs).
Small cities and medium-sized towns are actually pretty hard to beat--there's huge energy savings possible when you have a few delivery trucks driving to a grocery store that's within walking distance of many households.
If self-sufficiency is your fall-back plan, I strongly suggest that you test the strategy with some small pilot programs--grow a big garden, talk to the village council about legalizing chickens, try going two weeks without driving to town. Real self-suffiency is a hard path, and a little practical experience will be very helpful if it turns out that you need it.
Coming out of the lurker woodwork to say how much I FREAKING LOVED THAT BOOK! Like, DEVOURED.
I've seen a lot of people move from our small, rural town (pop. 450) to the bigger cities where they work in an effort to save money on gas. But what I tell my kids is that when the fuel situation starts to affect deliveries to the food stores, where will all those people get their food? Our tiny town is surrounded by fields and farms. If push comes to shove, we'll be able to band together and grow our own food and raise our own animals. We'll be able to quickly change local ordinances so that we can keep chickens and goats in town, maybe even a cow. Our small rural town, where we all know each other, will be able to become self-sufficient fairly easily and quickly compared to the apartment dwellers and others in the big cities. Read THE LONG EMERGENCY by James Howard Kuntsler for more information.
If your total income is under some threshold (currently $8,749 if you're single, double that for married filing jointly), you don't need to file a return at all. If your total income is over the threshold, you're supposed to report all your income, including small cash payments.
Anyone who pays you more than $600 a year is supposed to report it. If they don't, it's easy enough to hide the money simply by spending it (that is, by not depositing it into your bank account). Of course, that only works if the amount is small compared to the part of your income that you do report. It's also leaves you vulnerable to the guy deciding to rat you out.
you couldnt be more wrong buddy.
In further to my comments earlier, my local petrol station is now charging £1.38 for a litre of diesel. This means that each litre would cost $2.76 or $12.42 for 1 Gallon!
I actually went online to see if anyone had the same problem I did and apparently they have found a way to keep some millions of dollars out of our pockets...Same Story, typo on dependent...They stated I more than likely would not get a check, since there "correction" showed I owed 1500.00, when I asked who I could talk to about this they said I could call my congresman. They were rude and very unhelpful. It honestly broke my heart that. One number off and it cost me 1500.00.
I have the same problem with spending money. I never stop to think about it and the next thing I know, my entire paycheck has vanished and I feel like I didn't benefit from it vanishing at all. But I have to say that I have never thought about comparing my wasteful spending habits to punching a kitten. I will have to try this the next time I'm out shopping or late paying a bill.
great post and there were many thing i just hadn't thought of before for using old neckties, ummm now where did i leave that old tie.
Papa Murphys Doesnt even have a freezer in the store.
All veggies are diced and sliced the same day as served.
Their cheese (which is kosher) is grated daily in the store.
Their dough is also made from scratch daily, not frozen crusts like most pizza places.
As for the wait, there is no excuse ! but it sounds like they were quick to respond and correct it.
My # 1 reason is you can see how its prepared,
not having to wondering what is in that cheese covered pie.
Papa Murphys is #1
I think of Office Space right off the bat when I hear about money laundering. I've always wondered how to do it, not that I would ever need to.
I've been told though that if your non taxed income (like if you're a babysitter who gets paid under the table rather than through a company that would take out any taxes) is under $5,000 you don't really need to report it. I wonder if that's true ...
One more (possibly fanatical) health concern, however: if you are giving your baby expressed breastmilk from a bottle, some sources say the bottle should be plastic. Research indicates that some of the beneficial antibodies found in breast milk may cling to a glass bottle. Google it and decide for yourself.
Another great post! I guess I'll have to get sewing one of these days.
My husband and I own a home on 7.5 acres in a very rural area. We live 20 minutes from the nearest towns with actual stores. I work 48 miles from home and my husband works 23 miles from home. My husband's work is in a town that I pass through to get to my office, so 3 days a week we carpool, the other 2 days I work from home and he takes my car. Before the gas prices reached $4 in our area, my husband and I would drive seperately (his truck only gets about 15 mpg!). However, our gas bill was getting so outrageous ($550 in one month) that we could no longer do that. I always stop by the grocery store on my way home from work so I don't have to make special trips. On the weekends we stay at home and tend to our gardens. If we run out of milk or something on the weekends, I supplement with dry milk until Monday, but I usually keep close tabs on that to make sure we don't run out. Moving into town is just not an option for us. One town would be farther from work and the other towns schools are not very good. Besides, our quality of life would change drastically if we moved to town. That is why I try not to complain too much when gas prices rise because it is our choice to life and work where we do. We just try to save where we can with gardening, carpooling, internet shopping with free shipping, and multi-tasking our trips. We try to be as resourceful as possible and hope that the gas prices go down eventually or alternatives will arise.
