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I'm on the lookout for ideas. So far, I'm thinking of putting up a garage, barn, and park model RV, and keeping all other structures smaller than 20'x20' to avoid permitting, installation of overpriced septic systems, grid tie requirements, and excessive taxes. Any takers?

I have never seen any tiny houses as lovely or inexpensive as these. So I thought I'd share. The builder doesn't have his own website, but this blogpost has dozens of pictures, several videos, pricing, and contact information...

Does anyone do this? I am thinking of home canned goods, and dry goods stored in gamma seal buckets*, in a freestanding underground root cellar in a Zone 3 climate. Basically like an outdoor pantry, as we are considering moving to a small place with no pantries. We have two pantries here...

If you live in one (or have lived in one) that is NOT in a park, but is on its own land: What year? Has it been a good value? Has it been hard to heat? Would you do it again?

Right now, we live in town. We thought, when we bought this place, that we'd sell it when the time came to move to the country. Now, with the market the way it is, we are planning on keeping it as a rental. The more we've pondered this, the more of blessing in disguise it seems. DH works at...

We have wide mouth and regular mason jars. So we have Tattler lids and rubber rings in regular, disposable metal lids in metal (for the vac sealer), plastic storage caps in both sizes, and plastic caps for 2L mason style canisters. Plus rings. I also have cheese molds and some other caps that...

I think we all know about big things that save money in the long run- solar panels, home insulation, fuel efficient cars, etc. But there are many little things I've found that are cheap to moderately priced, pay for themselves very quickly, and save a lot of money in the long run. I am always...

I am going to invest in some hand washing laundry equipment. Specifically, I am looking for things to get water out of clothes. I would love a wringer (aka mangle) and DH and I have been pondering him building one. However, the neccesary bearings cost $40 each and we'd need 4 of them. Eeek...

DD gets a commodity food package.* About half the box is canned goods. There is always a meat included with the canned goods. It's only ever been tuna or salmon, but this month we got a big, BIG can of beef. Just beef, in it's own juice. The can says it's ready to eat. I don't know if I...

... we need a homesteading reality show. As much as reality TV can be a need. :lol: I came to this conclusion after watching this clip. (Disclaimer: I am not judging the Duggars for having 20 children. I am a libertarian, pro-choice, liberal feminist. I believe every woman has the right...

So, we made an offer on the house on Tuesday. The seller was asking $81,900. We offered $82,000 with a concession of $3000 for closing. This was our OPENING OFFER. Between you, me, and the lamppost, we would have easily gone up to $85,000 with the closing concession, and probably more. The...

At the hopefully-new-location (made the offer today, fingers crossed!), the nearest bus stop is 1.5 miles away at a Park & Ride. This is where the kiddos will catch the big yellow limo to school, and where we can catch the big blue and white limo into town. (This fact of being deeply rural but...

There is a lot in this subforum about hanging clothes to dry- which is fantastic- but less about washing by hand. I've only really read MamiPollo and Sunsaver as members who have consistently washed and dried in a non-electric way. And, please correct me if I'm wrong, but I think that they...

We don't have an upright fridge. We have three chests that, altogether, use less electricity than one energy star upright- one very big freezer in the basement, one medium chest fridge in the basement, and one small (dishwasher szed) chest fridge in the upstairs kitchen. The stuff in the...

Right now, we live in town, and we have dry loop DSL through AT&T. It is $19.95/mo, no taxes, no surcharges. It is very, very fast. We ask a lot out of it- we have an internet TV streaming device called a Roku and our home phone runs over VOIP with a device called a NetTalk. The NetTalk...

Hypothetical scenario: I own 20 acres of land with a house and barn on it. It is mortgaged. I want to sell ten acres of raw land to my brother. The zoning board approves. What do I have to do to make this right with the mortgage company? Do I need to get the house and barn appraised as if...

This weekend, people have given us: -a ribeye -several pounds of lake trout and coho -two bushels of ziploced, frozen concord grapes, which we are going to turn into wine, save seeds from (since they are local), and perhaps make jam out of... if any last that long! Man, are frozen grapes...

Since we seem to beginning another Interminable March Toward the White House, there's lots of talk of taxes of late. I understand that the president/al candidates cannot and do not control local taxation issues, but all the tax talk makes me think that property taxes are really overlooked...

Right now, we live in town. We have put a lot of time/money/effort into making this house energy efficient. In doing this, I have learned a lot. Our electricity is very expensive, the priciest in the state, 20c per kWh. Because of this extreme electricity price, we have put everything we can...

I can speak pretty intelligently about DC wiring, how to hack a fridge to save tons of electricity, alternative methods of heating and cooling, greywater reuse, and composting toilets... but I have NO FREAKING CLUE where to even begin when it comes to rainwater harvesting and how to do it in a...