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- we live within our means (only exception is the mortgage) - no credit cards of any sort - avoid all wants, really discuss what we consider to be "needs" before parting with any money - in order to help avoid the wants we don't have cable television (or antenna television for that matter) the...

:lol: Good answer Roosmom! Dace, you may be closer to your self-sufficiency dream than you think! My husband and I started out dirt poor, and in time "worked our way up" only to realize this isn't feeling like "up" to us. The more we had the more we felt we needed, and happiness was not...

A very popular winter squash around here (New England) is the Blue Hubbard squash. It's a giagantic, ugly, bluish-grey blob of a squash, that tastes very similar to a butternut squash, only a little milder maybe. It stores for around 6 months, and once you cut (aka. sledgehammer) one open you...

Again sitting in cubicle. :caf

A moderator keeps us all in line! :smack (Fortunatly though, so far, based on what I've seen, we've done a pretty good job at that so a moderators job shouldn't be too hard yet, until all the troublemakers sign on! ;))

Welcome Scott! It sounds like you already have some great baby-raising-without-getting-sucked-into-mass-consumerism knowledge which may come in handy for some of us, some day! ;) I don't think any of us are nearly as self-sufficient as we'd like to be, that's why we're here. It's always great...

Chops vegetables I, making chili. (So glad I went back to read the directions, I thought you were all losing it!:lol:)

It's so hard to not be paranoid when this stuff happens. It seems like everytime one of these tainted food/product scandals unfold lately, first we hear that it's only limited to one or two products, or in one or two countries, and the next thing you know it's affecting everything. Of course...

If you haven't already heard about this, I'm sure you will. I don't entirely understand if this applies to food sold in the US or not. I get the impression that no one is really sure yet. Regardless, I thought I should pass this along in case any of you have a bowl of M&M's or Oreo's sitting...

I doubt we'll see true blue food rationing any time soon. Some areas were complaining of a sort of temporary rationing that was going on pre-Hurricane Ike, and I'm guessing after Katrina, that those regional types of rationing by individual businesses may occur more, to prevent selling out of...

Natalie, I live in Vermont, pretty much right on the VT/NH border. I just took a look at my catalog and the company we use travels to what appears to be all of VT, MA, ME, NH, most of RI and CT. Here's the link to their site http://www.assocbuyers.com/aboutus/buyingclub.shtml Even if there...

Not at all hard, look what I just found! (Don't be discouraged if you live in a very rural area, I do, and I think most buying clubs are rural or small town located.) http://www.unitedbuyingclubs.com/RESOURCES/FABC/FABC_Home.htm http://www.coopdirectory.org/distributor.htm Even if the list...

I'm in one! They're very popular here in New England. I can't speak for all "buying clubs" or "food co-ops" but here's how mine works. There's a company in the area (actually several hours away) that is basically a grocery distributor. They issue monthly catalogs that the club members...

Here's my favorite, really cheap, really easy, healthy winter comfort food, and it's pretty much guaranteed that I have all the ingredients in my kitchen at all times. (It supposedly serves 4-6, but if we don't have anything else with it, my husband and I can polish it off between the 2 of us...

So true! Perhaps we should start trading our dollars for baseball cards! :lau

I'm no finance/economics expert but I'll take my best crack at this. First of all, currency trading is a common, everyday practice, just like stock trading, since currency values fluctuate constantly. Governments also trade currencies, just as individual currency traders do. Basically, it is...

Thanks for all your good advice and suggetions. I grew up on a farm, watching both of my parents work together to make a living on the farm, so even though I've been doing the 9-5 thing ever since I've been an adult, it's never felt natural to me, and I don' t think it ever will. But it's...

Cassandra, Thank you. There's a lot of good suggestions in there! I can tell you have been working towards this for some time now, and really do have it all planned out. Good luck! One thing I could definitely benefit from is more DIY experience, especially in building and repairs, and also...

Okay, here's my situation where do you live? - Vermont (1.75 acres, in the country) do you plan on canning- preserving? - yes, this was my first year, water bath only, at this point do you hunt? - no, I'm a vegetarian, my huband isn't but is just fine with only having meat when eating at...

:gig I guess we'd all probably be pretty miserable salespeople! One of the reasons I ask this question is because I have a job that will likely be ending next July. Of course my dream is to buy a few goats, expand the garden and chicken flock, and think of whatever else I could do to make it...