To be honest when I wanted to know about this kind of thing (in particular food storage and water) I PM'd Red. The fact Red is not cleaning himself with baby wipes and just chucked 6000 litres of water shows that to have been a good choice.
Living basic to save on bills
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To be honest when I wanted to know about this kind of thing (in particular food storage and water) I PM'd Red. The fact Red is not cleaning himself with baby wipes and just chucked 6000 litres of water shows that to have been a good choice.
...really I should plumb in an automatic overflow into a soakaway laid under the veg beds ...but I'm waiting till I dig the drive up next.
I agree the guy is a bit of an oddball....but I suppose my point is so long as he pays his "societal dues", good luck to him. I do agree also he is loading the dice - and I agree with Mary that I don't like the aspect of (ab)using free gym memberships - that starts to make him into another parasite.
I agree the guy is a bit of an oddball....but I suppose my point is so long as he pays his "societal dues", good luck to him. I do agree also he is loading the dice - and I agree with Mary that I don't like the aspect of (ab)using free gym memberships - that starts to make him into another parasite.
If you ever have time read Robert Caldini's - Influence Science and Practice which covers "free gifts" (amongst many other things) and how they are supposed to work influence you. I could never take the advice of just hoovering them up though.
I've just been looking at his website and (taken as presented) there's quite a lot of ethics in there one of the companies is website called Stop Self Harm
Yep I looked at the reference to his charity work in one of the articles. He is clearly "different" - but the world needs different now and again.
We haven't gone quite so far yet - but we do refuse to accept deliveries from one courier firm who are consistently untruthful - we inform anyone we buy from that they are getting their goods returned and we will buy elsewhere until they change couriers. Many people think we are mad for doing that - but I will not deal with liars.
Red
We haven't gone quite so far yet - but we do refuse to accept deliveries from one courier firm who are consistently untruthful - we inform anyone we buy from that they are getting their goods returned and we will buy elsewhere until they change couriers. Many people think we are mad for doing that - but I will not deal with liars.
Red
xylaria
Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Water rate bill in 2009 from severn trent £146 per annum, water bill from from dwr cymru 2010 £410 per annum. Ok my property is bigger, my mother moved from luton to the same size property in wales and saw another £180 added to bill.Not quite
three times the price for water from dwr cymru than severn trent.
Well the prices have certainly got a lot closer in the past three to four years then, especially for metered supplies, if the bill is based on rateable value it is like comparing apples to oranges...
xylaria
Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
good on you. I shop a lot on line, and dread if a certain firm is used. I wouldnt used a company that puts a costomer at such inconvience just to get goods delivered.
My other bugbear is companies when you have voted with your feet and stopped using their services ring you up repeatedly with "better offers". Leaving BT or british gas is like dumping a clingy boyfriend, "we can change your plan" "did we treat you badly" "we are really sorry you are leaving".
I have lived enough basic and primitive enough to satisfy me for the rest of my life and I did that early on. But if he wants to do that, then fine, provided that's what he's actually doing.
Water is probably the least of our expenses at the moment, though in some parts of the country, it is a scarce commodity. But where I lived back in the hills, it was free--sort of. You got it out of the ground where you lived. There was no "city water," as we call it. There were problems, though, if it was an unusually dry season or it someone else had a stronger draw on the water supply. You might end up having to haul your water. Finally, underground mining really messed up the water supply.
The basic problem with people trying to "live off the grid" and penny-pinching like that, is that it only works if only a few people do it. It's like those people who drive through your neighborhood to avoid the traffic instead of using the main highway like everyone else. Some people like that imagine themselves as a latter day Thoreau and some take it to the logical end and basically squat on vacant land. Of course, some people who live normal lives, pay their taxes and their bills can make for pretty difficult neighbors, too. They have little sense of community. But some people's idea of community has "gated" in front of it.
Water is probably the least of our expenses at the moment, though in some parts of the country, it is a scarce commodity. But where I lived back in the hills, it was free--sort of. You got it out of the ground where you lived. There was no "city water," as we call it. There were problems, though, if it was an unusually dry season or it someone else had a stronger draw on the water supply. You might end up having to haul your water. Finally, underground mining really messed up the water supply.
The basic problem with people trying to "live off the grid" and penny-pinching like that, is that it only works if only a few people do it. It's like those people who drive through your neighborhood to avoid the traffic instead of using the main highway like everyone else. Some people like that imagine themselves as a latter day Thoreau and some take it to the logical end and basically squat on vacant land. Of course, some people who live normal lives, pay their taxes and their bills can make for pretty difficult neighbors, too. They have little sense of community. But some people's idea of community has "gated" in front of it.
