Cob: Re: No money but not the Blues

[Patricia Kerns]

This was a good perspective on the whole subject.  When I read the story
about the girl upset because she couldn't get anywhere in the world and
grandpa made her uncomfortable about asking for a handout, I couldn't figure
out at first what was so disturbing about it.  I completely agree with
getting out of the cash economy to the extent possible, but if getting out
of the cash economy means when you actually need cash you just expect
someone else to come up with it for you, there's something wrong there.  To
me, getting out of the cash economy means using the resources you have to
put yourself in a position to not have to ask others to be responsible for
you.  Whining about not having the education to get anywhere is
unproductive, uncreative and useless.

As for the difference between living simply and being broke, I have chosen
to live simply and I'm NOT broke.  I find people confused about my choices
all the time.  I can't count the number of times I've been telling someone
about something I need to build and they say "why don't you just buy it," or
"why don't you hire someone to build it?"  For instance, I want to
eventually live completely off renewable energy sources (not there yet).
One of my goals is to build a solar ice maker to make ice for an icebox,
since it doesn't seem efficient to me to run a refrigerator off solar panels
(I want to be an example that you can meet all your energy needs without
going to the bank of 48 solar panels...).  I haven't gotten around to this
yet, because I have so many other projects going.  But I don't want to go to
the interim solution of getting a propane refrigerator, because that would
just put the solar ice maker project further down on the list.  So we are
getting by by buying ice for our icebox for the present, which, in the
chihuahuan desert in the summer means buying ice every day or two.  This is
a chore, but its a choice I've made, to keep me in line with my ultimate
goal.  I have plenty of money to buy a propane refrigerator, but yet I don't
want to buy one.  That, to me is the difference between being broke and
living simply.  The other day, I was telling a friend that we use an icebox,
and she said "Oh, that sounds like the stone ages."  Maybe it is.  Maybe
there's nothing wrong with a little stone ages in our lives.

Seven years ago I took advantage of a buy out from my former employer to get
out of the "rat race" at the age of 39.  Many of my friends and family were
shocked at my choice.  My income went to less than a third of what it had
been.  My standard of living, in contrast, skyrocketed.  I live in a 275
round-foot strawbale/cob building now, with composting toilet, outdoor
kitchen and camp shower.  I built every bit of it myself, and all the
education I'd collected before attempting this was useless to me - I had to
learn all new skills.  I did pay to go to a few workshops, but many of the
skills I needed I got by volunteering to help others build their houses.  My
four years of college, two years of grad school and three years of law
school were unnecessary to me in this endeavor.  So I don't think a lack of
education is that big of a hurdle if the real goal is living simply.

I hesitated to respond to the original post, because whatever I said sounded
preachy.  But I think there is a big difference between living simply and
being broke, and I believe it is mostly one of attitute.  I wouldn't trade
my stone age camp for the last home I lived in for anything in the world.

As for the girl desperate to have others finance her cob education, go out
into your back yard and play with some dirt.  Make a little oven, or a small
wall.  Try different recipes.  You'll learn something.  Call up the cob
cottage company and offer to work in exchange for tuition.  You'll have to
work a lot harder at the class than if you paid the tuition yourself, but
that's just a matter of being responsible for yourself.  The cob cottage
company also lists people looking for volunteer help in their bulletin.
There are plenty of opportunities out there - you just need to look up
instead of down.

Patricia