Prosper In Any Economy – 10 Handy Tips
With the economy facing its worse outlook in decades and the cost of living going up across the USA, the time to ogle another way of living is becoming more and more apparent. For most American, they can see no other way but for others with vision the solutions are easy to see.
Become self sufficient is something that most Americans did by nature before the 20th century with most of society being more rural, independent, and farm based. With the building up of the big city in the 20th century, people more and more began to leave the country and settle into this more crowded and cramped city life. The city life had much to offer or so was promised. In the big cities there is always something to do. It offered entertainment, schools, grocery stores, banks, and transportation. The only thing missing in all this was ones ability to be truly independent.
So is it possible to become self sustainable once again this time while living in the city? If you’re living in an apartment or condo your options are not as good as someone who owns a single stand alone house. But there are steps that everybody can take to reduce there dependence on a system, and increase there self sustainability.
The following are some ways you can start doing this today.
1 – Open a garden. Again this is something that will be much more fruitful if you have a single house with some land. But apartment dwellers should not totally disregard this idea. Growing edible plants on a window still is possible and while you’re not going to be able to grow your whole food supply this can certainly help to supplement it. And if anything help to give you the experience of growing things. If you’ve got a single house then you want to utilize all the space around your house and start your garden. There are places online where you can purchase enclosed heated greenhouses which can grow plants year round in any climate.
2 – If you can’t start a garden consider purchasing storable foods. Storable foods are a great way to acquire preparedness in any economy. If you your own food then you won’t have to stand in a bread line. There are many companies that offer anywhere from a 3 month to a 1 year supply of storable food. This can be stored for years and saved for an emergency situation. Make sure to compare prices and quality of food before purchasing, but in most cases you can save hundreds even thousands of dollars a year buying in bulk.
3 – Purchase solar panels. Investing in solar panels is a great way to sever your heating and electric bills and increase your self sustainability. With prices on solar panels coming down this is a grand time to consider changing. Most can’t afford to change there whole house electricity over to solar in one step, so the plan is to start a system and increase it regular over time by adding additional solar panels. There are also solar hot water heaters that you can retract. Another benefit of going solar is that you may be able to take the expense of buying solar panels off on your taxes. Also you can, in most cases, sell back unused energy generated by your solar system to your local electricity provider.
4 – Get out of debt, don’t create recent debt, and help close family to get out of debt. “The borrower is slave to the lender” one holy book says and rightfully so. It’s impossible to be truly free if you are in debt to anyone. So the object is to collect out of debt as fast and stay that way.
5 – Fix and repair things instead of purchasing new. Most things you buy in the store today are not designed to last a long time. Some would say on purpose to keep you in the buying loop. So sometimes you may have to pay a little more to save a lot more in the long run. By spending a runt more on higher quality items you can put in the long run as these usually last longer. Learn how to repair things such as furniture and clothing as opposed to purchasing new.
6 – Take advantage of new technology. Today there are many new inventions available to the general public to befriend you be more self sustainable. One of the most entertaining is the Water from Air units. These are basically portable units that produce water out of the moisture of the air. They also contain filters to make distinct water is at optimal pureness.
7 – Fetch to know your neighbors. Building relationships with your neighbors and finding out about there skills and hobbies you can catch in the ancient art of bartering. If you are a good handy man and your neighbor is a mechanic you can exchange services without paying a dime.
8 – Downsize your lifestyle. “It’s the little things in life that matters”. “The best things in life are free.” These are sayings that can help to sum up this point. Do you really need the latest and greatest vehicle, or can a reliable late model do the same. Do you really need to upgrade to the latest TV or is your old 25″ good enough. These are all questions that you must answer on your own about your life.
9 – Try to live and maintain a healthy lifestyle. The better you capture care of yourself now, the less health issues you will have later and consequently the lower your medical bills will be. As the saying goes “An apple a day, keeps the doctor away”. The only part that saying is leaving out is that it will also help to keep the medical bills away as well.
10 – Go back to the country. Living in rural communities is probably the only way to become totally self sufficient today. Doing so drastically reduces expenses as most of the responsibility for your hold life will be handled by you. As previously mentioned that are lots and lots of new technology today that can make this remarkable simpler than in the past. From whole house solar panel systems to using wind mills for power, the possibilities are limited only to your ability to research and refine them to your own lifestyle. Starting a small farm to feed yourself and barter with your neighbors is much easier to do in the country as land and resources are abundantly available at a much cheaper cost than suburban and urban areas.
There are also grants that you can get from the government that can help you to start or upgrade your small family farm. The first move is to learn as distinguished about these programs. Also if you’ve never lived in the country, try to rep a friend or family member who lives or knows someone who lives in the country and ask if you can cease with them for a weekend to gape how you like living away from it. For most people the country life can almost automatically gash stress and bring about a peacefulness that is hard to pick up in the city with the constant noise and pollution.
You only live once. If you can’t invest the time in effort necessary to change your life for the better than no one else will. By following some or all of these ideas you will prosper in life under any economic situation.
Souces:
Surviving an economic recession – Survival tips
http://www.gatherlittlebylittle.com/2009/02/surviving-economic-recession/
The Treasures of Simple Living
http://www.innerexplorations.com/catsimple/2.htm
Related Posts
Filed under Whole House Replacement Water Filters by on May 23rd, 2011. 