Protecting your content

I received some great questions, about the process of changing blogging platforms - and what that might entail. Does it really add more protection, for your content, if you're paying? Also, how is it different blogging on a website, versus a dedicated blogging platform? I want to keep this simple, so will dedicate a post to each question.

So what does paying for your website, offer as protection for your content?

Well it all depends, who you choose as your website hosting company. There is a confusing amount of hosting companies around, but the companies I explored were, Wordpress, Bluehost, GoDaddy, Wix and Weebly. Why these? Because they offered either a free plan to start with, or a free trial period. If you're still a novice in the website building universe, why pay, before knowing if you actually like using these products?

These free versions, are limited in their features, however - Ecommerce, shopping carts, using your own domain name, etc: are generally, off the cards. Also the free versions, often come with advertising on your website (once you go live). But at least, you can experiment whether navigating their site builders, ie: how you put your site together - is for you. One of the reasons I chose Weebly, is because of the simple, drag and drop, construction process. But there are some limitations I will share a little later.

Effectively, when you're paying the hosting company though, you're paying for: a site builder, domain name, and real estate to park your website RV. As long as you continue to pay, you continue to protect your content. There is the option to purchase your domain name, elsewhere (which I did) but otherwise, as long as you continue to pay, they don't touch your content. That's entirely your department.

There is somewhat of a sizeable, caveat though. As long as the hosting company doesn't close down, or doesn't get hacked by a trojan virus, your content is safe. These incidents are extremely rare, but never say never. Which is why it's always sensible, to back-up your website, in some way. Most hosting companies have the ability to export a copy of your website, via a zip file, to your computer. And it's something you should do regularly, as a safeguard.

How accessible is that information afterwards though? Once again, it depends which hosting company you go with. This is one mistake I made with Weebly, I didn't realise until after paying for the plan. I can export a copy of my website, but it cannot be used to create a new website in Weebly. Isn't that remarkable? I have to manually cut and paste, everything back in.

However Wordpress have built a workaround, through a special importer tool. It allows you to migrate your Weebly website, over to Wordpress, in a simple process. Sadly, it's a feature Weebly hasn't offered it's paying customers. Weird. But I'm still happy with Weebly, introducing me to the concept of building my own website, nonetheless. You've got to start somewhere. If I need to change hosting companies, I will most likely go with Wordpress, for reasons I won't go into now. Because I know I'm already in danger of giving you information overload!

There's one other aspect I should mention, which deals directly with the Google+ shutdown recently. Another potential loss of information, can come from third party Apps. If you've embedded them into your website, and anything happens to the company with those Apps, the information they controlled (like comments, stats, etc) can get deleted too. Which was the case with Google+, and my Blogger account.

So just because you're paying to protect your content, doesn't necessarily guarantee 100% protection. But what it does mean is, you have more control over, what Apps deal with your content, and what advertising is shown on your blog/website. As a general rule, the website hosting company, doesn't want to touch or otherwise delete your content - as that's their business, keeping you in business. Which is why, when building your website, it's a good idea to keep as many features with the hosting company as possible. The more third-party Apps you bring in - the more liable you are, for things to go wrong.

The one exception to the rule, is when it comes to buying and hosting your domain name. I won't go into that now though. This post, is already long enough!

I hope that helps to answer the question about what protection, is gained through paying for a website, versus a free blogging platform. There is slightly more protection (definitely more control) if you're paying, but check what each hosting company offers - more importantly, what they don't.

My advice, unless you have an interest building your own website (for personal or business reasons) then stick with a free blogging platform. You don't have to make all these decisions, or go through a steep learning curve, just to blog about what you like. Always be diligent however, no-matter what option, to back-up a copy of your content, via the export tool.

Although the desire to have more protection, was in the forefront of my mind. The desire to start a website, was a personal reaffirmation about our property too. Which I've written about in my first blog post, on the new website. But I've got one little issue, I'm attempting to fix, before I can go live. Just one! So close.

Unexpected bills, part 2

Somewhere between the car dying, replacing the battery, and having it die again...the oven in the kitchen went kaput! We only had the element replaced eight years ago. Yeah, I'm kidding. Eight years is pretty good, in the world of Whitegoods. Just the timing, could be better.

 Old faithful

In the post written back in 2011, I estimated $180 for the repair bill of our (then) broken oven. Well it came in, after GST (Goods & Sevices Tax) at $190. We got eight years longer, from old faithful. Could the same great, repair company, come to our ovens' rescue again?

Indeed. They replaced the element and a few lugs in the back. It cost $208, this time. A mere $18 hike in eight years. That's cheaper than two coffees and two slices of cake, at a cafe. Also, that's now TWO ovens of ours, they've prevented going into landfill. Makes me want to do a happy dance!

Inside my 12 year old oven ~

 element, around the fan

Speaking to the technician, he said there isn't much, which can go wrong in a BASIC oven. Electrolux parts can fit our oven, even though the brand (Gianni) no longer exists. We got lucky. Apparently, Westinghouse is the Whitegoods company in Australia, with the MOST readily available parts. But if you have an oven that fits Electrolux parts, you're fortunate. As they're well made. Our eight-years, straight run, on an Electrolux element, can testify.

