Most of our populace has been well-conditioned to think and act within an ever-tightening box of regulation, rules, bureaucracies, etc. You sound like you have already taken the firsts steps in leaving these restrictions behind, but in doing so, have found yourself somewhat alone. This is perfectly natural. Most of the people around you are cannon fodder, to put it bluntly. They are so completely mentally enslaved to the system that is collapsing around them, they will not see or believe it until it is far too late. However, I am SURE there are a few others near you that are starting to see the light, you might just have to find them.
This is only if you are dead-set on staying. I think a much better route is to simply leave. Where you live, you are surrounded by automatons. Human beings NEED community, if you cannot build one there, go where one exists already or is at least open to it.
If I was in your position, I would for a manufactured home on a little bit of property, say 1/2 acre. More would be better. Or, a manu. home near a vacant lot/open area that might be used for gardening. To really be able to produce food for yourselves, you need some space and experience growing. Farming is not simple. If you wait until you need the garden, you will likely fail due to problems that would have been worked out during the first 2-3 years of soil building, experimental plantings, etc. Having a stockpile of seeds, but no experience growing, is like buying a hammer and thinking you are now qualified to build a house.
Newer manufactured homes have a couple advantages over traditional, stick-built homes. They are mobile. They are made in climate-controlled buildings, which means mold/mildew issues are usually non-existant. They have plumbing that is readily accessible from underneath. This last advantage applies to post-pier homes too. Accessible plumbing means you can easily upgrade to a gray water system, something that is very expensive to do with a slab.
One last word on regulations- you may find a huge disparity between what is allowed on paper, and what is allowed in practice. I have code violations on my property (all related to being prepared, being efficient and being a good steward of the land) and I'm not being hassled. In my area, it's because I do not appear to have money. Our code inpsectors typically limit their enforcement to those with obvious dollars and not well-connected to the county government. After living here for many years and watching the goings-on, I've learned it's far better to ask for forgiveness than permission. It's actually illegal to paint the interior of your house without a permit here!
Whatever you do, maintain solidarity within your family. If you can't do it at home, you can't do it in the community. Lead by example! Best of luck,
Hi there,
I’m pretty new to this forum and I am also an immigrant (to Canada), so there are some areas that are a bit “dark” for me. One of them is mobile/manufactured homes and whether they are a good idea for a family looking into downsizing and building resilience.
A bit of background first: after reading (and watching) the Crash Course and also many other books, such as The Long Emergency, Peak Everything, The End of Growth, The Long Descent , The Great Disruption and now, Radical Homemakers (and many other prep books on survival, permaculture, vegetable gardening, city farming, baking, preserving, etc., I built a whole library), I am still dubious about what’s the best plan.
Let me explain: for one, I don’t have money to decide to move to a more resilient community or a rural setting. Second, my husband doesn’t completely “buy” this and thinks that yes, it will happen, but there is nothing we could possible do to prepare as whatever happens will be too big and extensive to try to be “safe” by ourselves. I have tried to meet like-minded people in my own community and have failed huge: nobody cared for a community garden, and there are no transition groups close enough to join. I am also too busy with my job, my children and the huge debt the family has to be able to spend more time trying to start something by my own (as I said, I tried a community garden, even contacted the city, posted flyers and held a presentation, but it didn’t work. Not a single person supported my idea...)
Our current situation as a family is this: we are four, no family or friends around. Both parents work full-time and no easy way out from this situation for now, at least until we pay our huge debt. We are also immigrants, which makes all more difficult: from making friends to building community. I volunteer a lot, in three different groups, but the interaction has not passed beyond being great volunteer pals. I do volunteering with Disaster Management and Preparedness, at a local university and with refugees. This helps me to keep updated, trained and resilient.
We have a 30+ year mortgage for a townhouse where we pay $1350/month + $250 for strata fee/month. We pay around $150/month for electricity, which includes heating, etc. Although we are technically owners of our land, we are not: we cannot make changes to the house, water, drainage or power system and e cannot have any type of livestock or grow vegetables in our yard. I do grow vegetables in pots, but it is obviously not enough. Our heating and cooking are all dependent on electricity and we cannot change that as it is part of the strata system.
While reading an unrelated article today, I learned about mobile/manufactured homes. They can cost as little as $39,000 (for a family of four) and as much as $99,000, so the mortgage may be anything from $150 to $500/month. The pad rent (that may also be purchased in some of the cases) may be from $300 to $900 but includes water, sewage, garbage and recycling collection and electricity.
These houses are smaller and are usually inside a park, but some are very nice and look very decent. These parks are somewhat a community of people already built, which could be positive or negative, depending on their views.
In our current complex, we barely know our neighbours. People tend to stay inside or go somewhere else using their cars. Children rarely play outside and we cannot say there is any sense of “community”. So we wouldn’t be missing much.
I am seriously starting to consider this change as something we could do in one or two years to save money and become more resilient, but I’m not sure if this would be considered a good option. These houses don’t allow many changes in infrastructure either, but neither allows our current house.
By moving to one of these houses, we would save up to $750/month or more, depending on the size and location, that we could use to build skills, buy a stock of tools and food, or even save for a land where we can move in the future...
Also, I have seen that some of these houses allow for wood fire places and stoves, which may be convenient if we start having power outages or problems with other ways of heating and cooking.
I would like to hear from people who have direct or indirect experience with these types of houses or have some opinion to share...
Thanks in advance...