ladykemma
Ideal_Rock
- Joined
- Jan 2, 2006
- Messages
- 2,194
where to start? I was a late bloomer, with no common sense or anything until i turned 28 or so. i was a typical 20 something in debt, and alccoholic, among other things. my parents did not raise any of us "right". severely dysfunctional family. I was a 28 year old 2 year old. deadhead hippie chick.
my first job out of college I lived on a mountain top for two years, either in a tent or a cabin (pear lake ranger station sequioa national park) doing acid rain research for the national park service. I learned how to make, clean, and use composting toilets (fabulous, fabulous things), live a self reliant lifestyle with the other environmentalists up there. did you know yogurt keeps unrefrigerated if you don't open it?
anyway, go into recovery in 1991, first for alcoholism. then did a much more painful recovery for codependency. Eating disorders, money issues, housekeeping issues, ADD, all were addressed in a 12 step and therapy format. I'm well maintained now. ha ha. I basically grew up in public.
well, with my head glued on straight, i found and joined the mormon (LDS) church. Within its framework i learned, as an adult, to balance a checkbook, pay bills, life debt free, store food and heirloom seeds, plant and maintain a garden and fruit trees, make bread, learn to sew, spin, weave, quilt and mend. And, why it is important to do so. I absorbed this information like a sponge, it was all new to me and made such sense. This is what people used to do before bail out programs like welfare. personal responsibility! yes, depression era thinking, but hunney I will survive anything.
I leanred to can and preserve. yes it is a 5 dollar can of tomatoes when you are through, but yum!
So, within the LDS format, i have an entire room in our home devoted to "provident living - preparedness". there is two years worth of garden seeds, heirloom wheat, rice, corn, corn meal, oats, powdered milk(yuck), freeze dried cans of all veg, fruits, you name it. Hope i never have to use any of this stuff. the food that has a short life is rotated out on a yearly basis, fresh purchased. the old used. Yucky stuff composted.
Consumables like cereals, and spaghettios are bought on a case basis. for the two of us I buy (on special) 24 cans of everything. 24 cans of each kind of canned veg and fruit, cannned meats from the Amish, and easily heated and eaten meals like dinty moore beef stew.
cases of laundry detergent (buy 12 boxes at a time on special) and other supplies are maintained . We are the keeper of the storehouse. I have a grocery store in my own house. floor to ceiling shelves.
What is not eaten is never bought again and disposed of without remorse. (beenie weenies were never bought again) the tried and true is bought more the next time.
12 55 gallons drums of fresh water supples in the garage. Some fresh bleach. I refilll the drums right before a hurricane is due. A water collection system/cistern is what I want to try next, as well as a well. I still have not planted fruit trees. I buy candles by the case at IKEA.
When Hurricane Katrina was coming, my principal was freaking out. i said come over to my house to stay. My house is high (for houston
no weapons. Hubby is a quaker.
ok, so add on to this that we are members of the Society for Creative Anachronism. also a bunch of people who spin, weave, sew, make shoes, keep horses, cook over open fires. Did i mention that I know how to make shoes? cook for 250? no problem! I have a portable home in the form of a huge 20x20 medieval tent with luxurious furnishings, lighting and carpeting that can go anywhere. camping in decadence.
I want some land in the country where we can have a environmentally responsible home with solar panels, composting toilets, water collection system, and all.
i believe we are headed for another economic depression. I changed my career to something more stable, not so volatile, and feel much better in that area. my former career was a disaster.
where we have fallen short. retirement needs attention. we are getting a late start. my financial friend is advising us to buy another house (why?)
edited to add, whoops i meant to post this in family and home - will ask mods to move it.
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