Pondering minimalist post-employment living options (in NH)

Prepper

Prepper

NES Member
Joined
Apr 12, 2007
Messages
30,001
Likes
28,470
Feedback: 11 / 0 / 0
After having 2 major layoffs at work since January, I'm starting to get more concerned. I may have a 50/50 chance of staying employed the next year or so. If I get unemployed, it is likely I won't find anything in the same industry, which means I'd have to go to earning perhaps 1/10th of what I am now if I took a low-end cashier type of job (since writing software is the only skilled job I can do without extra schooling that I can't afford right now). I wouldn't even be able to make the house payments with that.

So, I'm pondering what my options are if that happens. My main expense is the house (and I have no equity anymore). Everything else is paid for. I'll be out of money almost immediately if I have no paychecks coming in. I figure I'd get unemployment checks for 6-9 months, which won't even cover the house payment after taxes. I'm not sure if that would then let me qualify for an Obama mortgage modification or not. I'd consider stop paying my mortgage payments and see how long I can stay there before they kick me out... that would get me free housing for a while, letting me figure out what else to do (and also saving money for alternate plans -- see below).

Anyway, my thinking is along the lines of how cheaply I could possibly live in a rural area of NH. (NH because it is free, cheap, and closer to possible high tech jobs should I find one again.) I see plots of land for sale for as low as $12,000 or so (for 5 acres or more), sometimes less, but then you are getting into landlocked land, unbuildable conservation land, or extremely tiny plots of land that aren't rural. 0.15 acres for $4000 sounds great until I see it is surrounded by suburbia, and I'm thinking of doing something that'd violate their zoning laws -- so whatever I buy needs to be way out there where people won't mind me doing crazy things.

First wild and crazy housing idea: tool shed. Big one, like 12x16 with a loft. Tool sheds have much less regulations than a house, plus they are extremely cheap. Like a couple thousand for the materials. I'd have a little heater (propane, kero, or I'll rip my pellet stove out of my current house, or use a little wood stove [can get those cheap]), probably insulate it. Its not illegal to live in one, right? I think I just have to make sure I don't put plumbing in it, or wire it up to the grid. I'd need a water source somehow, so a natural brook nearby could help, or maybe a well point as a last resort. Plus, I'd need a place to crap in. I see outhouses in Maine every so often... still legal in NH right? Or maybe just a portable chemical toilet. I just don't want to do that makes my tool shed become a "house".

Next idea: tow a dumpy (but not too dumpy) old camper or trailer onto property, then live in it. If it is a camper, it doesn't actually have to be drivable more than once, just to get it there. I think people get rid of these cheap when they are old, although I'm not sure how you tow one if all you have is a car. I'm assuming I'd have to pay someone to move it for me.

Other ideas would get into the area of tents, like a fancy $1000 yurt hut. But then I'm really roughing it. I'd prefer to avoid that.

Another issue is that I'll need a place to put my stuff, and what I describe above won't hold it all. Maybe a 2nd tool shed just for stuff, or use a storage place you pay for, or a root cellar if I'm really ambitious. What I'd be storing would mainly be guns, supplies (food etc) and equipment. All that fancy stuff I own now like furniture, book cases, TVs, etc. would all have to be abandoned or otherwise disposed of.

I also have 2 cats; they MUST be with me. My wife won't go along with any of this, so she'd most likely be elsewhere.

Thoughts? Am I nuts? Whatever I do, I don't want to end up in a tent city in CA... so planning ahead can be useful. Hopefully it'll never come to any of this, although I wouldn't mind buying a plot of land in advance just in case.
 
Prepper said:
Am I nuts?
Click to expand...

Yes. There is a word for people who live in sheds. I'm pretty sure that word is homeless.

Yes NH is free, but not THAT free. I would not be happy about someone living in a shed or camper next door to me. I seriously doubt you would be able to get an occupancy permit for a shed. Every town in NH has their own zoning laws.

Why spend all that money on a shed. Just cut your own trees and build a log cabin with the cut trees. After all you'll be unemployed so what else you got to do with all that time. [smile]
 
Yurts aren't that cheap. I'm thinking more like Unabomber cabin. He actually had it fixed up pretty nice. Primitive, but cozy. Old schoolbus?

You'll have to deal with local zoning whatever you do ... building codes, sanitation ... all that stuff. I don't know how free NH is in that regard. Do you need a water well and septic to get a permit for occupancy? Trailer park a possibility?

Hiow about a low impact eco-house? There are a few manufacurers of tiny houses on the internets.
 
