Possum Living

[MrBubblingbrooks]

Wow. The taxes on my house are nearly $3,000 a year! I'll have to check out the book though- sounds good! We have a copy of Handbook of Rural Skills and Technology, "Cloudburst 1 and 2." Very good book with blueprints of all sorts of do it yourself industrial objects and buildings around the homestead.

 

[Leta]

What!? Your taxes are $3000 per year? Holy cow! I complain non-stop about our taxes at $1200/yr.

 

[Team Chaos]

I'm in the process of reading it now. I have to say that her energy is refreshing and I think it's a good intro read for someone considering a life not ruled by a career/timeclock/paycheck. She's funny and open about the fact that the choices she and her dad make certainly won't fit 100% of the people- not the back-to-the-landers or the corporate type- and that's just it: people need to tune in and make choices, chart their own destinies and decide what they want their living to be like.

 

[miss_thenorth]

What!? Your taxes are $3000 per year? Holy cow! I complain non-stop about our taxes at $1200/yr.

Mine are even higher than 3000. Higher that $4000 too. :/
One of several reasons we are looking to move.

 

[Denim Deb]

I'm not sure how high ours are, but they're over $2000, and that's w/less than an acre of ground. :/

 

[Marianne]

We should start a new thread on the taxes. Ours are approaching $4K a year, but we did it to ourselves by building a big house. When it's done, we're going to put it on the market.

It was a long time ago when I read Possum Living. The thing that freaked me out was that they didn't go to the dentist until they had to have a tooth pulled...am I remembering it right? And the mother who left, had trouble with abcessed teeth (and got no sympathy)? Being the abcessed tooth queen here, I have bought BMW's for at least two dentists through the years. I see my dentist more often than I see my mother. Agh.

 

[moolie]

I've only skimmed the online version, when it came up here on the forum a while back--some interesting stuff in there.

Marianne, interesting comments about going to the dentist.

I saw a dentist about once a year or so when I was a kid till about age 9, then not again till 16, then not again till I needed my wisdom teeth out at 21, then about every 3-4 years after that. I'm 40 and have no cavities or other dental concerns.

My kids went every year from age 2 till around 9, and now they go every 2 years--no cavities, either of them at ages 14 and 15.

But we also don't see a doctor very often--not even yearly, except for my yearly pap (which often stretches to every 2 years).

 

[FarmerChick]

I don't see anyone UNLESS it is a situation I know I need help. I know my limits....but I am also the person who does have their routine checkups, dental cleanings, etc. to stay on top of situations before they get you into the high money troubles. I have good ins. for dental so the cleanings are free and yes we use them. No teeth is not an option in our family

I am the type that would rather spend smaller $ on small things before they become huge $ things.

 

[k15n1]

An observational study was published a few years ago about a community that was living hours away from a hospital. They wanted to know how access to healthcare affected health in a community. Well, this community was made up of people who took care of themselves and rarely needed a physician. Despite being far from a hospital, their health was pretty good.

I find it very encouraging that we have so much control over our health and healthcare costs. (Obviously, we still need physicians for the really serious stuff.)

 

[k15n1]

Here's a survey of property taxes.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AnwfQHEAycNcdG5kWDFDdFlRZXgySXo5alRXbWowbnc&hl=en_US