Wow - eight years. That went fast! Guess we've been living here, for almost 12 years, come this Easter.

Made a passionfruit slice, yesterday ~

(Gluten Free)

I can probably expect to write my next, "oven carked it", post, in 2027. Hopefully the car is still around then, and me too! The emergency fund better stay in shape, though. Because just like taxes, death (of Whitegoods) is a given. It's comforting to know however, our stance on purchasing only BASIC Whitegoods, may continue to stand us in good stead.

One small, side note - in case my regular repair company ever goes anywhere, there's also Downs Appliance Repair (DAR) in our region.

A rare, light-bulb moment

Oh yes, one other thing I forgot to mention - our fridge light-bulb, carked it too. At a mere $3 or so, pocket change in comparison. But doesn't it all add up in the end? Bad timing. An extra month's grace would have been great!

In the scheme of things, we're still doing okay. I don't have to choose whether to get the oven fixed, OR, put food on the table. Even though Murphy's Law, applies in this situation, it's still not the end of the world. It's good to keep that in perspective.

I would be ever so grateful though, if no more unexpected repair bills, came to visit for a while.

Unexpected bills, part 1

As the title suggests, there's more to this story. We had a couple of unexpected bills, join the queue of regular expenses, for this time of year. Anyone who owns a home, knows Council (County for the US) rates are due, the first electricity bill arrives, and in our particular case, annual registration for one car and a trailer. Oh, did I mention the insurance too? Car, and home.

Thank goodness, my car rego, comes later in the year. I guess it was feeling left out, and decided to die one afternoon. Not entirely unexpected, as the battery light had appeared on my dashboard for about a month. I assumed it was a dying battery. When it did quit, we simply replaced the battery and thought all was well. Until...

"I'm Givin' Her all She's Got, Captain!"

The day it was booked into Toyota (just to make sure) the battery was completely dead again. Brand new battery! Thankfully, I'm a member of RACQ, so they jump-started the car at home, and checked the issue. It was then, I discovered, I wouldn't be going anywhere. Not driving anyway. They would have to tow my car, into Toyota.

In order to save the brand new, top of the line battery we just purchased, it was best not to drive the vehicle at all. Because the alternator was overcharging the battery. Okay, great to know. New alternator time. Over $700 later though (includes a service and a few extra parts) I had my car back. Crikey!

Truly, I'm grateful RACQ and Toyota, were able to rescue my little sedan. Even though it had to stay in longer than planned. Three days, all up. I've also got another $300+ bill coming in a few months, to fix a few other issues they found. On the whole though, my car is pretty problem free. I rarely have issues with it 99% of the time. Not like the Ford I had, previously.

I'm sure this was smaller, a few months ago!

Gotta love, torn seat-covers, for that true vintage look I've been aiming for. Okay, maybe not? But to appease my DIY, frugal mindset, which had absolutely no place fixing my car at the time, I decided to give my car, some extra care and attention, when it returned home. Best part - it would cost absolutely '0' mullah.

And maybe it will know, I truly do appreciate it, and not try any more drastic attempts for attention, in future.

Matching pair

Both the driver's side, and passenger seat-covers were torn. And nothing says I live in the country, without sealed roads - like dirt, caking the entire carpet. My kids have worked hard, trouncing that inside the vehicle. Actually, it's not that hard. You can see the culprit in the lower left-hand corner. The dirt is just begging to jump inside the car, on the bottom of shoes.

Thankfully, I had the sense to purchase front car-seat covers, in the middle of last year, when on sale. I just hadn't gotten around to installing them. Maybe it's time, when the $700 paid to fix the darn thing, looks like overcapitalising.

Much better! 

Still must work out, all those wrinkles

After the dust settled once again, in our little corner of the world, it was a good reminder how important an emergency fund is. There's virtually no public transport system, in the country (school bus only) so you have to ensure your vehicles are working.

A stroke of good fortune in all this, is my husband happened to be on holidays, when it unfolded. So I didn't have to worry about how the kids would get to the bus and back. Especially when the walk home, looks directly into the afternoon sun, with almost no shade.

Stay tuned, for part two, in the queue of unexpected bills.

About livestock

In my recent posts about permanency, I touched on the subject of keeping animals. I suggested, necessary infrastructure on the land, comes first, before getting too carried away with livestock. I may have given the impression, however, you cannot have any animals at all.

It is possible to keep some animals before you've gotten all your building projects completed. After all, it could take years. But remember to keep permanency in mind, by practising some limitations too.

Black Pekin pullets - 2008

I personally didn't need to keep as many heritage breeds as I did, in the first few years. It was a wonderful experience, and I learned a lot about different breed traits. However (ironically) in the end, I realised I just wanted a healthy chicken, which could provide eggs.

Now I just keep layers of mixed variety. ISA Browns, to be specific, but we plan to keep a rooster and breed our own, Gully Grove variety. Which will simply comprise of whatever rooster we can get for free. We recently acquired one, which is part ISA Brown and part Leghorn. He's a lovely fellow. We'll keep one coop, several layers and one rooster at a time.

