3 ms·

My genetic grandfather (long story) in West Virginia is living with 800$ a year. 200 goes to property taxes, 24 for the gas well, the rest is for oil, repairs/t

by orwin 6y ago

My genetic grandfather (long story) in West Virginia is living with 800$ a year. 200 goes to property taxes, 24 for the gas well, the rest is for oil, repairs/tools and his weekly meat (and grain for his beer) (living beside a small creek, between two small rivers help a lot with growing your own food). His horses died twenty years ago but from what i understand, since two young ladies are now living with his community, they want to remake the barn and get some sheeps and maybe a new horse. I'm pretty sure that i can get to FU money in 5 years if i go live there, i'm just not really interested (and i will have to get a US citizenship so :/).

vecinu 6y ago
That's an interesting anecdote. I think it highlights why doing that kind of stuff now is more difficult. I know people here in California paying a few thousand $ in property tax on their million dollars houses because they bought decades ago (Thanks Prop-13) but how will someone like me, a fairly recent newcomer afford their tens of thousands $ of property taxes for a new home I buy here? Will inflation eat away at our money such that in 30-40 years from now my tens of thousands $ of property taxes will be similar to the $800/yr your grandfather is paying now? I doubt it. I think that others are saying is true, you just have to pick up and move from expensive places if you want to reduce your costs significantly, no two ways about it.
derekp7 6y ago
You mentioned "growing your own food". How much work is invested in that activity? If you put a price on it, would it be just as cheap to work at a job and use that income to buy the food? For example frozen vegetables are about $1 to $2 per package. Eggs are about $1 / dozen. Bread is $2 a loaf. So purchasing what you could reasonably grow yourself would be at most $10 per day. So working 6 weeks at $15 per hour would buy you whatever you grow on the farm. (Yes, I realize that most people spend a bit more than $10 a day on groceries, my budget is $800 a month for 2 adults and a kid, I'm just referring to the items that you would normally grow yourself such as vegges and eggs).

by orwin 6y ago

vecinu 6y ago

That's an interesting anecdote. I think it highlights why doing that kind of stuff now is more difficult. I know people here in California paying a few thousand $ in property tax on their million dollars houses because they bought decades ago (Thanks Prop-13) but how will someone like me, a fairly recent newcomer afford their tens of thousands $ of property taxes for a new home I buy here? Will inflation eat away at our money such that in 30-40 years from now my tens of thousands $ of property taxes will be similar to the $800/yr your grandfather is paying now? I doubt it. I think that others are saying is true, you just have to pick up and move from expensive places if you want to reduce your costs significantly, no two ways about it.

derekp7 6y ago

You mentioned "growing your own food". How much work is invested in that activity? If you put a price on it, would it be just as cheap to work at a job and use that income to buy the food? For example frozen vegetables are about $1 to $2 per package. Eggs are about $1 / dozen. Bread is $2 a loaf. So purchasing what you could reasonably grow yourself would be at most $10 per day. So working 6 weeks at $15 per hour would buy you whatever you grow on the farm. (Yes, I realize that most people spend a bit more than $10 a day on groceries, my budget is $800 a month for 2 adults and a kid, I'm just referring to the items that you would normally grow yourself such as vegges and eggs).