This is something I've been thinking seriously about for over a year now, ever since a multi-millionaire orchardist friend of mine mentioned they pay about $20 US per week to eat really well because they're self-sufficient. My parents are nearly 60, still work in public schooling and pay spend maybe $100-$120 US on groceries. Both couples had similar beginnings but that is another life story. We talked about it for a while, and they felt one of the reasons they did so well was that spending less on living costs allowed them to retire debt on whatever orchard or farm they were buying that much faster.

Then I was reminded of a science teach I had who rigged up his own central heating system out of old pipes, and coupled with some self-installed solar panels proper insulation was able to cut electricity bills to a few dollars per month. It's probably even lower now that energy efficient lighting is out in force. He got his water from on his property too as I recall.

I'm not talking about cutting yourself off from society entirely or being a monk. I'm interested in working out how many weekly cash expenses I could drasticly lower or eliminate entirely and still have a fun life, and how much it would cost to set it up.

A decent vegetable garden, some chickens, a couple of cows (not for milk but for beef), an energy efficient house... I reckon you could the regular expenses from "town living" by half.

You have to weigh that against the lifestyle you wish to have.

I live on about $5 US a week not counting rent or tuition. I don't have the healthiest diet, but I have multivitamins.

I spend ~$30/week for food.  I could get by for much less if I didn't buy expensive meat substitutes, pre-made hummus, and other prepared foods. 

Nick, youre gonna have problems getting 2 bovines on your balcony...

I'm not saying it cant be done, but it wont be easy.

I spend massive amounts of money on food.

How do you people get by on $5 or $30/ week? Please tell me your shopping lists.

Food: Spaghetti. When that runs out, rice.
Garnish: tomato sauce, hot paprika, cayenne
Drink: Water
Dessert: multivitamin

Things are different when females are mixed up in my life of course. Girls cost money.

For me it's either when I move an hour the other side of Tokyo, or back to NZ.

When I was at school my food bill was $15 per week, and we ate 3 regular meals per day. These days it's pretty rediculous

Typically in a month I'll buy:

Dried Beans
Rice
Pasta
Canned Sauce
Yogurt
Assorted fruits & vegetables
Hummus
Bagels
Tofu
Bocca burgers/veggie dogs/some other meat substitute
Bread appropriate to the fake meat I buy
Triscuits


There are some things I buy less frequently, like olive oil, almonds, mustard, pickles, etc.


Last night, for example, I bought fake meat crumbles, and a jar of marinara sauce.  6 servings per package for each.  I cooked the meat crumbles, mixed them with the sauce, and added 1 serving of pasta.  The meat crumbles + sauce cost $7 combined.  Spaghetti cost $2.50 for 8 servings.  So I have 6 frozen lunches for <$1.50 a pop.  I also do stirfry w/ tofu and vegetables and freeze that for a similar price per lunch.

I spend more if I eat a lot of Bocca burgers or the like for dinner, but a lot less when I'm cooking with dried beans or lentils.  I also grow herbs in the kitchen and get free vegetables from my roommate's plot at the community garden.  I'll probably get my own plot next year.

I eat http://www.fatfree.com/recipes/beans/lentil-eggplant-rice pretty much every day for lunch at work. It's really nutritious, easy to make, and keeps well. It's also less than a dollar per serving of ingredients.

If you join a co-op or a CSA it will control your food budget, i.e. set a cost over time, but it won't be cheap.

The more you make your own food (hummus, bread, tend a garden, etc) the more time you will spend in your own home. Effectivly "talking about cutting yourself off from society entirely or being a monk". Same with owning land or a really efficient home. Shit takes time to maintain, the more time you spend doing that - and the less time/money you spend out in public for reasons of schedule or frugality, the more isolated and monk-like you become.

Strive for efficiency with the lifestyle you enjoy now. Get rid of your tv/cable. Unsubscribe from every service and magazine that you pay for. If you have the option: try to eliminate one utility service (switch to all electric appliances).

Most importantly (and you already know this, Nick) don't use credit cards.

Fuck you for being able to do this.

I have a 400 dollar electric bill because my girlfriend has to leave every giant CRT TV in the house on all day and all night and we have to use the air conditioner all the time because her irrational fear of bugs doesn't allow us to open screened windows. Also, during the winter the level of anger she displays if I try to cover our giant bay window with insulating film is on par with if I just tolder I fucked her sister, and she doesn't believe me that dehumidifiers can lower cooling costs so she just turns them off.

Also, washing dishes by hand isn't acceptable to her so the dishwasher gets run every day. It's constantly full of dishes, they never get taken out and put away, the dirty ones just get put back in with the clean ones and the dishwasher gets re-run.