Bantam Orpingtons (blue rooster, black pullets) - 2009

I recommend this is how you should start with chickens on property, if you need to practice economic restraint. Attempt to find whatever chickens are available for as little cost as possible (free in some cases) in your area. As long as you can acquire a rooster, then you can incubate the subsequent eggs. That's if you don't have a broody hen, to incubate the eggs and do the rearing for you.

This simple set-up means you don't have to keep buying new hens, for reliable egg supply. You can breed your own - year in, year out. It's a wonderful way to introduce yourself (and any children) to keeping chickens too.

Limiting yourself from the beginning, ensures what you start with, has a better chance of succeeding. Or, if you discover you don't like keeping chickens, you haven't spent a great deal of money, to learn that lesson.

 Lavender Araucana rooster - 2009

The question of whether to build a permanent chicken coop, or mobile chicken tractor, can only be answered by what your land (and you) can provide. There were reasons we went with permanent coops, rather than the tractors, and everyone's reasons will vary.

I would however, recommend a permanent coop, if you don't have the time to move a mobile tractor around. After all, that is the key part of their design to keep chickens healthy, happy and productive. Or if, like us, you don't have enough flat land to run them on, a permanent coop is better suited.

 Newly constructed chicken tractor - 2008

Chicken tractors are more economical on building supplies, plus they allow chickens to be moved to fresh food. Which can ultimately, reduce the cost of feed you have to purchase. If you're just starting out and can use mobile tractors, it makes more financial sense to do so.

If a permanent coop suits your situation better however, you can reduce costs of building one, by searching for second hand materials, online, or at garage sales. You can even reuse wooden shipping pallets. These are often given away for free, by businesses who would otherwise have to pay to have them carted away. Heck, I even reused an old cot, in my first permanent chicken coop.

 Recycled, wooden babies cot - 2008

Of all the livestock you can keep, chickens are probably the easiest. But they're also the most prone to predators. So whatever accommodations you make, ensure they are offered as much protection as possible.

I have no experience with keeping larger livestock, such as goats, sheep, pigs or cattle. Simply because most of our energies and resources, have been spent, creating flat land. If you have the land though, and can dedicate some resources to keeping larger livestock - the same practice of limitations apply.

 Gold Lace Wyandotte pullet - 2009

Start by setting up a few animals, successfully, at first. Be conservative with building accommodations, but also make sure it's secure. Any design, which can incorporate free feed options, should be considered too. Even with a permanent coop, we have found pigeon peas to be an excellent, no hassle, free feed, for our chickens. So we incorporate them around our chicken coops and gardens. If you don't have the climate for pigeon peas, try growing easy greens instead.

Free feed can also be found, by giving chickens: garden weeds, fruit 'n veg past their prime, including the offcuts and their seeds. Even your leftover dinner scraps will do. Clean a roasting tray of fat, by using a piece of bread instead of kitchen towels, and give it to your chickens. They will love it. Ours do.

Barnevelder pullet and cockerel - 2009

By placing most of your effort on being conservative with your resources though, it will be an easier venture to manage over the life of it. Being enthusiastic about keeping livestock is great. Just avoid creating such an enormous chore, it starts taking away most of your time and resources. Especially, as you will be busy setting up, other aspects of your property.

So with that in mind, keep the numbers of animals, in check too. Make sure its only what you can afford to keep, and what you can realistically manage. Otherwise it could become a wasted venture, in the end. Only succeeding at delaying you, from reaching the goal of permanency.

 Black Australorp Rooster - 2012

Don't be surprised if (like us) you have to reassess what you're doing, and change things to suit your circumstances. You haven't failed at keeping animals. The compass is set to keeping the land viable, under your tenure, is all. Only you can give yourself, the flexibility to achieve that.

While I've enjoyed sharing some photos of my old Heritage Breeds, in this post, don't be tempted to think, I got my money's worth. Not as it turned out. Because as gorgeous as all those birds were (I loved each and every one) at the end of the day, it was easier to just go with whatever bird was affordable, and preferably (in the case of roosters) free. Because it's only over time and compounded effort, the real cost is accounted for.

 ISA Brown x Leghorn cockerel - 2016

17 weeks old (free)

My hat goes off, to anyone who does dedicate their time to breeding heritage chickens, however. There's nothing wrong with that vocation, if you're set up for it. We had a lot more work, it turned out, setting up our property from scratch, than I initially anticipated. Which is why I eventually went with, whatever was the most cost effective approach.

There is no, good - bad equation to keeping chickens. Heritage Breeds. Cross Breeds. Or any other livestock, for that matter. Just remember to put what works for the land (and your efforts, setting up) first. Because that is what will keep the wheels of your entire venture, running, well into the future.

For one final bit of inspiration, I wanted to share a short 3 minute video, demonstrating a chicken coop, being made from pallets. It showcases what is possible with cheap (often free) materials. Or you can visit their website for more detailed information. All freely shared.