That looks like a nice exercise. Everyone should do an exercise like that at least once in there life. I have a vison board, which is really cool.
I put on the board pictures of everything I want to accomplish no matter how big, and I look at it everyday. It helps me figure out were I'm are going. Which is the first step to getting there.
http://www.stocks-simplified.com
You must have put alot of energy into this. Who knew there were so many different thinks you can make with an old necktie?
http://www.stocks-simplified.com
To the guest who commented before me:
I do feel your pain. Hubby quit working a job that required commute to the nearest town (we are very small, less than 1900 people.) The 17 minute drive was killing us. In fact, we didn't have a doctor within 20 minutes until just a few months ago, and our local dentist folded up shop, leaving us with little health care alternatives.
I am close to my family (mother lives right next door) so we often carpool into the nearest town and also go once a month to the city (Omaha) for all the things we can't mail-order or to do garage sales and maybe even take in a movie. It's a long day with all the kids, but it really gives us a chance to get out, get it done, and we are thankful to be back home after spending all that money. (It seems like a lot when you do it all on one day of the month!)
We used to have a membership to the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha, see movies regularly, eat at nice restaurants (there are none where I live), and really get into the culture of the area. Our culture now is to simply stay home, use the library's free services, homeschool the kids, attend local events, take advantage of church fellowships and camps, and maybe we'll get a membership to the local pool.
Once everyone else committs to sticking around our home town, maybe they'll be enough of an opportunity for us to have a booming social life where we live (instead of driving 30+ miles in search of it.).... maybe.
This doesn't really help those that live in truly rural areas or farmers. I grew up in a town of under 3000. The town now has very little in the way of retail space. These days to buy most anything besides groceries, domestic cars and medicine (good luck if you want something like leeks or ethnic foods) is in a town of about 15,000 which is 30 minutes away. Small hybrid cars are all Honda and Toyota still, so those need to be bought in the larger town. If you need it fixed or serviced, there's more gas down the drain. These rural areas are also often the places that actually need trucks and other gas guzzlers.
Take control of everything in your life. Outsourcing bring additional problems such as cost factors. Every item outsourced has to be paid for. Not every person/company will provide an excellent service. Cut down on the areas in your life you cannot control. Concentrate on the areas that matters.Maybe less of the stressful job, and more on your hobbies that can bring in extra cash if you sell your ideas.
Just my views.
Take control of everything in your life. Outsourcing bring additional problems such as cost factors. Every item outsourced has to be paid for. Not every person/company will provide an excellent service. Cut down on the areas in your life you cannot control. Concentrate on the areas that matters.Maybe less of the stressful job, and more on your hobbies that can bring in extra cash if you sell your ideas.
Just my views.
I think it's worth getting an honest buyers agent to deal with the negotiations and to have some legal protection. Seller's agents do not have to disclose even known faults (bad plumbing, water damage, foundation problems) of the property in my state. Good, honest buyers agents look out for that stuff.
As for the seller, I think a great selling agent can get your house sold in a hurry, but if you have time and can afford to go the DIY route, it could save you some cash.
and at how many people of all kinds ride them, even on Sundays. Of course, the buses seem better designed and faster, ha-ha, than when I rode them to high school 30-odd years ago. I donated my 10-year-old car (transmission kaput) a few months ago to the Salvation Army and made up my mind ahead of time I'd try life without one, not difficult as I work from home and most everything is within walking distance save church, so I take the bus downtown for that. I just hope to reach the point soon when I can stop having to reassure friends and family not to worry, quit feeling sorry for me, I'm not suffering in any way, yes, it's safe, yes, I can afford to buy another car, just don't want to. Happily, I truly actually like not driving and don't miss it, and it works for me.