Oh yeah.

I did a lot of thinking today about things… That book I am slowly picking away at- Little House on a Small Planet- is really changing the way I think about my financial future. Blah blah blah that sounds boring, but I realized that mortgages and loans, etc. are like modern day slavery. I’m not knocking anyone who has chosen this route. In fact, up until a few weeks ago I was headed there myself! I think most people take that route because it’s the only way they’ll own a car, or a house, or a college education in their lifetime. I just think it’s sad that you are then obligated to pay double what was originally owed and work to pay that climbing and merciless interest for fear that you might be ruined and hounded by creditors and collection agents only to never own anything again. I think it’s sinful.
In some religions interest is recognized as immoral, and there were laws set up to protect people from that kind of thing. Jewish law, I believe, stated that you could only charge something like 2 percent interest for a year. After that year no more interest could be collected, and something like every five years or so all debts were forgiven. Everyone had a clean slate. Beautiful! Can you imagine the freedom? Islam doesn’t even have interest I believe. Some Muslims still pool their money into credit unions and form their own bank of sorts. They all decide who gets loans, etc. and the whole group benefits from the equity. Something like that. I just like the idea of people wanting others to flourish and live comfortably.
I’m afraid that there are so many industries out there that were once for the people, and I think still are in some other countries. In the U.S. though, things like universities, health care, banks (who I guess were always in the business of money, but still), etc. are just kind of counting on screwing people over.
Anyway, all this got me thinking- Am I doomed to be a slave to this system? Am I to be bound by a bill that comes every month that determines the course of my life in so many ways? What if Jeff or I lose a job? Are we going to be ruined? What if we hit a rough spot and don’t have health insurance for a bit and something happens? Jeff’s cousin had complications during childbirth and something wasn’t covered by her insurance company. It ended up ruining her financially, and she’s only 25 now. She can’t even get approved for apartments so she has to live with her mom.
So… depressing stuff aside, I came up with an idea that I think might actually work. I want to save for a while to buy a bit of land- vacant land that we can hopefully pay for quickly or up front depending on our situation. Then we live on this land- modestly, maybe in a trailer or something, while we build our house. This house won’t be a normal house though… It will be a cob masterpiece! A hand-sculpted house. This link has some beautiful pictures of it. Really, you can do anything you want at hardly any cost (comparatively), and the payoff is monumental. We could continue adding and changing as we saw fit. I could build myself a massage studio so I can work from home! We could build benches and walls outside that I dreamed up! It could be a masterpiece! I’m so excited about this idea I can barely stand it. The weird part is that we can really do it. It’s actually a RESPONSIBLE plan. It’s environmentally friendly, efficient, CHEAP, and beautiful. ARE YOU LISTENING?!? Amazing.

Gracie
Gracie

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