6 May 2002 @ 11:44, by sharie
There are alternatives to the mainstream way of life.
Many people are not enmeshed in the meanstream at all, and they live great lives.
They own houses and land, but work just a few hours a week, and they enjoy the work they do.
The rest of the time they do whatever they love to do, whether it's research or music or art or inventions or reading or gardening... or spending time having fun with their family and friends.
You don't have to work 40-50 hours to get ahead. I know plenty of people who don't.
I also know lots of people who are invested in the mainstream
... doctors and lawyers and others who are miserable. They hate their lives.
Yes, I know some doctors and lawyers are happy, I just don't know any of them.
I know the people who are in the meanstream and miserable, and I know people who are out of the meanstream and happy.
I know no one who is doing what's socially expected in terms of a *career* and pursuing money and/or prestige... who is also happy.
You might wonder how people can own homes and land, and only work a few hours a week.
All of them that I know did it by not paying any interest. They never took out a mortgage.
When you get a mortgage, about 2/3 of your payments go toward the interest, which goes straight to the bank. It's not for your property at all. Most of the mortgage money is for the Bank president, vice president, the loan officer, etc. so they can buy a nicer house than you.
Usually only about 1/3 of mortgage payments is for the cost of the property. About 2/3 is for bank interest.
So that's the first secret. Don't get any loans. And don't pay credit card interest. You can have a credit card, so long as you pay the bill in full each month, but it's better to have something like a Debit card where you don't get lured into buying things you don't have the money for, which usually means you'd have to pay interest on the purchase.
If you want a home, save up the money for a piece of land, and then pay it in cash. In many places you can build a home under 400 sq feet - four 10 x 10 rooms - without a building permit. If you're outside city limits, you can usually have a septic field, which costs much less than a $10,000 septic system. Save yourself the $10,000.
Three of my friends have bought small pieces of land - one of them has five acres - and each created their own utopia.
One put a small but beautiful and ingenious home on his property. It's classified as a vehicle (a Park Model) so rather than paying thousands of dollars in property tax every year, he only pays $50 vehicle registration. He built a beautiful full-length deck on the front, with a hot tub and hanging planters all around. It's beautiful. In the back he has a gazebo, and all around are fruit trees and an ornamental edible garden.
His monthly expenses including housing, utilities, and food are next to nothing.
Most people are suckered into paying thousands of dollars a YEAR for property tax, plus thousands of dollars a MONTH for their mortgage. Are they brainwashed into thinking a big house will prove how valuable they are?
Are they brainwashed into feeding the beast - the meanstream sewer - with their lives?
There's thousands and thousands and thousands of dollars every year you don't have to earn if you plan your life wisely.
You don't have to slave away for a system you don't believe in.
You don't have to invest your life into a system where your tax dollars are being used to bomb innocent people and murder babies and children.
Friends of mine built beautiful outdoor decks (which are not taxed) and they built beautiful ponds and gardens. It's wonderful to go to their homes. And they are wonderful people to be with. It's so wonderful to be with someone who know's they are free to do what they want, when they want.
They live in mild climates, although it does snow some in the winter.
They pay about $20 a month for electricity, about $20 a month for property tax, and then their monthly groceries, which is usually about $100 per person - but they enjoy gardening - so their grocery bill is about half what most people pay. So they have to come up with less than $100 a month instead of coming up with thousands and thousands of dollars just to pay the banker, the tax collector, and the credit card company month after month... like the miserable, angry, frustrated people in the mainstream do.
Plus they have so many talents, and so many people wanting them to work with them, so they always have money for whatever they need.
One of them goes out camping about every weekend... just for fun. He's going to Mexico this month and Russia this summer. And he only works a few hours a week and thoroughly enjoys his life.
I have a lot more stories I could tell you about a lot of other wonderful, brilliant people who live enviable lives, but I think you get the idea.
I know two women who bought over 60 acres on different mountains - paid for them in cash - in order to free other people from having to slave away for the bank president for 30 years of their life.
There are lots of options to us all.
There's the Intentional Communities website, with all different kinds of community life. Some of the communities are very much invested in the meanstream - the homes cost hundreds of thousands - but others, especially communities in Hawaii, are creating a very different world for themselves.
Their website is at [link]
For anyone searching the ic.org site, be clear on what you want first, and use discretion. There's so much to choose from that it's easy to get caught up in the maze.
If you have any questions, feel free write to me.
Love to you all.
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