Scenario - what would you do?

like alot of the ideas but I would take my butt someplace warm. the northeast last winter was very costly for heating and plowing driveways. I like the camper idea, packed with what ever I could fit from what was leftover from the house. I dont have a saving account anymore or 401k retirement no go here as well. So with the as little of the 5k I would find a camper biggest I could do, or a school bus and pull the car behind and head to warm weather. I sure would rather be hot them frozen 7-8 months of the year. Year round warm states have year round camp grounds to stay while looking for something more permanent. I think you could live on $700.00 a month if rent was cheap, food stamps and medicaid too.

I live in an RV in real life. And I've workamped for a couple of years now. Hadn't heard about the work at the Villages though. Will have to check that out. :-)

Every individual is different and every situation is different. There have been times when I was scraping so close that the debt I had on one gas card had been written off by the company and they were surprised when a few months later I called them up to arrange payments to pay it in full. I could trade war stories about working for companies. I've had them go bankrupt on me, fire me because I was robbed, get sold making my job redundant, not pay me, BTDT.

I agree with you that temp agencies are often the only work around for people over 50. (Insert rant on healthcare costs, businesses engaging in agism to keep premiums low, and thieving insurance companies and hospitals here. This was NEVER a problem in the 1950s and 1960s when age was seen as experience and stability.) Back years ago I worked for a temp agency for a few weeks. Not fun.

It IS possible to squirrel away money and get out from under. You've shown that as possible. We've been able to do it ourselves as well, but by a different path.

I stand by my statement of "What the scenario really indicates is a major lack of pre-planning. By age 60, there should be at least one IRA that can be drawn upon in an emergency, an emergency back-up fund, and some other source of income or loan on an investment."

An IRA cannot be touched by creditors. Even in the poorest paying job, the few dollars placed into an IRA over a year makes huge sense. Back before that, the safe vehicle was whole life insurance. I have never regretted taking out a policy at 19 in a MUTUAL insurance company when rates were super low for me. Even in the leanest times, I found a way to keep that policy paid.

Do NOT apply for Medicaid! The first thing they would do is take your $5K.

................Probably purchase the best motorhome I could find for about $4,000 and then work on reducing my rent by asking for a job sitting in the office ! A stationary RV needs no liability insurance so I'd pick the best rv park(cheapest) and set up shop. , fordy

After spending the better part of 6 months kicking myself in the backside for losing the family ranch, and putting my DW into this mess, I would put a shell on the Pick-up and look hard for a nice/ok acre of land, and as money comes in $650 a month and what if any of the $5000 after buying the land I will start adding, a garden, a few fruit trees ( don't think a true orchard would be doable) raise a few chickens, rabbits and ducks. and build a small log cabin. dig a root cellar.

As long as you keep in mind, you cash that puppy out and the institution it's in withholds 25% for taxes. Ask me how I know!

Mon

__________________
"Don't accept your dog's admiration as conclusive evidence that you are
wonderful."

--Ann Landers

That varies. I had to cash a small one out early and walked out with a cashier's check for the entire amount.

There are trigger points for that, and I believe it varies from state to state. What is commonly allowed is a homestead property and a reasonable vehicle. The concept would then be to buy a small bit of land and used trailer before applying.

Spend it or hide it. Here they only allow 2k. In bank.

Maybe I am not looking at this like everyone else, but for a site populated by homesyeaders, most of which preach from the rooftops about taking care of yourselves, sustaining yourselves, etc, it sure seems odd all of the people resorting to welfare as one of the first priorities.
Due to my family size and our income level, we qualify for over $500 a month in foodstamps, but we don't get them, haven't even applied. Sure, it would make things easier, but that's why we started homesteading, to do as much possible to provide for ourselves.

I don't know that there is a right or wrong answer. If you would apply for food stamps, that's fine.

A few have mentioned things like either renting or buying a piece of ground to work. Garden. Chickens.

An RV could be shelter. Or a rental property could present other options.

The reason I made the people unemployable is because the unemployment situation could get radically worse if we have some financial event(s) causing that.

