Love for camping, and going off the grid...

[absolutsnwbrdr]

Hey Scott G........your tiny house........

http://www.tumbleweedhouses.com/

those are freakin AWESOME!!!!!

[Carter]

Being a teenager in the 60's I embrace the hippie idea of living off the grid. We do it all the time in the NF campgrounds we love. A couple of weeks with a battery charged by the TV while traveling works well. I have my propane hot water for dishes and a shower. Travel at moderate tempatues so I don't need heat or AC. It's great. Now back to the regularly scheduled program. I live in Michigan. Last's months utiltily bills for heating a 2000 square foot house, a shower a day for the Mrs and myself, 2 computers running constantly, TV on 6 hours a day, vampire draw for all our electronics, all of our laundry, dishwasher running, lighting inside and out, and even an electric garage door opener that cycles 6 times a day cost me $7.83 a day. I bitch about the utility cost all the time, but it's about the amount we waste, not the cost of what we use. While camping, I buy gas, propane, ice, and firewood for about 5 times that amount every day. We're going to move into that 1000 SF house with Casey Dog and split the $4 a day utility bills as soon as I retire.

Jim ( not Casey Dog, Old Dog)

[caseydog]

Sorry Jim, but no other person is moving into my 1,000 foot home, unless SHE has some qualities I can not resist, if you catch my meaning.

BTW, I have my gas and electric service billing set up on a rolling average, and my monthly gas is running $24 and my monthly electric is around $88. That's not bad, but I still like the thought of being self-sufficient -- or close to it.

I also prefer a small home, small yard, and would own a smaller car, if I didn't need my station wagon for business reasons.

And speaking of business, another reason I want to "scale dawn" is so I won't stress out so much when business is slow. That, and my long-term plans are not to retire, but to gradually get to a point where I only take assignments that I really want to do. I want to be able to turn down a lot of the work I currently can't turn down, because I need the money.

CD