I love videos like this with brilliant, thrifty ideas. Learn how to tap into treasure hiding in plain sight.
“Hi micro housers. Here is a tip on saving $thousand$ on your house. I will be using these in my build series so stay tuned to learn how to. When you’re done harvesting [gutting the RV for usable parts] you can use the shell for storage or as a guest house or sell it to recoup more of your money.”
Kevins Micro Homestead and on facebook. Enjoy.
From the same blog:
“How little could you thrive on if…
So the whole question is how little could you live on comfortably if you had no rent or house payment (owned your home) no car payment, grew a garden? Add the idea that you could walk ride a bike or take the bus some or most of the time to work and shop. Could you save money? Be sure to count in power and insurance food you would buy as well as entertainment. Also allow for clothing hair cuts and medical. Would you be able to thrive on say $25 k or $30k per year? Oh don’t forget phone and Internet and cable TV. If you use them. Could you grow a significant amount of food in your backyard garden to take a bite (pun intended) out of your grocery bill?
My thinking is yes if the major costs in life are taken care of there is time and money for living a great and comfortable lifestyle. Living in the right community would be a key consideration in this life as it would foster it. Like minded people could share resources and help each other thrive regardless of the economy. Clothing, food, transportation and other things like tools and child care could be shared or bartered.
Just curious as to what the perspective is out there. Thoughts and ideas you might share with everyone. Thanks in advance.” Kevin
We have a few weeks to wait for the man whose property we are purchasing to receive his title so he can sell to us. The property contains and old, collapsed house and barn, both of which have rusted corrugated metal roofs. Some of the wooden siding on the house looks salvageable. We hope to purchase a very inexpensive travel trailer in which to live while we build our small house (I already have a triple pane stained glass window, rescued from a door our neighbor tossed). The property is wooded, so some resources there…hoping to use earthbags and cob, as well as cordwood and slipform construction…not building micro, but want small. We’ll be building a couple of workshops to work out of (his and hers) and I want a greenhouse so we can have fresh food all year ’round. This is all in answer to prayer, as we had no means a few months ago. One morning I prayed that, if we were meant to do this, God would give us the money to do it; that afternoon, I opened the mailbox and pulled out a letter informing us my husband could take out his retirement in a one-time withdrawal…it was a retirement fund he did not know he had, from a job he had worked years ago…God is SO GOOD!
A travel trailer (5th wheel) has even more stuff in it and would likely cost less because it doesn’t have a motor.
I’ve seen this before, here :
http://www.youtube.com/user/solarcabin/videos?flow=grid&view=0&sort=da
That guy teaches how to build a small solar cabin and he used components from an RV as well.
Cheers :)
Craig
Good idea on the travel trailer, thanks. I’ve heard prices on RVs and boats are low now due to the recession. People need cash.
Earthbags, straw bales, poles from a forest, etc. are cheap. It’s all the hardware and mechanical stuff that adds up. Using recycled components as shown in the video (plus doors, etc.) will greatly reduce costs. Build small and add on later. And look for rural areas with few or no codes.