Zero!

I was watching some of BugOutVehicles videos this morning.  He tends to be very cerebral and yet gives encouragement for people to be prepared and not let THINGS get in the way of being physically and mentally prepared for the worst times ahead.  He uses the term Zero to mean Goal  Zero...  Zero dependency on others or government for our survival and comfort. 

My Goal Zero is to become off grid and owning no one for anything.  My husband and I sat down and talked about what it would require to do that.  Let's think about it. 

1. We (own) a house.  Not true as we owe more than half of the value of it still. So we don't really own it at all.  If we miss a few payments we would lose our home and our equity in it.

2.  Utilities are a burden and it would be very hard to live in the city without them.  Most utility companies require you to pay deposits and at the very least minimum charges to live in your homes or the social services and or child protective services could get involved.  You cannot build fires in your backyard in our area except in barbeque grills.  We have to pay city sewerage bills whether we use it or not.  We also have to pay for stormwater drainage.  In effect that means we are paying for the rain.  We also use natural gas for our heat and we have to pay minimum on that even in hot weather.  So you can see how much we are in monthly debt to our utilities companies.  That doesn't include the real estate taxes which pay for city services and schools.

3.  We are constantly reminded that we live under government rule whether it is local, state or federal all the time.  We can't burn anything in a burn barrel, we can't have chickens, we can't leave anything for the trash collection on our driveway a few days ahead, we can't water the yard or garden when they say we can't.  We have to have our grass mowed even when we are on vacation, etc. etc. etc.
We are just fed up with all the rules and restrictions and we don't even live in a restricted neighborhood.  Our city is just very restrictive and we would love to get away from these restrictions.
Of course you can't discharge firearms in the city limits so you can't even target practice much less hunt nearby.

4.  We have had people stealing parts off of vehicles, bicycles, rototillers, etc from our yard and garage.  I am really fed up with the area.  They even came with bolt cutters and tried to cut the chain that we had our small trailer locked up to a tree.  The neighbor across the street stopped him but didn't call the police.  My husband had his Snapon tool chest full of tools stolen by someone who broke into our garage.   I am ready to live in the country!

5.  Now that I am finished with most of the negatives let me start telling you what I want to happen in my and my family's future.......  I want to live where is no state income tax.  We pay out thousands every year in State Income tax in VA.

6.  I want to live where there are no restrictions on the type of home, or how much water we can use, or whether we can burn our trash, or whether we can hunt on our own land.

7.  I want to get rid of monthly utility bills.  Yes I know it costs a lot to drill a well and dig a septic system.  We already have part of our solar electric system and will have to buy our batteries yet. 

8.  I would like to have privacy from prying eyes looking down at us for having our grass 3 inches high.  I would like to have a place you can't see from the street so theives won't see our equipment and trailers and not be tempted to steal from us.

9.  I would like to be able to not worry about making those mortgage payments.  Not worry about being laid off from a job.

10. And most of all we will be drinking well water instead of city water which is full of toxic chemicals and is still dirty when it comes out of your tap.   I would like to eat food grown in clean ground and raised from heirloom non genetically modified seeds.  Being in a rural area would hopefully be cleaner air by being away from the millions of cars in our present area and being where there are a lot of trees to produce a lot of oxygen.  I also want my CHICKENS!!!!!!!!!!!



Well, folks, now you know what I want to get rid of out of my life and what I want to bring into my life.  I heard something recently which I would like to do and that is to set in my mind what I want for myself and concentrate on getting it and thank God for allowing me to get it and I will.

I hope you all can decide what you want for yourselves and find a way to get it.

Have a great and happy journey to your future!