OK, maybe Maine would be a better choice. I know for a fact that many people up there live in really odd ways... go drive around in very rural areas, and it is not uncommon to see old campers with a hole punched in the roof and a chimney pipe sticking up through them. Some people even get really fancy and "repair" their camper roofs by nailing 2x4's and plywood over the top of them. Maybe people in NH would mind such things, but in Maine that is much more commonplace. If they are violating zoning laws, no one seems to be doing much about it. (TIP: Don't try this in any tourist town!)

The unabomber had an idea there, other than the bomb making aspect of it and the manifesto writing.
 
A "Tiny house" could work too, maybe a hunting cabin. I know there are kits to build log cabin hunting cabins ($12000 or so last time I checked), only problem is I don't have the skill nor the strength to assemble the kits. [laugh] I could probably assemble a shed though.
 
Cripes. You really are planning for the worse. I guess that's not a real bad idea but damn, I wish you luck.
 
Well I'd also like a little cabin in the woods just to get away to. I can use that if nothing bad happens. I used to have a cabin way up in rural part of Maine, but I sold it (just in time too -- market started its plummet right after I signed the papers... suckers! um I mean, lucky me). It was fairly large and costing too much to maintain. When I went there in the winter, it took a lot of heat to keep it sufficiently warm (due to its size, its poor insulation and the lack of a basement).

I still want to revisit the idea, but I need to do it better this time. For starters, house must be smaller. Nothing over 1 story (except a loft/attic)... its too hard for someone like me to work on a tall building. Around 6 years ago, 3 nice adorable new cabins were built in a row near my place, each on 5 acres of land, for $45,000 each. I'm still kicking myself for not going for one of those. They were bought up before they were finished building.
 
Running water for a shower is a must if you ever plan on being employed again. Or being intimate with your wife.

There are jobs out there, it just depends on how desparate you become. You might try finding a landscape company, roofing, or painting company that will pay you as a contractor or under the table to keep the unemployment account active. Nothing is permanent and eventually you will find something in your field, as long as you don't kill the interviewer with body odor.
 
When I start adding up all the little costs, plus the effort it'd take, its probably just easier to buy a small used place (as in an actual house) somewhere. You know, with actual septic and power. It just wouldn't have that "roughing it in the woods" feel to it though.

I agree, showers are important. And that black "solar shower" bag most of you have probably seen doesn't work quite as well in the winter. [laugh]

As for jobs, I could do landscaping or painting if anyone would hire someone who has 0 experience with it. Roofing? Forget it... that job is brutal and I'm getting old. Basically, I need to somehow lower my cost of living to that which can line up with a lower paying job that I may have to go for. $10 an hour would be OK if I could lower expenses enough... nowhere near that now, and I've tried. The house is the big expense.
 
Lo and behold, I actually took pictures of that new cabin I mentioned that I didn't get. Look how cute that is! Has well and septic and everything. I can't seem to find any others like this anymore, on 5 acres. Oh well. Anyway, this is an example of the ultimate minimalist housing that I'd want to get. An old trailer for $1000 would be a worst case scenario that I'd prefer to avoid.

DCP_1107.jpg


DCP_1106.jpg
 
A guy I work with built one of these in a summer in Maine. He did most of the work himself and with a few people he could lure up with the promise of beer and fishing.
 
SW jobs are all I see! Don't panic yet. If you've made it through 2 major layoffs, you're a good engineer. Don't despair yet! but planning is not a bad idea. I think you are going a little overboard though with the minimalist tool shed idea.
 
Yeah, tool shed may be a bit too minimal. Gotta maximize my minimal. That little log cabin kit looks cute... I've seen some of those before, although it looks like the price has gone up quite a bit on them lately.

I have multiple plans going at once. I use LinkedIn to keep track of professional contacts to have an attempt at getting re-employed as quickly as possible. I survived the current layoffs because a coworker in a higher pay grade likes me and got me transferred days before layoffs hit previous team. If all that should fail, I'll need to consider alternatives.

Besides, I still want a nice little house in the woods somewhere. I've just been doing some more searches on realtor.com, and it looks like the pickings are much better in Maine than in NH. NH doesn't have much for super-cheap houses anymore, even if you go way up north to Berlin or Littleton area.
 
Those tumbleweed houses look simultaneously both too small and too expensive. If it is the size of a tool shed, I'd like it to cost as little as a tool shed.
 
First sorry about your situation. Second I would ask that you not come up here. There's enough people here already. :) Plus the real locals are starting to circle the wagons on hire local, buy local. With signs wrtten everywhere then comes the real worries for out of staters , non locals and non area workers. :) I'm just saying things are getting really tight and people are shooting a TON up here in there backyards. I've lived here all my life and I know what these times mean. Just my 2 cents Don
 
Well I already was in Maine. Both my parents are from Maine, met there then moved to MA when they got married. I did extensive ancestry research a while back, and nearly all ancestors are from Maine (those that didn't land in Plymouth). I'd just be returning to my roots. Plus I'd tilt Maine more towards the conservative side of things if I were there, which is a good thing.

They're really not hiring out of staters in Maine? How do they tell anyway? I speak like I'm from Maine and everything. Down in the southern parts, they'd have no way of knowing. (Up north or down east, it'd be different since I don't look like I'm from around there. But, I don't see any jobs anyway, so no problem there.)

I used to shoot in my back yard at the cabin too, just like the distant neighbors around the cabin.
 
Sat.Night live skit a while back, I forget specifically circa 90' FN hillarious!


+1 Gringo
BERT & I You cahn't get theyah from heeah
Click to expand...
you r correct sir!
late 80's
 
Last edited:
theGringo said:
"How do ya get to Millinocket?"
Click to expand...

Who would ask that? Its really easy to get to. FAR, but easy. That brings back memories of hiking up Mt Katahdin. What an amazingly beautiful place, one which I barely made it back alive from. (Remind me not to go up a near vertical hiking trail during 60mph winds again.)
 
Hey Prepper....That was FN awsome that "The Fan" in his post asked you NOT to move to Maine,and there is No Work for "Out a' Stateahs'".
WTF huh?[rofl]...[rofl]
 
Now I think I want to move to Maine and get a job there just to piss him off.

Any high tech job I got there would likely involve telecommuting to the job in MA. The job market up there has been lousy for as long as I've known it.
 
Prepper said:
Lo and behold, I actually took pictures of that new cabin I mentioned that I didn't get. Look how cute that is! Has well and septic and everything. I can't seem to find any others like this anymore, on 5 acres. Oh well. Anyway, this is an example of the ultimate minimalist housing that I'd want to get. An old trailer for $1000 would be a worst case scenario that I'd prefer to avoid.

DCP_1107.jpg


DCP_1106.jpg
Click to expand...

Hey prepper,
I know right where these cabins are!!!! How about buying a shipping container, they make great sheds (they are VERY secure) and you can make one into a cabin.. It will look just like the shed. [wink]
 
Prepper said:
Now I think I want to move to Maine and get a job there just to piss him off.

Any high tech job I got there would likely involve telecommuting to the job in MA.
The job market up there has been lousy for as long as I've known it.[/
Click to expand...
QUOTE]

The Job market is bad everywhere!,Have you considered a towable 5th wheel type camper and a site at a decent campground? If the neighbor sux,or SHTF up & relocate,Or park it in your parents front yard.
Click to expand...
 
Wow, I'm amazed anyone would recognize them. I have no idea if they've been painted or anything since then. Cute little places... maybe I'll have one built like that someday. The place I had bought had a beautiful brook, so that's why I chose it. In retrospect, that was more pain than it was worth. But the brook and land sure was pretty.

As for shipping containers, I have heard of that one before. It wouldn't look much like a shed though. [laugh] It also qualifies for the "last resort" living option, but it certainly would make a good storage area for my stuff. I'm nervous leaving any amount of valuables at a cabin that I can't be at all the time except for the occasional visit. A shipping container would probably stop most people from poking around at my stuff. (Not that I ever had any problem before... my cabin was always safe and secure every time I went up there, no problems other than the occasional ATV tearing up my woods.)
 
Yep I've considered roommates as well as a camper. They are also options on the table, especially the "roommate" option... I may be able to stay in current house if I can get the expense of it low enough by having someone share a room. In fact, I may do that anyway even during good times... the more money that can be saved, the better.

Campers tend to be very expensive, especially if they are still good. Old ones can be very cheap, but there's a reason for that. My car could tow small things like a popup... those are pretty cheap.
 

Similar threads

The Hedge Fund in Your Pantry...
Replies
27
Views
487
MisterHappy
MisterHappy
investing in metals
Replies
22
Views
436
tinhorn
tinhorn
Sealing food in Mylar Bag Question
Replies
9
Views
418
samsonsjack07
S
The preppers who fear global meltdown in 2024 ....
2 3
Replies
61
Views
3K
tinhorn
tinhorn
Living without a refrigerator
2 3
Replies
76
Views
3K
Kevin_NH
Kevin_NH
Back
Top Bottom