Survival Ideas

Outside of the box ideas may be one way to survive this present calamity. Thinking inside the box is one reason the world is in this mess.

So, the first outside the box idea is self reliance. Corporations have proven to us they absolutely can't be trusted. So maybe it is time to take our lives into our own hands and see what we can make with it.

In 1976, my best friend graduated college with a master's degree. He decided to buy land with the rest of his money for college and build a little house on it out in the country. His father had bought land in Palos Verdes, California and my father had bought 2 1/2 acres of land in 1968 in the desert near Yucca Valley, Ca. to build a retirement home on. So my friend and I each had a father that had bought land and built their own house.(Building your own house is much less expensive than paying someone else to build it for you). In the 1950s and 1960s and 1970s in was about 1/2 as much. And if your land is paid for you can sometimes pay for the material out of wages and just work on it weekends. This way you don't need a mortgage at all. Obviously, unless you plan to spend about 10 years or more in this house it may not be a good idea to work 5 days a week at your job and then 2 days a week building your home.

However, times are tough and once you are finished building your house you own it outright without a mortgage only owing property taxes each year.

So, my friend after getting his master's degree bought inexpensive (then) property and built only using unemployment compensation and paying for material with money that he would have paid rent with. He lived in a tent on his land as he built his first small 12 by 16 foot story and a loft one room house. His first Winter he couldn't afford windows for the house and the snow blew in the windows but he persevered. Since he was also a professional musician he wrote a song which had the lyrics, "I'm 24 but I'm getting old" which meant his bones hurt from working on his house all day and sleeping in the snow at night. But by summer it was done. Today his 2 1/2 acres and everything on it have been paid for completely every day since he paid cash for the land in 1976.

Today he is a famous musician who travels the world giving concerts and has had a recording studio on his land which has recorded many world famous groups for the last 20 plus years. He has always believed in paying as he went and never borrowing money for anything, even buying a car. This, I believe is a very good way to go in this present economic climate to always have everything paid for. He has had one of the happiest lives of anyone I know because he has always chosen to live this way.

His total investment over the first 10 years was $25,000 in material and land. He was offered 1 1/2 million for it about 5 years ago and turned it down.

However, like I said even though this can work for you it sort of has to be somewhere you want to stay for over 10 years or more. But think of it, "How many mortgage and rent payments didn't he have to make for the last 30 years?" Taxes only. And everything else could develop his businesses that he would have spent on rent and mortgages. So, this is a short term investment of your time for a lifetime of freedom to do what you really want.

My father bought 2 1/2 acres of land on Yucca Mesa, near Yucca Valley, California in 1968 for $3500. He put a septic tank in and a water tank of 1200 gallons that worked by gravity feed and he put the water tank on top of a very well built tool shed that he built that he put on 4 by 12 planks that could eventually be drug by his pickup truck to a new location on the property after he got permission from the water district to pipe water onto his property. After he got a variance(the only one one his section of land) to pipe water in we emptied the water tank and dragged the tool shed to a more permanent location and built a garage around it. The main house was paid for as we built it. So a part of my father's income weekly went to buying material to build the house. After the Septic tank hole was dug by someone with a backhoe and the fiberglass septic tank was lowered into the hole on top of river rocks we began to dig the foundation for the house. We chose a cement foundation because we live in earthquake country and houses in earthquake country have a way of bouncing off of pier block construction. Anchor bolts are much stronger if set in a cement foundation.

But my father from the moment he bought this land in 1968 moved his 1946 Spartan 28 foot trailer(looks something like an Airstream but a different shape) It is aluminum outside like an Airstream. We moved this trailer onto the land and immediately got electricity and the water tank and tool Shed. Next, we got the septic tank and next we began digging the foundation for the cement floor of the house. In a cement floor you have to set all the plumbing in place before you pour the cement.

By the way, you need and owner building permit from your county if you are in the United States. If you don't get a permit they will make you tear down anything permanent. So getting a permit and then getting what you do inspected is very important with anything new you are building.

If you are making improvements on existing permitted and passed structures I suppose it is up to you how you handle it. Just know that before you sell your house, everything has had to pass inspection or you will not be able to sell it without tearing it down.

In California and some other states there is a classification called a utility shed. You are not supposed to have electricity or plumbing in a utility shed. So if you plan to stay there temporarily it is important to realize this. So don't install permanent electricity or plumbing into a utility shed and not expect an inspector to red tag it and then tell you to tear it down. This is why if you want to keep your home you have to submit plans to the county or City you are in before starting to build anything from scratch.

Many times if there is an existing home structure and you have enough room you could set up a yurt or tent temporarily or park a trailer or motorhome while you are building something new on this property. This allows a person or couple or even family to live when permitted in a temporary vehicle or structure so one is living on the same location that one is building. However, this is mostly permitted further out in the country so it is important to check what is permitted before you set up a yurt, tipi, tent or park a motor home or trailer on this land to live in while you build a more permanent structure.

Even if you don't own the land but if it is owned by a relative of yours or a good friend, if you have permission from them you could build a structure on their land if this is what you want. I have a friend that has done this. However, realize this land isn't yours and eventually you might have to leave your structure you built on this land to whoever owns the land. However, it is another way to survive hard times while not paying rent or mortgage payments, just the material to build the place and paying for all the plans and inspections necessary.

The whole point of this is to not pay rent or mortgage payments so you eventually have more time and more money to start your own business and have more freedom to live your own life the way you want to and not become just another slave to corporations and rent and mortgages.

Think about this. What could you have done with all the money you had to pay for rent or mortgages so far in your life? A lot!