....these days. Didn't used to be. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/francine-jay/money-saving-tips_b_1644537.html
I remember as a kid we raised our own cow's, rabbits and pig's. Had a great big garden that mom used to can until everything was eaten or in a jar. Dad and I hunted deer and antelope and fished on a regular basis. We had two big freezers and had lot of jerky stored in the pantry. We traded with our neighbors who had a big chicken coop- eggs and chickens for whatever we had to spare. Now day's I think about that often and wonder how far I have gone off the path of self sufficiency. I think my parents lived the American dream by being self sufficient- I hope I can do the same and am driving for that goal!!
It's a cultural thing now....debt--now American as apple pie. Credit card companies market to college kids (who have no money) and no one flips out about it. Heck...bankers and mortgage brokers look at you like you have a a 3rd eye if you don't carry debt. It's just too easy these days to spend electronic money. Soon, you won't have a credit card...it will be phones linked up to things like Google Wallet or a fob on your keychain. You are very much discouraged from spending what you have in your pocket.
I think the recent slow down in the economy may teach the younger generation some of the same lessons that were learned during the great depression. If you look at the college debt, credit cards given to 18 year olds that max them out and all the assorted credit lines offered. Many are graduating with limited opportunities and end up working minimum wage jobs enundated with debt they will never repay. A lot of this college age generation is ruined before they are 25. It will be interesting to see the trends that come from the generation in their spending habits. I know my generation, that grew up with the Microsoft generation, built up debt in the endless race to have more. My wife and I checked out of this race and are trying to go zero debt...what a battle to not spend but yet prep for SHTF on a limited budget. I will credit the Monkey for pointing great ways to prepare on a limited budget, refine survival skills and develop techniques to live in a post-.... environment. I encourage all to read, read and read some more!!!
One of the biggest traps for young people...one that I fell prey to, is student loans. As a dumb college kid, you just don't understand the storm cloud that you signed your name to...and it just follows you around. It's hard to "start life" with a mountain of debt. already weighing you down. My debt was nothing compared to some.
I was fortunate that most of my college was paid by good old Uncle Sam for time served. The rest i paid for with that old fashioned thing, called hard working cash.
Yard Dart I was raised the same way we had our own hogs, beef and chickens plus hunted and fished and raised a huge garden. I can't remember ever seing mom buy eggs from a store, I didn't know you could buy meat in a store until I was 16 or 17 years old. Then had a huge garden every year when it came time the whole family worked to bring in the garden and prepare it for mom to can. Same with slaughtering of the hogs,beef and chickens. We had chores to tend the live stock and garden my dad was funny turned when it came to feeding, the stock was fed before any of us ate. Now I look at the thing I do and relize and how anal I am about the process of doing it, I see alot of my dads ways in my actions. But everyday I see the new generation and thak God for parents like mine and the way the raised me. A man is a judged by his actions, they way he works, and the way he takes care of his family. The only thing of value in a mans word and the belife in God(wheather you follow and live by the good book or not, you have to believe). I also worked my arss off to get what I have and pay for my education and thats the problem eoday the new generation has no drive and thinks it is owed to them.
DD and I were discussing how handy hogs are to keep, they are the homestead scrap conversion to meat device. With all the feral pigs I could just hunt them, but having at least one pig to turn table n garden scraps n waste milk from the goats etc into bacon is always a good thing. Plus farm raised hogs give a lot more lard than the much leaner feral pigs. We have 4 young uns' about ready to hit the meat locker and I'm thinking of getting a new sow and hanging the old one up too. Will fill up the smoke house and I just got a nice freezer at a yard sale I need to fill up to. Actually I am thinking I will be trading a lot of the pork for a beef from my neighbor. He does the beef, I do the chickens n pork n goat etc. He helps with the hay and turns it into beef n splits beef with us. Farm neighbors trading stuff is simple life around here.
