GoodDaughter
01-07-2009, 08:14 PM
I'm not sure where this goes, so I am putting it here under 'General'. Doesn't matter where it goes, it's more about me putting my thoughts in order and just sending it 'out there'. Maybe that will be cathartic.
I had a little revelation today. *Some may have read about my upcoming new job. It's a good job, a good opportunity in many ways. I'm not complaining about the job. The more I think about it, the more possibilities I see for spending some of that money. It's going to make things easier here at home, but it's also going to FINALLY give me an opportunity to SERIOUSLY move forward with getting a small house or cabin built on my rural acreage so I can move out of this growing barrio. I've been thinking about that, and other things too. Was driving home this afternoon after I bought my little digital tv converter box, listening to talk radio. *All the talk about what Pelosi/Ried/Et al. have done to our constitutional rights and what the fallout was predicted to be... bad. For most of us. For a very long time. And I looked down at that STUPID digital tv converter box laying there on the seat and I just wanted to smash it, throw it out on the freeway and let some Mack truck crush it to bits. (No, I didn't get the government tit-sucking coupon either). I just hate what that stupid little box represents, I guess.
Then I started thinking about self sufficiency, homesteading, doing all I can to provide for myself, and all the zillion little things I think of when I feel discouraged about the state of our country. For me, falling back on my plan of self sufficiency is a way for me to feel like I have a plan, some control, some way out of the whole mess if/when the time comes. *I hate Hate HATE feeling bad about the future. It's not the way God wants us to live, and I refuse to be dragged down by all the hate and evil in the country and world. So, I start thinking about what I'm gonna do and how I'm gonna go about doing it. I am constantly thinking about it, what steps I need to take in order to remove myself as much as I possibly can from 'them' *Them being the ones who want so regulate and tax and control you until your desire to live is sucked out of you like so much fuel for their hate mills.
My subconscious must have been working on the problem, because suddenly I have this insight I've never had before---why not change the rules of the self-sufficiency game instead of playing it by their rules? Here, I've been trying all along to think how could I live as frugally as possible and still be able to pay all the taxes I have to in order to have a decent home, land, etc? *I mean, I live pretty darn frugally as it is, I don't have most of the things so many other people do like cable tv or satellite, new vehicle, new clothes, or for that matter even healthcare, home owners insurance, or high speed internet. Heck, I'm still on dial-up because it's cheapest.
But, that's playing by THEIR rules. I am STILL trying to fit myself into their parameters. In trying to figure out how I can live the most inexpensively, all I am doing is trying to figure out how to live most inexpensively according to their guidelines. Granted, I'm at the bottom of their guidelines, but I'm still abiding by them.
What I need to do is stop trying to conform my life to fit within their boundaries. I don't need anyone to tell me what is good for me, or demand that I do this or that for the sake of others (who often don't deserve it anyway). I am perfectly able to discern what is good and what is bad in life.
I need to write my own boundaries. Stop playing the 'game' according to the way they want me to. And start playing it (what I choose to call simply living my life) by my OWN rules.
I have some ideas, which I probably shouldn't post here. *But I have a couple others floating around in my head... Here's an example.... the house I live in now is smallish, very plain but very well kept and clean. Very plain vanilla on the outside. Inside, I've got to say it's turned out pretty nice considering what I started out with. *Now I know the tax assessor goes by 'comparable sales' and 'fair market value' and etc. when assessing taxable value on a home. *Ok, I'm actually at the point where the thought of running up some God-awful looking shanty, maybe made of two or three 40 ft. containers of differing colors, and some peeled cedar poles and rock.... yeesh, it would be horrible looking. I can see it in my mind's eye. *What would the tax man think? (We're talking about an area where there are no buidling restrictions/codes/permits in very rural northwest Texas). Would he go 'gag' and write some low assessment? If not, I could probably protest it. I have successfully protested three property tax hikes in the past 15 or so years, on my own, no attorney. *But who says the inside of the house can't be nice? *;) Or that it's even my house at all? No, it's my barn. Or my storage buildings. Yeah, I've got furniture stored in there. *They want to tax it? Ok, let them figure out what it is first. House? Barn? Shed?
Pay exorbitant electricity costs? Why? I'm at the point I'd rather invest in some good deep cycle batteries and a small solar setup, and have my 3 generators handy. Have my pickup rigged so I can charge a few batteries while I'm out driving around doing other things. That way I could still have a computer, a few lights, etc. Yeah, I'd have to buy gasoline, but at least that would be more under my control than trying to keep my electric use down to levels most people would freak out over, and STILL get bills for $125 or more! Utilities are too unreliable, too subject to vast fluctuations in cost.
I could really run amok with this train of thought. It's quite liberating.
I had a little revelation today. *Some may have read about my upcoming new job. It's a good job, a good opportunity in many ways. I'm not complaining about the job. The more I think about it, the more possibilities I see for spending some of that money. It's going to make things easier here at home, but it's also going to FINALLY give me an opportunity to SERIOUSLY move forward with getting a small house or cabin built on my rural acreage so I can move out of this growing barrio. I've been thinking about that, and other things too. Was driving home this afternoon after I bought my little digital tv converter box, listening to talk radio. *All the talk about what Pelosi/Ried/Et al. have done to our constitutional rights and what the fallout was predicted to be... bad. For most of us. For a very long time. And I looked down at that STUPID digital tv converter box laying there on the seat and I just wanted to smash it, throw it out on the freeway and let some Mack truck crush it to bits. (No, I didn't get the government tit-sucking coupon either). I just hate what that stupid little box represents, I guess.
Then I started thinking about self sufficiency, homesteading, doing all I can to provide for myself, and all the zillion little things I think of when I feel discouraged about the state of our country. For me, falling back on my plan of self sufficiency is a way for me to feel like I have a plan, some control, some way out of the whole mess if/when the time comes. *I hate Hate HATE feeling bad about the future. It's not the way God wants us to live, and I refuse to be dragged down by all the hate and evil in the country and world. So, I start thinking about what I'm gonna do and how I'm gonna go about doing it. I am constantly thinking about it, what steps I need to take in order to remove myself as much as I possibly can from 'them' *Them being the ones who want so regulate and tax and control you until your desire to live is sucked out of you like so much fuel for their hate mills.
My subconscious must have been working on the problem, because suddenly I have this insight I've never had before---why not change the rules of the self-sufficiency game instead of playing it by their rules? Here, I've been trying all along to think how could I live as frugally as possible and still be able to pay all the taxes I have to in order to have a decent home, land, etc? *I mean, I live pretty darn frugally as it is, I don't have most of the things so many other people do like cable tv or satellite, new vehicle, new clothes, or for that matter even healthcare, home owners insurance, or high speed internet. Heck, I'm still on dial-up because it's cheapest.
But, that's playing by THEIR rules. I am STILL trying to fit myself into their parameters. In trying to figure out how I can live the most inexpensively, all I am doing is trying to figure out how to live most inexpensively according to their guidelines. Granted, I'm at the bottom of their guidelines, but I'm still abiding by them.
What I need to do is stop trying to conform my life to fit within their boundaries. I don't need anyone to tell me what is good for me, or demand that I do this or that for the sake of others (who often don't deserve it anyway). I am perfectly able to discern what is good and what is bad in life.
I need to write my own boundaries. Stop playing the 'game' according to the way they want me to. And start playing it (what I choose to call simply living my life) by my OWN rules.
I have some ideas, which I probably shouldn't post here. *But I have a couple others floating around in my head... Here's an example.... the house I live in now is smallish, very plain but very well kept and clean. Very plain vanilla on the outside. Inside, I've got to say it's turned out pretty nice considering what I started out with. *Now I know the tax assessor goes by 'comparable sales' and 'fair market value' and etc. when assessing taxable value on a home. *Ok, I'm actually at the point where the thought of running up some God-awful looking shanty, maybe made of two or three 40 ft. containers of differing colors, and some peeled cedar poles and rock.... yeesh, it would be horrible looking. I can see it in my mind's eye. *What would the tax man think? (We're talking about an area where there are no buidling restrictions/codes/permits in very rural northwest Texas). Would he go 'gag' and write some low assessment? If not, I could probably protest it. I have successfully protested three property tax hikes in the past 15 or so years, on my own, no attorney. *But who says the inside of the house can't be nice? *;) Or that it's even my house at all? No, it's my barn. Or my storage buildings. Yeah, I've got furniture stored in there. *They want to tax it? Ok, let them figure out what it is first. House? Barn? Shed?
Pay exorbitant electricity costs? Why? I'm at the point I'd rather invest in some good deep cycle batteries and a small solar setup, and have my 3 generators handy. Have my pickup rigged so I can charge a few batteries while I'm out driving around doing other things. That way I could still have a computer, a few lights, etc. Yeah, I'd have to buy gasoline, but at least that would be more under my control than trying to keep my electric use down to levels most people would freak out over, and STILL get bills for $125 or more! Utilities are too unreliable, too subject to vast fluctuations in cost.
I could really run amok with this train of thought. It's quite liberating.