AND we have to use paper plates and cups. If I get caught using a real plate or cup she goes into near hysterics and a giant fight ensues.

Living with irrational people is very stressful.

that's screwed up

Lucky that recipe sounds really good. Thanks for sharing.

putting insulating film over my windows is one of my favorite late-fall activities. the hairdryer part is the most!

When my co-workers ask about it, I just call it "protein mush". You can spice it in the pot, or sauce it when you serve it with whatever you want it to taste like that day. I like it with sriracha.

You can put bubble wrap on your windows. Just wet the window and place it on, peal off when needed.

That website has a lot of recipes that sound pretty good.

yeah beans (and especially lentils) are good when I get sick of pasta. There are a number of Indian dal recipes that are to die for. With proper spices anything is possible.
Also, I always have a good stock of extra hearty emergency food for when hangovers are crushing my spirits.

This is something I've been thinking seriously about for over a year now, ever since a multi-millionaire orchardist friend of mine mentioned they pay about $20 US per week to eat really well because they're self-sufficient. My parents are nearly 60, still work in public schooling and pay spend maybe $100-$120 US on groceries. Both couples had similar beginnings but that is another life story. We talked about it for a while, and they felt one of the reasons they did so well was that spending less on living costs allowed them to retire debt on whatever orchard or farm they were buying that much faster.

Then I was reminded of a science teach I had who rigged up his own central heating system out of old pipes, and coupled with some self-installed solar panels proper insulation was able to cut electricity bills to a few dollars per month. It's probably even lower now that energy efficient lighting is out in force. He got his water from on his property too as I recall.

I'm not talking about cutting yourself off from society entirely or being a monk. I'm interested in working out how many weekly cash expenses I could drasticly lower or eliminate entirely and still have a fun life, and how much it would cost to set it up.

A decent vegetable garden, some chickens, a couple of cows (not for milk but for beef), an energy efficient house... I reckon you could the regular expenses from "town living" by half.

You could do all that you mentioned on approximately 20 ~ 30 acres, so it would depend on where you wanted to live as to how much that expense would be.

It's pretty easy to build your own Hot Water / Heating system with black hoses and a cistern (water holding tank), since we have sun about 325+ days of the year.

Electricity is a major expense in the country, and you will probably have to join a "Co-Op," where you're actually a part-owner of the company.  Don't let that fool you, however; you're still a customer, and the rates are rather high.  Example:  To run 2 wells, one for the house and one for the pond/trough/orchard/gardens, heat or cool approximately 2,600 sq. ft., run 3 refrigerators, 2 freezers, a 4 bedroom/3 bath home, and a 1,000 sq. ft. shop, during the heat of summer (the most usage/mo times) costs approximately $450.00/mo.

There is no water bill; there is no natural gas bill; heating is supplemented with a wood-burning fireplace, those 5 - 10 days / year that it might be necessary.

TV and Internet are ONLY available via satellite.

Growing veggies outdoors, in a natural setting, is great, until the bugs and the rabbits find 'em.  Cattle need to be fed, watered, given shots, branded/ear-tagged, given special supplements, and protected from fleas/ticks/biting flies/etc.  Also, they'll need a couple of pastures to graze.

Those are some of the considerations, and other members will help ~

Beans and rice is nice

Beans, Beans,
The "musical" fruit
The more you eat
The more you TOOT!

Beans, Beans,
They're good for your heart,
The more you eat
The more you FART!

Well, someone who was on this board until recently has been living that life for a few years. But he left.

you mean hippiehillbilly?

And it's all our fault because we were so mean...  :'(

Speak for yourself.

or some other redundant piece of shit i would post in reply.

Nick, I imagine having those things means having the time to tend to them - so I suppose it's really a matter of time.

Lucky - thanks for the recipe. I really want to try that one out

Insulating windows - I used to use weather stripping tape. There's insulating film? Im all over it. Do you get that at home depot/lowes/ames whatever? Detroit and I also want to wrap the water heater ect.

Dick poster - Make her become efficient by making her pay for her usage.

Stray cats are an excellent source of lean protein.


krsna - Maybe point out to your woman that every penny she stupidly wastes with her antics is one less that can be put toward your children's future.

 That ,or shoot the bitch and write book about it.

God damnit, I was quoting Schoolhouse Rock. Stop low-browing my humor.

Beans N Rice (Schoolhouse Rock PSA)

P.S. Oops, no white kids!

Having talked with Krsna on the phone about this while we were both drunk, I'm confident in saying she has no fucking clue how to budget for anything.

why were no drunken calls placed my way?!?!?!