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Personal financial preps? Surviving lean times...

2K views 5 replies 4 participants last post by  aramchek 
#1 ·
I hesitated to even mention this, as before when I broached this topic, others would get upset with me for lecturing them on how to live, etc.


I went back to school almost 3 years ago for nursing.

I wanted a career that would give me skills that would be valuable, and wouldn't become useless if or when SHTF.

To reach this goal, I made a lot of financial plans.

If I went into detail about all the contingencies I planned for and potential problems I thought I might face, I'm sure even the most hard core preppers would have to laugh at me.

Surviving for three years with little to no real income takes a HUGE amount of preparation.

Originally I planned to have enough food, in place, to sustain us for the entire time. I still have most of that food, as my "worst case scenario" didn't come to pass.

Putting various assets to good use has been what has sustained us. I bartered quite a lot and managed to be able to barter for a car for my daughter, a few (actually many) additions to my preps, etc.

Before starting college, I investigated the possibility of scholarships and financial aid. I didn't want to take out any loans and managed to not have to do that which I am grateful for. Still, I planned for the possibility of not getting any help whatsoever just to be safe.

I applied for, and got multiple scholarships and grants, which were enough to more than pay 100% of my tuition, books, transportation, uniforms, equipment, etc.

You would be amazed at the grants you can get if you keep your grades up.

Most of them are private scholarships and grants, although I did get a Pell grant also.


Not to say everything has been all rosy.

A large tree fell on my house last winter and did some considerable damage.

I bartered with a friend to have the tree cut up and removed from the roof, and I managed to figure out how to install a patch to cover the 4 foot by 3 foot hole that was torn in the roof and went all the way into the bathroom. The patch doesn't leak at all and other than an unsightly 4x4 black tar section on my roof (on the back of the house where it cant be seen), you cant even tell I did it.

Oh and there is that hole in the ceiling in the bathroom, but oh well....


I still mostly conduct myself as if I am broke, but for the most part, I have enough to last us through graduation and finding a job.

I even planned for not being able to find a job in nursing which I highly doubt will happen. Basically as of today, I can survive for around 3 months after graduation.


When I mention to someone what my bills are, they tend to act as if I am pausing to tell them what I pay the 2nd week of the month. They seem to assume that this cant possibly be all my bills but it is.

Basically my house payment, electric bill, water bill, sewer bill, phone bill, and car insurance add up to less than 500 a month. That's during the winter when the heat is on too.

I have no debts except for the house, and I owe around 20,000 on it, with around 35,000 in equity. There are debts that my ex wife took on and illegally signed my name to after the divorce, but I do not and will never pay those debts as they simply are not mine.


To list the various financial means I used to support myself would take quite a lot of space and would not contribute to this discussion, but suffice to say I had some money when I started, and rather than keep it in the bank, I used it to buy "things" that I knew would increase in value substantially over the next year or two.

Suffice to say the amount of money I had in 2009 would not have been able to support us for more than a year if I had not invested it in other things. By doing it like I did, I was able to produce income over the past 3 years equal to at least 4 times what I originally had, and for the most part, I still have a large part of my original investment.


In conclusion, I would like to say that you can accomplish almost any goal if you really want it badly enough and are willing to work hard enough to get it.

One quote has survived with me all these years and it rings true for me especially.

The biggest part of achieving your goals is knowing what you have to give up in order to reach them...
 
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#3 ·
Not to say everything has been all rosy.

A large tree fell on my house last winter and did some considerable damage.

I bartered with a friend to have the tree cut up and removed from the roof, and I managed to figure out how to install a patch to cover the 4 foot by 3 foot hole that was torn in the roof and went all the way into the bathroom. The patch doesn't leak at all and other than an unsightly 4x4 black tar section on my roof (on the back of the house where it cant be seen), you cant even tell I did it.

Oh and there is that hole in the ceiling in the bathroom, but oh well....
That's what insurance is for. I'd assume you owned the house outright and therefore didn't have insurance due to it not being required, except:


Basically my house payment, electric bill, water bill, sewer bill, phone bill, and car insurance add up to less than 500 a month. That's during the winter when the heat is on too.

I have no debts except for the house, and I owe around 20,000 on it
So since you owe that on it, you should be required to have house insurance.

I guess my question is, why don't you, and how are you getting away with it... or why did you not turn it in? Seems odd that you probably have it, and something like this is what it's there for, yet you're still scraping by and jury rigging stuff as if it doesn't exist. Makes no sense. I imagine your lender would love to know about this.
 
#4 ·
That's what insurance is for. I'd assume you owned the house outright and therefore didn't have insurance due to it not being required, except:




So since you owe that on it, you should be required to have house insurance.

I guess my question is, why don't you, and how are you getting away with it... or why did you not turn it in? Seems odd that you probably have it, and something like this is what it's there for, yet you're still scraping by and jury rigging stuff as if it doesn't exist. Makes no sense. I imagine your lender would love to know about this.


The ghist of it is they told me they would give me XXX dollars for repairs.

Instead of paying someone to do it, I did it myself and since I can live with a hole in the ceiling, I pocketed the rest of the payment....
 
#6 ·
A sheet of plywood, a sheet of drywall, some shingles, roofing nails, drywall screws, tape, drywall mud, and paint.

You could fix the roof exterior yourself in an afternoon. Take a circular saw, depth adjusted properly to not damage the joists, to cut a perfect square for your new sheet of plywood. Inside, blow out your bathroom ceiling and put in a new sheet of drywall for the ceiling (I'd get the moisture-resistant kind).

Do the mudding and painting at your leisure. Problem solved. Ideally you'd probably want to re-shingle the whole roof, but this method should get you by and keep out the weather. Don't just passively respond -- take the bull by the horns. I had mildew rotting behind the shower surround in my bathroom, so I demolished 3 walls down to studs. I put up the moisture-resistant drywall, re-insulated while I was in there, and nice ceramic tile. Also put in a new recessed ceiling fan (which required crawling in a very narrow portion of my attic, and hooking flex-pipe from the fan to the roof.

So I've worked up in that space, and while it's not fun it's certainly doable.

I should add this: when doing your own work, always try to do as well as or even better than what a general contractor would do, since your home is one of your assets. (If you needed to sell your home today, you obviously won't be able to.) I've found that especially in finish work it's possible to do better than a contractor, since you live there -- and can easily paint, sand, varnish, etc. as many coats as you want. Whereas he'll want to do it in as few as possible, to minimize the number of trips.
 
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