Planning for permanency

I often see new houses being built in our area, or people modifying the older ones, and you can tell their priorities. They'll bring in ponies and/or motorbikes for the kids, almost immediately. Perhaps a new entertainment extension to the house will appear. Followed by a few loud parties. Within a year however, the new extension becomes a ghost annex, where nothing ever happens under it again.

Rarely when someone moves into our area, to build or remodel an existing house, do we see a flurry of fencing or the building of outside storage areas. Not with the same immediacy as the entertainment aspects, and rarely do those important infrastructure changes, emerge at all.

 For sale sign in our region

Which is why, those same houses which were purchased with such enthusiasm in the beginning, end up on the market again, within a few years. Because once the money runs out for ponies, motorbikes and parties (or whatever the expectation was) the daunting prospect of managing acreage, starts to sink in. 

These people didn't move to the countryside, with the intention of living closer to the land. They purchased the land cheaper than urban prices command, in order to have more space and money, for entertainment purposes and grander toys. I'm not writing this to start judging that kind of person. Rather, it's an example of what not to do, if your intention is to plan for permanency on the land you purchase.

 Newly finished Chicken coop #2

Because, believe it or not, even those of us who want to move to the land, in order to improve it - will still come with expectations of grander things. For me personally, it was chickens. I've kept and bred about five breeds of chickens now and several crosses. I needed to build two chicken coops and two chicken tractors, just to house them all. Luckily, I realised before I became consumed completely, there had to be a limit to what I was doing.

The penny dropped, when I realised important infrastructure was being left behind as a result. Gains made for chickens, shouldn't have "topped" my priorities list. But chickens were fun too - which is precisely why they did top the list. So I can't exactly, judge those who raced out to buy ponies and motorbikes either.

Our newly constructed house ~ the yard needed work

Let it all be a lesson, when you finally get the opportunity to do the things you've been dreaming of - how tempting it is, to forget your priorities. Which is why it's a sensible idea, to get your priorities addressed, first. Because if you've sold an asset in a more urban area, in order to move to land - that kind of flush of cash, will hardly cross your palms, as readily again. Buying in the country per acre, may be cheaper, but its building and maintaining the infrastructure, which can be the expensive part, over time.

Unless you've got other assets to sell later on, or receive outside cash through investments, what monetary advantage you start with in the country, will have to stretch a really long way. So for those moving on a shoestring budget, always spend on your priorities first. No matter how tempting or how you can justify it. Don't allow yourself to get sidetracked. Because you are planning for permanency, after all.

Playgroup 2016

I would like to provide an example of a couple, who did exactly that. They live in an older area, near our relatively newer estate. We became acquainted through the activities of our kids crossing paths (playgroup) for nearly two years. During a longer than normal stroll around the neighbourhood recently, we spotted them being active in their garden. It was time to finally drop in and say hi.

It was a lovely experience to see what a couple and their five kids, could develop on their property, over 23 years. That's over two decades worth of work, on raw land. I felt like a positive newbie, only being at it for nine years! But they had a lot to show for their efforts too.

For privacy, this image is a representation

of the rear of their house ~ Source

While their house was modest on the outside - looking more like a galvanised metal shed, they still had the basics of what they really needed elsewhere. All the magic was actually happening, behind he house. There was an enormous concrete rainwater tank to supply the house with, a bore to supply the garden, large undercover area for multiple tasks, which was attached to a myriad of small utility sheds, with tools within easy reach. There was also a swale (irrigating edibles) and an extensive (but basic) irrigation system, they ran to the rest of the property.

I'm not a fan of irrigation, myself (perhaps I should write another post about why) but I could still appreciate how well they developed their priorities. They had more developed garden and outside infrastructure, than what the house and family vehicles, occupied together. This is important to note, when you're moving to acreage for the first time.

Our old house in suburbia - now sold

Because in suburbia, it's all about the house. As that is what comes to dominate the relatively smaller landscape. On acreage however, the landscape comes to dominate everything in your life. You have to learn to manage those outside responsibilities, with family and work commitments. Or else it will quickly overwhelm you.

In this family's case, planning for permanency, involved cultivating systems which worked for their environment. It made the day to day chores, easier for the family to manage over 23 years. Of course, it wasn't all there to begin with. They had to add to it slowly. But it was refreshing to see a property in our area, with an inconspicuous house, dwarfed by plants, other than eucalyptus trees.

They had successfully grown most of the plants I've mentioned on our blog already. Things like mango, banana, chokos, passionfruit and lemon grass - along with some new ones I haven't tried yet. Such as sugar cane, paw-paw, pecans, macadamia nut, plus a variety of palms and exotic trees. They were also successfully growing, many of the vegetables I've struggled to grow here.

 We can successfully grow bananas

These were the people we are planning to become. Only they've gotten over a decade head start on us. They also got a lot more priorities set up, better than we did, in the beginning too. Which I will discuss in another post, in hopes it can help those who may seek to develop raw land themselves. These lessons can also be applied in suburbia too, only on a smaller scale. It's all about seeking permanency, by cultivating the right priorities.

In closing though, I would like to stress how we need to become familiar with what permanency looks like in our environment. What are the things we need to establish, in order to make the workload where we live, flow easier? Because if we get the priorities right, we're less tempted to become jaded, uproot and start again. Starting again, when its not entirely necessary, can drain more money and resources.