If you live in a country that does not admit every immigrant that wishes to live there, then you are, in a macro sense, living in a gated community and are part and parcel of the thought process that builds "gated communities" at a micro level.
Well, sir, I live in the United States and I am descended from an immigrants, all of whom came well before Ellis Island opened for business, and even then, some came illegally. Mostly, however, all are welcome. In two generations, the old country is forgotten--usually. German is still spoken in a few places by groups who came here 200 years ago, although it wouldn't pass as modern German. Spanish is still spoken here and there by people who were there first. But we're too big to wall off the world, though not necessarily big hearted.
Wow so all those stories we read about green cards and tens of millions of illegal immigrants, anchor babies etc. aren't true then?
Don't believe everything you read.
I have contact with many immigrants every day, at least if I leave the house, and that was even true in the backwoods of West Virginia. My first cousin married someone from Puerto Rico over 50 years ago. There are gravestones fifty feet from where my parents and grandparents are buried with inscriptions in Arabic. I had neighbors who were from Italy. That's what America is.
I like most of the immigrants. On the whole, they are much easier to deal with than many native born (though not native Americans) people I sometimes deal with, who can be arrogant, lazy, prone to violence and drinking, scofflaws and often have a poor command of English, although I will concede, they are not English. My wife, an elementary school teacher, has a slightly different opinion. She had children whose parents are illiterate in English and sometimes cannot yet speak English, although they are just as often illiterate in Spanish, too, which is the language of many of her students, though by no means the majority.
I don't know where all these millions are coming from but there must surely be parts of the world that are becoming depopulated. I know that is the case where I'm from and I guess I'm part of the reason why.
You know that the whole idea of citizenship doesn't go back all that far but it was a long time before American Indians were granted citizenship.
I have contact with many immigrants every day, at least if I leave the house, and that was even true in the backwoods of West Virginia. My first cousin married someone from Puerto Rico over 50 years ago. There are gravestones fifty feet from where my parents and grandparents are buried with inscriptions in Arabic. I had neighbors who were from Italy. That's what America is.
I like most of the immigrants. On the whole, they are much easier to deal with than many native born (though not native Americans) people I sometimes deal with, who can be arrogant, lazy, prone to violence and drinking, scofflaws and often have a poor command of English, although I will concede, they are not English. My wife, an elementary school teacher, has a slightly different opinion. She had children whose parents are illiterate in English and sometimes cannot yet speak English, although they are just as often illiterate in Spanish, too, which is the language of many of her students, though by no means the majority.
I don't know where all these millions are coming from but there must surely be parts of the world that are becoming depopulated. I know that is the case where I'm from and I guess I'm part of the reason why.
You know that the whole idea of citizenship doesn't go back all that far but it was a long time before American Indians were granted citizenship.
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I don't, but I'm aware enough to understand that all Western civilisations maintain a high standard of living by keeping out most of the World's population.
In effect we keep our children well educated, well fed and with good health care by denying that provision to others. If we had to spread our wealth around all of the worlds poor, our own standards of living would fall dramatically - so we choose not to let that happen by "gating" our countries with border controls, visas, immigration quotas, green cards and all the rest.
It is a double standard to say that its okay to keep other people out of our country, but not to do so in our residential streets.
In effect we keep our children well educated, well fed and with good health care by denying that provision to others. If we had to spread our wealth around all of the worlds poor, our own standards of living would fall dramatically - so we choose not to let that happen by "gating" our countries with border controls, visas, immigration quotas, green cards and all the rest.
It is a double standard to say that its okay to keep other people out of our country, but not to do so in our residential streets.
The top 300 of the worlds richest people have the same wealth as the bottom 3 billion of the worlds poorest. Some of that inequality could be ironed out with only the lifestyle of 300 people having to suffer. And even then they'd still be well off in comparison.
Sure but why shouldn't the rest of the population of Western states also "chip in"? Any of us with a total income (including benefits) of over about £8,000 is comparatively rich. Why shouldn't everyone who is on the positive side of inequality not share? Is there not some hypocrisy in thinking "those with more money than me should have to share it, but I should not have to share my wealth"?
It is extremely unequal - but we on this forum are amongst the most fortunate of people in the history of mankind. Its invidious for us enjoying all the benefits of living in twenty first century Britain to complain of unfairness whilst continuing to benefit from the very unfairness we are condemning.
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