Lots of people talk about how they built their empire years ago, from next to nothing. Fair enough. But it's not 1985 anymore. The economic climate in the US isn't exactly good.

I haven't given up hope for building a homestead but I am certainly finding suggestions on exactly how one grips the bootstraps in an attempt to better their life, regardless of past troubles, a good discussion.

Thanks for participating!

Schools require background checks - so if there is a felon for something, chances are very good a felon isn't going to get hired - no matter how long ago.

To answer the question though, this would be an opportunity to search out a farm / ranch that needs someone to "house sit" or "property sit". Housing is usually provided along with a small salary. A garden / hunting / fishing might be possible.

Of course, the felon thing is likely to come up. Or if not that - the unemployable - if they can't work someone isn't likely to have them house sit or farm sit because they can't do anything.

__________________
Michael W. Smith in North-West Pennsylvania

"Everything happens for a reason."

I brought up the social safety net stuff up early because all too often the attempts at "self-sufficiency" fail. Having one fail when there are backups in place is an annoyance, having an attempt fail when your life is much closer to hanging by a thread is a disaster. Our experience with gardening ended up being a cash drain, on top of the results being unreliable. Could I garden now in a crisis situation so that it wouldn't be a cash drain? Possibly, but only because I now have the real world experience in the local climate under my belt. A newbie could easily get crushed and lose whatever little he had.

The original scenario asks "what would you do to build a homestead for yourself?" That question is in fact a directive rather than an examination of the situation and best course of action. Directive questions are COMMON and often lead people astray because they are so insidious. This one was innocuous, but ones related to politics or shaping public opinion can be anything but innocuous.* I make it a point to treat directive questions as opinion or parenthetical comments that may not have any relation to a considered answer. It is one way that I come up with answers that no one else has been able to see.

*If you want to experience directive questioning raised to an art form, the style of sermons given by some black ministers is gorgeous. A series of rhetorical questions will be asked of the congregation, with the congregants becoming more and more engaged in a group response to every question as the emotional crescendo continues leading to the final punch line.

There also is an emotional component in the reasons why many folks homestead. If you have read "Robinson Crusoe" or the "Little House on the Prairie" books, there is a seductiveness to self reliance and surviving extreme conditions by use of wit and brawn. It is better not to let those color real attempts at survival in a world that is much different than the ones described.

If you examine the original post and place it in historical context, the situation closely describes why many people left Europe for a chance of life in the United States. Those who attempted a hardscrabble existence "homesteading" and being self reliant eventually got caught up in famines or war.

I started with a 24 inch bow saw.

Don't know where you live but where I live that is non since and statements like it are the very reason Medicaid doesn't help people it should because of false information they are afraid to apply.

I work for Medicaid and this is most certainly NOT THE CASE.

Again simply not true. For Community Medicaid in NY there is NO resource test.

some good information at this site: CheapRVLiving.com

That is definitely an interesting viewpoint. What I'm gathering is that you believe the idea of this couple working towards a homestead is not only a risky proposition but might even be foolish.

The background I was imagining was that the world is going to pot, the govt he confiscated large portions of retirement savings, spendable cash is hard for most to come by but people are still trying to survive peaceably, for the most part.

I suppose laying down and dying is an option. Public assistance might not be adequate or unavailable.

Maybe I've had vastly different gardening experience but my past and present gardens have been VERY worthwhile and produced a LOT of food. If your experiences have not been so good, I can appreciate the pessimism in that direction.

Or, I might have misinterpreted your whole post. LOL!! No offense intended, sincerely. I know I don't always comprehend as well as I wish I did...

In Kalifornia you get 980.00 a month for SSI and then you will also get an additional 600.00 Cal Fresh food stamps plus what the food bank gives you. Then you will get subsidized auto insurance and free healthcare. If you sign up at community college 6 units you will get 3 grand a semester for financial aid and you will also get a 1000.00 a month housing subsidy or placement in section 8 housing for free. Plus a pet food allowance and charity help. I need to quit my job?