However, if moving is on the cards, a sense of permanency can still be sort. Only it comes with you, to be cultivated again. I have some interesting things to share about relocating permanency too. My next post will explore more of that.

A Mother's Day surprise

I didn't have a cake on Mother's day, because who needs the calories right? Neither did I get any presents just for being a mum - I actually think being a mum is the present and I get to experience that a lot. But there was something 'afoot' on that particular day, and mainly on top of our roof.  I mentioned recently, David and I had some large financial decisions to make over Easter. On Mother's Day, we saw the realisation of those decisions...

Click to enlarge

It's a 5 kilowatt system, consisting of 20 solar panels. We just had enough room on our roof, with our existing solar hot water system (centre). The installers even had to move the tv antenna, so they could fit them all on the northern side.

Why such a big unit? We run a septic system 24/7 and a water pump for the house too. Plus we don't have a wood burner at the moment, so the house is heated via electricity during winter. Our bills during that time can be in excess of $800 per quarter.

Our anaerobic septic system

Of all the things we weighed to use our money for, solar was the only one which would reduce our expenditures consistently. We originally saved the money to buy a wood heater, but it would only reduce our expenditures during winter. We still intend to get a wood heater once we save the money again, but its a big outlay for such a small window of return.

The fact I'm talking about money when speaking about solar is I don't believe we deserve any credit for being environmentally minded. A grid connected solar system, depends entirely on the electricity network to operate. It does provide free energy from the sun, but this particular system relies entirely on fossil fuels to operate. In terms of sustainability, you really need a "stand-alone" solar system, which means the solar panels are connected to a battery bank, instead of the electricity grid.

Pineapple and sweet potato

Our main environmental challenge is the green we can produce in the landscape. It takes a lot longer to make a return in the garden, than one afternoon with tradespeople on the roof. People who mind their gardens or find ways to eat locally, contribute a greater effort to being environmentally friendly because its a daily commitment and generally uses more elbow grease than fossil fuels.

I've written about solar before, and I wouldn't say my views have changed a great deal. We only purchased panels recently, because the Queensland government decided to remove the generous subsidy they were giving households, putting solar energy back into the grid. That's why I made the appointment to speak to a solar company recently - I wanted to hear what solar would look like without the government subsidy.

Once I saw households would be paid "market value" for the excess energy they produced by their electricity supplier, I felt it was a more realistic system of exchange. I've written about what government subsidies can do to a household budget and the price of goods here and here. I intend to write a third and final post, in my series about Individualism. It was always going to be about solar, because that has been the latest government incentive to get households to change the way they do business.

Our hands aren't completely clean however, as we did receive some subsidy for installing the system, but I will discuss the details of that in my final post about Individualism.

In the meantime, the sun has decided to go into hiding. While I know our panels aren't producing as much power because of it, the garden really needs these gentle days of reprieve from the sun. It triggers so much growth and change that I cannot begrudge it's necessity.

Australia votes

It's about 2 more days until Australia votes to decide who will form the next Federal government. Then we will have to live with the effects of their policies for the next 3 years. I don't want to discuss personalities or concepts of right and wrong - but I am interested in exploring the policies and what they will mean for Australians.

Today the Opposition released their costings for their policies, and one of the big surprises is how they intend to reduce money set aside for foreign aid - to the tune of 4 billion or so, to help pay for much needed infrastructure in Australia, like roads, public transport and the National Broadband Network. This investment in infrastructure will help grow the economy, so we can afford to be more generous with foreign aid later.

I'm sure this is a policy many Australians will shake their heads at. I'm personally dismayed to consider we wouldn't be able to help those who are forced into refugee camps due to Civil War and persecution. Cutting into increasing foreign aid in order to pay for more infrastructure in Australia, seems terribly selfish. And yet choosing where the axe will fall, will surely have to be a trend for the future?

Dwindling fossil fuels, and the eventual demise of the baby-boomer driven economic cycle, will ensure the diminishing return will have to be made up for, in either incurring larger debt, or a reduction in expenditure.

It was refreshing to hear the Opposition talking within limits today, because going into increasing debt to meet financial obligations, is only avoiding what the rest of the world is currently experiencing - limits to growth. We would be borrowing on future Australian tax-payers money in order to increase foreign aid at this point in time, while still not having enough to meet the growing trend in aging population and the health care they require.

As I watched one of the debates between the two main political party leaders, and questions were taken from the audience - I couldn't help but notice how each question centered around how much more money the government needed to spend on various sections of the community. Nurses and caring for the aging, dairy farmers, women wanting to have babies without losing their income, etc. These are all very valid issues, and yet no-one discusses how much is enough. Because in reality, everything we have in Australia is presently balanced through debt we've borrowed from overseas. Will we get a choice as a voting population, once the borrowed money runs out though?

If we're currently experiencing the woes of not having the means to stretch the budget today, how much more will we be lamenting, when we've maxed out the credit? While I loath the thought of the axe ever falling - surely it must fall on something? We cannot have real growth in this country, until we start living within our means. Otherwise we're merely working to pay our debtors.

