To an Italian, owning your own home is everything. Family homes are passed down from generation to generation. That’s because home ownership is a blessing. Not a privilege. Owning your own home is something that is to be fought for dearly, protected steadfastly and something that if need be, you would die for. Smirk or laugh at that last statement all that you would like but if you ask any of the now current American homeless, who have been either forced to live in their car, sleep under a bridge in the street or as some have done, taken all their stimulus money and purchased a beat up, washed up hunk of RV junk, just to get a roof over their head, they wouldn’t be smirking. Or laughing. They’d be eternally grateful.

Owning your own home is everything!

Owning your own home in your senior, retirement years is even more than everything. Can you imagine being in your 70s and at the whim of some landlord? Or better yet, trying to own a home or a condo at such a late age and being saddled with mortgage payments? I have always advised that a person should buy a home, smallish in size and able to meet every life change, no later than age 35. After a thirty year mortgage, you will own your own home outright at age 65. Can’t buy a home by age 35? You’re in your 40s? Get a 15 year mortgage. Whatever you do, just make sure you own your own home outright by the time you retire. Hopefully, at age 65.

Americans are being driven into their vehicles by COVID-19 pandemic-fueled woes. And their ranks are likely to grow as the government safety net frays and evictions and foreclosures rise.

“We have seen more people moving into vehicles and more restrictions on public parking for them over the last decade, and then COVID hit, I am concerned that we may be facing a population increase in mobile sheltering and vehicle residence at unprecedented levels.“

Nearly 1 in 500 Americans is homeless, mostly on the West Coast and in the Northeast, according to estimates. Homeless advocates say people without permanent housing are chronically undercounted. It’s even harder to track the tens of thousands of people living in their vehicles rather than on the streets or in shelters because they must move around so much. Click here for more info.

THINK THIS IS FUNNY? THIS COULD BE YOU!

Owning your own home now, complete with a capable garden, power generator and independent heating source is becoming more and more viable. Throw in a few chickens and you have it made. If there is anything this pandemic has taught any of us, America has been exposed as nothing more than a third world country. We are literally falling apart. Just look at what has happened in Texas? A few cold days and some snow has decimated the state and killed dozens of people. Many in the entire state have no power, no heat, no water, no food and are stranded. If they are waiting for the government cavalry to come and save them, they are going to have a very long wait.

It doesn’t matter where you live anymore because no matter where you live, you can be hit with a calamity so disastrous your very life may be in danger. I no longer scoff at preppers because real life disasters can happen (and do happen) just about anywhere. We all need to be preppers whether we like it or not. American homes now need an independent water source, independent power generation and an independent heating source.

My home has an independent water source, so we will never be without water. We have a stand-alone generator but we will be switching over to a more permanent generator this spring. We are currently in the beginning stages of adding in a stand-alone heating source. We already put in a garden. Most of my neighbors have added chickens to their repertoire. Many of the cattle and dairy farms that surround us have enjoyed an increase in production and sales thanks in part to the failures of some of our local, chain supermarkets. (You are aware that Bill Gates has bought up most of the farmland in America and he wants Americans to be plant-based, right?) We don’t depend on imports here, as we have the capabilities of local food production. Just the way it is in Italy (and many other successful European nations).

Self-sufficiency is key. Depend on yourselves and not a government or agency. No one is coming to save you. No one. Things are going to get very rough in America. Prices are going up. Inflation is going up. Taxes will be going up. The price of gas and energy is going up. You can either prepare and educate yourself. Or you can freeze to death during another once in a lifetime world event.

I implore you to watch this video:

All of these world and local calamities has made me realize one big giant thing: I’m very lucky to be owning the home I am in now, outright AND I’m very blessed to be in the location that I am in. Hubby and I have been thinking and pondering for years that we’d be moving out in our later years and either moving to a more warmer climate or to a retirement community. After seeing how retirement communities have lost many of their elderly residents due to the pandemic and after seeing so many communities decimated by climate change, reality has set in: there’s no place like the home we’re already in!

We’ve been living in our home since 2002, mortgage free, debt free and without any encumbrances from any banking institutions. Our main concern are property taxes, energy costs and home maintenance and upkeep. At age 70, it is a life saving affirmation to know that for only $808.62 a month, we have a solid roof over our heads. Our monthly costs to reside here are as follows:

  1. Taxes $307.50
  2. Insurance $49.83
  3. Electricity $83.00
  4. Heating $240.00 (this figure will go down when we install our pellet stove)
  5. Maintenance $100.00

A very wise Kate Singh, from the YouTube Channel ‘She’s Drinking Coffee‘ made a very astute realization the other day. Kate is in the process of reading old books dating back to The Great Depression. One of the most important factors she has gleaned from these documents is that owning your own home, without a mortgage, having a garden, raising chickens and being as self sufficient as possible are thee most important things to have in life. If you have the time (16 minutes), give a look and a listen to Kate’s most recent video. There’s much wiseness in this woman, as she sits down, with a neighbor and enjoys a lunch of home-made soup and home-made Amish bread: