Self-Sufficiency vs. Homesteading

[valmom]

There is also a homestead declaration in VT that is for tax purposes. Up to a certain family income, if you declare a homestead exemption yearly, you get lower property taxes (actually I think it is a rebate from the state rather than actual lower taxes).

 

[Up-the-Creek]

There is a homestead exemption you can get here, but you have to be disabled or a senior citizen. My parents do not have to pay property taxes because of this.

 

[bibliophile birds]

There is a homestead exemption you can get here, but you have to be disabled or a senior citizen. My parents do not have to pay property taxes because of this.

ahh, to be old and tax-free...

 

[Diavolicchio]

ahh, to be old and tax-free...

If to be tax-free requires being old, I'll stick to paying my property tax.


John

 

[bibliophile birds]

If to be tax-free requires being old, I'll stick to paying my property tax.

i generally agree with you, but the taxes on 8,000 acres are a killer.

 

[Ldychef2k]

Taking another side path here, I ran across an online Newsweek article about the sort of SS person I consider myself - a prepper. I have gone a bit further than the person in the article, though. I am actually going to start on Saturday living off the food grid almost entirely. Allowing myself $25 every two weeks paycheck for certain basics that a city girl can't raise, like milk and eggs, and gasoline for the car, and otherwise living on and hopefully replenishing, my food storage. I am writing about it on my blog.

Anyway, here's the article. I think it's a pretty fair representation of what people like me are doing.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/228428

 

[bibliophile birds]

that was an interesting article. i was really enjoying it until i read this:

And until then, she's got 61 cans of chili, 20 cans of Spam, 24 jars of peanut butter, and much more stocked in her pantry.

just go ahead and put a bullet in my head if the worst comes to pass and all there is to eat is chili, spam and peanut butter....

otherwise, i think it was a good piece. it didn't make preppers look like nutjobs, which is a small feat when it comes to mainstream media and "alternative lifestyles." thanks for sharing.

 

[Diavolicchio]

that was an interesting article. i was really enjoying it until i read this:

And until then, she's got 61 cans of chili, 20 cans of Spam, 24 jars of peanut butter, and much more stocked in her pantry.

just go ahead and put a bullet in my head if the worst comes to pass and all there is to eat is chili, spam and peanut butter....

otherwise, i think it was a good piece. it didn't make preppers look like nutjobs, which is a small feat when it comes to mainstream media and "alternative lifestyles." thanks for sharing.

24 Jars of Peanut Butter? I sure hope she's also got a case of Ex-Lax in her pantry. That woman is going to be bound-up until the Second Coming.

Peanut butter is an odd choice in such bulk because it has a definite shelf life. Spam on the other hand would probably survive a nuclear holocaust, much like cockroaches, Cher's plastic surgery and Keith Richards.

 

[Ldychef2k]

With a couple of kids, 24 jars might be just about right ! If she heeps them cool, they will last quite a while.

And now I will take my life in my hands and state....drum roll and rifles aimed.....I love Spam. I have half a case in storage (it's expensive or I would have more) and I have individual slices in my home made MREs which we call "grab and go packs". I know that I have just revealed something dark and foreboding about myself, but it HAD to come out.....

 

[Diavolicchio]

And now I will take my life in my hands and state....drum roll and rifles aimed.....I love Spam. I have half a case in storage (it's expensive or I would have more) and I have individual slices in my home made MREs which we call "grab and go packs". I know that I have just revealed something dark and foreboding about myself, but it HAD to come out.....

Nothing quite as tempting as a cold block of minced lungs and udders, packed in an unidentifiable, gelatinous slurry. MMMmmmmmmm.

The added bonus is that after eating a case of Spam, YOU'LL have a shelf-life of ten years.


John