This will probably be the trend for Australian voters for a long time to come, as comfortable policies are not the way of the future. We are looking at many outside influences we cannot dodge forever. We may have allegedly dodged the recession the rest of the world had to have, but we don't seem to be doing much with it other than dreaming about better entitlements, paid for with continued debt. A technologies innovation much hailed as our economic saviour, even if we do come up with something better than solar panels - they will still have to be paid for by (you guessed it) borrowed money.

What will be left of the world which can possibly afford to buy it from us?

No matter what side of politics talks about growth in the economy, the reality will either be spending less (cuts) or borrowing more (debt). Our family has taken measures to reduce our own expenditure because we haven't always been living within our means. We make our budget stretch with the help of family tax. That particular entitlement could be on the chopping block at a later date, so it's why we have decided to take action to make savings to pay back our debt.

It hasn't been easy, in fact, there has been sleepless nights on several occasions. But it's better to get in and start early, than simply let who gets into government decide for you. Because one day the axe may fall on you. I know both sides of politics tries to avoid that kind of speculative language, preferring us to believe the only boogie-man is whomever is in opposition - we, the electorate are otherwise safe. Which inevitably leads voters to believe there is no down side at all, or there is no downside which could challenge their idea of security - so long as they vote against their perceived boogie-man.

Anyway, in the spirit of giving (if you can) please support the various stalls at voting booths this Saturday, to raise money for charity and schools. These are run by members of the community, freely giving of their time and resources to help a local cause. If nothing else, I think mandatory elections can bring community closer together. We may not all vote the same way, but we all genuinely care for our community.

How are you feeling about the impending election?

Individualism part 2

I have been mulling over a sister post to "Individualism", and it's turning out to be quite an ordeal to write. I was compiling all the information into one post, when it probably needed several. So I'll start by sharing the back-story to my personal experience with government subsidies...because I didn't just arrive at the conclusions I have without experience.

The first subsidy I ever received, was back in 2001. You may remember it as the "First Home-Owners Grant". It was a new Federal initiative meant to offset the introduction of the GST, and was funded by the various States. It was intended as a one-off payment ($7,000) to people who were purchasing their first home. As I understand, the scheme is still going today.

It was great news for us back then however, as it meant we could buy our first home. The sticker price on our Australian dream, only cost $64,000. After the grant was applied and our small deposit, we only had to borrow $54,000 from the bank. It doesn't sound like much now, but we barely earned $30k between us.

Prior to moving in

Our little 3 bedroom house, became the centre of many "firsts" for us. It was the first house we lived in as husband and wife, we brought our first daughter home from hospital there, we planted our first vegetable garden and it made us feel wonderful to play our part as first home owners.

As exciting as all this was however, something started to change in the background. I'm referring to the incredible "boom" in house prices. We had just gotten through the door before prices started to escalate. The First Home-Owners Grant, achieved exactly what it was meant to do: cash people up - so everyone was vying to sign on the dotted line.

As property values were increasing so rapidly, many investors (including retirees putting their superannuation to work) decided to buy investment properties. Pretty soon, it was becoming impossible for young couples to buy a house on the wages people were earning. This rapid escalation even saw the government double the First-Home-Owners grant for newly constructed houses.

What this meant to us personally however, is our house went from being worth $64,000 back in 2001 , to  $174,000 in 4.5 years. We sold our house in 2006.

Construction almost complete

We were patting ourselves on the back too, as the sale of our house cashed us up to build on 5 acres. It looked rather good from where we were sitting. That was until the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) in the US arrived in 2007. I remember it well, as we were in the middle of building and naturally worried about interest rate rises. They didn't rise much at all, but the GFC certainly set the stage for emerging economies like China and India to sell their cheap labour and manufacturing. As their economies started to boom, it meant oil prices started to rise across the globe.

Which directly contributed to us receiving our last government subsidy. Another Federal initiative was created to help individuals convert their petrol cars to LPG (Liquid Petroleum Gas) which was around 50 cents per litre back then. Heaps cheaper than petrol, which was edging closer to the $1 mark.

The new gas conversion certainly helped the family budget, but only for about 12 months. Because pretty soon everyone was getting gas conversions (including buses for public transport) so inevitably LPG prices climbed as a result.

A definite pattern was beginning to emerge in my lifetime, but I still wasn't convinced until the recent solar subsidies started to come into effect.

Early days in our new house

posing in front of a cake

Like the boom in house prices and then the petrol/LPG prices, the boom in connecting solar to the National electricity grid, has started to show in the economy too. It's driving up the prices of electricity. I know this is often fiercely debated, but there is more to this situation than meets the eye.

I will save the full explanation for another post, as this is where it starts diverging from the intent of this post.  Needless to say (in brief) when heavy demand is suddenly placed on an individual network, designed for something other than solar, it starts to need massive upgrades. Massive means expensive. As consumers of subsidised products, we often see the fault at the delivery end - the suppliers. We see them as greedy corporate entities, trying to make more profit from helpless consumers.

But aren't we also acting in a self-interested manner when we get someone else to foot the bill for our consumption, for our exclusive profit? That "someone else", are the future tax payers of Australia. Just because the government dips into revenue to help Australians make purchases, doesn't mean it's free money.  It comes from collecting tax revenue.

So if we want to start increasing our taxes, a sure fire way is to continue borrowing from the revenue base. As a family, we've borrowed around $10k in the past eleven years. That's just one family in Australia. I say "borrow" in as much as we're expected to give it back. Our local Council rates have risen dramatically, vehicle registrations, and what we pay in the economy has risen also, due to the fact business are expected to pay more to operate under new government legislation/levies/taxes, etc.

If we want to see prices continue to rise at the unsustainable rate they are in the economy (as I've witnessed in just eleven short years) then we'll continue to buy with fast money, without any thought of who will pay in the future. We are the ones who pay. We always are. So will our kids when they start earning money.

Most of our pre-fab retaining walls were purchased on borrowed funds

Our wage of $30k eleven years ago, has almost had to double to pay for the increase in cost of living - and I've noticed we don't have as much disposable money as we used to either. This is despite all the cheap labour and manufacturing coming out of China and India now - and the fact we have stopped making unnecessary purchases.

I decided to write this back-story down, as there's a far bigger picture going on beyond our personal stories. I took part in a great deal of personal profiteering and saw it as "good", then criticised the corporations for wanting to make money from the services I demanded - and ruining the environment as they did it. There's a simple answer to this equation however - desire less services as a consumer and use only what money is truly your own. Just because it comes from government subsidies, doesn't mean it has less damaging potential as borrowing from the bank.

At least with a bank, you know what you'll be paying with interest and when your contract will expire. With government money, they can set the return at any rate they want and the contract never ends for the rest of your life, your children's lives and their children's lives, etc.

Consumers who are kept away from the real price of what they're purchasing, contribute to a great deal of waste in the environment and loss of freedoms. When we demand a government that will give us stuff on the cheap, and pressure business to give us what we want NOW, we're going to end up with a big cost blow-out in the economy. Who is going to pay for that? Certainly not the corporations and certainly not the government. We reduce our freedoms when we demand more - be it plasma screen tv's or solar panels. It still requires copious resources en masse.

I started to think if I really wanted my daughter to have to earn the kind of income rises we've had to endure to meet the increase cost of living. These increases have been substantial, considering the minimal time-frame it occurred in.. I started to wonder if there was an alternative to this juggernaut, which actually makes sense?

 A personal decree helps when handling your money

The only one I've been able to come up with, is determining myself to pay full sticker price for consumer purchases - with the money we earn now, not potential earnings: be that from tax revenue or bank credit. Doing things in real time, seems to have a built-in mechanism, where I only demand what I have the resources to buy. I also start paying more attention to efficiency, because if something isn't very efficient, why would I bother investing in it?

Which is what I discovered in my research into solar panels. Being connected to the grid is the most inefficient use for what solar panels were designed for. But I will cover that topic more in depth soon.

This post is about attempting to understand what we do in our households, en masse, and how it affects larger forces in the economy to our detriment. We may not necessarily want to acknowledge those effects at first glance, especially when there's a short term gain to be made. I've often asked myself recently, would I have taken the First Home-Owners Grant if I knew the effects it would bring? Chances are, if I was that savvy with money to understand the consequences in the first place, I wouldn't have needed to borrow anything.

Fruit can be unique from the ordinary

I know taking the opportunity back in 2001, bore a different kind of fruit though. It was the realisation, borrowing from future earning potential, only means everyone has to work harder to stay ahead.  If we are going to pay for tax revenue, let it be for the important life saving services and for the genuine disadvantaged. They need that revenue, more than the middle class need their ever increasing (unrealistic) dreams of utopia to come true.

I'm not suggesting for one minute, we should drop the pursuit of our dreams. But if it's not dealt out in "real-time" however, earned with our own labours, then it means we increase our need for resources ahead of time too. Because the energy used to make those resources available today, doubles (even triples) the need of an individual, because we're borrowing on future labours.

Can the future handle that kind of demand on resources? At some point, the law of diminishing returns will kick in, which will be the theme of my next post on the matter.

Individualism

First, a quick explanation of some of my recent posts and the ones I am yet to write. I will be talking about controversial issues in a frank manner. This might make some feel uncomfortable at times - especially if what I write about bears some resemblance to them.

I want to reassure I'm not making judgements on how others determine their lives. I'm  using this space however, to verbalise some of the concepts I've had to process in order to make changes myself.

Onto the subject of individualism - let me start with another popular term of reference called, "self-reliance". It pops up quite a lot in the subjects I like to read about. Like all popular references, the meaning tends to change by who is interpreting it. Which brings me back to individualism again, and how we like to accept certain realities on our own terms.

I won't leave self-reliance just yet however, as it's one of the issues I've been trying to understand lately, in the society we share. Self-reliance is an attempt to be more capable, more equipped and prepared for one's needs in life. This stems from an individual pursuit, therefore it's a personal attempt at self-reliance. What I have found self-reliance is not however, is removed from economic reality.

To put it another way, every individual action, plays against a back-story which has been playing since time began. That entire back-story (no matter where the individual enters) is not devoid of others or shared resources.  I'll use a specific example here - government subsidies.

In our old suburban house, we used many government subsidies (State, Local and Federal) in the form of rebates on purchases which were deemed as having "sustainable" attributes. There were many on offer in Queensland. They were intended as a productive step as a community, to address Climate Change. Government subsidies can be quite useful if they're organised sensibly.

But there is also a dark side to government subsidies, consumers aren't always eager to understand. Government subsidies are paid for by Shire, State or Federal revenue, depending which government is offering them. The back-story here is, it took a pool of resources to take up the "self-reliant" option as an individual.

That same pool of resources however, has to pay for Hospitals, Public Servants wages, Libraries and other important infrastructure.

If I may quote Margaret Thatcher (1983) former British Prime Minister, "There is no such thing as public money, there is only taxpayers money".

When individuals rely on government subsidies to be more self-reliant, they are utilising a pool of tax collected from the majority. So it cannot really be claimed to be an individual pursuit. Why am I pointing this out? It can be easy to believe in writing our personal story of individualism, that the back-story belongs to us too. But it seems hard to accept we arrive where we are today, by the input someone else performed before us.

I personally have accepted government subsidies because they were on offer in the past. I have used doctor's appointments I may not have needed, but wanted reassurance, because I knew it was going to be charged to Medicare (not me). At the time, I accepted those financial benefits because they were on offer and I thought I should use them.

Once I realised however, that a public resource is a shared one, I started to be more selective in how I accepted government subsidies. I turned down the solar panel subsidy which was on offer, because after researching the details, I realised only a portion of the State was going to receive the financial benefits (the consumers of solar panels) but the cost burden was to be shared by everyone.Which meant the hospitals would have to give a little to the consumers of solar panels, the libraries and public transport too.

There are genuine cases for government subsidies and/or benefits. Like people with a physical or mental disability which need help accessing the community. They really do need those shared public funds, to help them achieve what most healthy people can take for granted. There are also many government programs to help people start their own small business. But all these benefits/programs/subsidies are intended for an economic return, back into the shared resource pool.

When I assessed the possibility of a solar subsidy however, I realised the scheme was all about personal financial gain. I wasn't expected to give anything back for the contribution others made. That made me feel, not only like I was encouraged to be a thoughtless consumer, but one who didn't have to think very far beyond my own wallet.

That is the ugly side of subsidies and I've received a few. It wouldn't be wrong to receive a subsidy if (a) you genuinely needed it, and (b) it helped you contribute something of equal value, back into the shared pool. What so many government subsidies on offer do today however, is keep us expecting we're entitled to freebies from invisible, limitless pockets. They especially use the excuse of Climate Change because it's a popular topic with voters.

But there are no such things as invisible, limitless pockets, and we can see the way the various tiers of government are handling their revenue. We see it whenever the teachers and nurses go on strike to receive a fair wage. We see it when we visit the hospital emergency room and have to wait hours to receive attention. We see it when prices go up across the entire business community when government implements more taxes.

The reason they have to increase the tax revenue, is because they're spending it on popular voter issues. Sadly, the increased taxes doesn't always reflect into real price increases for updating hospital equipment and the like.

I've been a recipient of those consumer freebie subsidies from the government in the past, and in all honesty I could have afforded those purchases out of my own pocket. I just would have waited a little longer to save for them. It always feels more like self-reliance that way too. I know the difference, as I've saved for things before government subsidies came along, and we are saving for things now.

The more individuals become dependent on government subsidies as a way of making ends meet, the less we are expressing our true individualism, and in fact becoming less self-reliant. How many of us actually want to view it that way however? I know I have refused to see it as dependency in the past: I saw it as my entitlement because the subsidy was directed at me and what I wanted. When it came from the government too, it's easy to forget they're taking money from taxpayers to pay for consumer wants.

I decided to explore my true individualism and experience making ends meet without government subsidies. I want my purchases to mean something more than entitlement: which is what so many subsidies have driven us to feel. I'm referring to subsidies specifically used to purchase goods for the home.

In the good old days, you had to work for what you wanted to put on, in or around your home. I want to be more like an old fashioned consumer. I don't want my home smothered with the latest green bling, I'd rather see the green back in nature. Or at least if I did purchase what I thought would help reduce costs to run the home, I'd want to pay for it without fast money. That way I have the opportunity to spread my consumption over an entire lifetime, not just how much I could fit in the next 12 months.

Imagine how much of the environment would be preserved, if we all spread our consumption over a lifetime, rather than purchasing everything we can in the next 12 months?

I've made a couple of important decisions recently, which I hope will see us through the next decade or more. First, I wanted to stop borrowing money from banks and credit lenders - we've done that. Second, I want to set money aside for necessary purchases (water tanks, an all-weather driveway, wood heater, etc) and we're close to meeting a target for one of them. Third however, and it's only been a recent addition: we want to stop borrowing from government revenue. It's like a public owned bank, only they own the public.

That's not my idea of self-reliance at all.