How will an economic collapse affect the RV/TT lifestyle?

[henw]

"I just voted for the lessor of 2 evils" ? It's time to take back our government and get some fresh faces in there and get this country turned around. It's still the greatest country on earth."

Which one isn't evil?? Better yet, which party isn't all about themselves??

[Jaxon]

Originally Posted by bilby05

RE: Where in Texas? I haven't been able to find it cheaper than gas since I bought a diesel Of course here in the panhandle gas and diesel are usually more expensive than anywhere else in the state anyway.
cheers, bill b.

No kidding! Here in Austin, diesel is sill significantly higher than regular gas. I've seen it as much as $1 higher (lowest I've seen is $4.65/gal/diesel) as of 8/7/08.

Some time ago, I read an article in the San Antone paper, business section about an interview with Valero. They were going to start focusing on selling diesel because the "profits were higher"...

Yeah, thanks... we're with ya' on that one, Valero...

[Journalist]

Current diesel prices are higher because we are shipping refined diesel out of the country by the tanker load to China and India. Diesel fuel was formerly cheaper than gasoline because there was a surplus of it as a byproduct of gasoline production. Now that there is more demand for it due to the fact that we are sending all of our money to China(thanks Wal-Mart) and they can suddenly afford to buy cars in record numbers, our diesel prices are climbing like there's no tomorrow. The US has no one to blame our problems on but ourselves.

[Aage]

Originally Posted by innjtown

I don't see any way out of it. My plan is get a tubular tin trailer to hide in.

OK, that's ONE plan...

Originally Posted by innjtown

How long could you last, without being able to buy things for your RV/TT? Is there some chemical you have to use to keep the toilets working, for example? (antifreeze if your up north, I guess).

Well, if you execute the above plan and buy an AS TT, you will learn lots about living "fulltime" in it.

The only question is, will you learn before you buy one, or after? Before is probably better, and if you agree, just dive in and start reading the many fine threads on their Care and Feeding.

Or were you just trying to start a rant about the economy? If so, it worked!

As for the economy, the only trick is to be clairvoyant as to how to handle yourself financially. If you have already learned to "speak" Airstream, that's a snap!

[rangebowdrie]

A couple of months ago, I went to my local hardware store, to buy an adjustable wrench. Hanging on a hook, was an American made wrench, in the size I needed, for 17$. Next to it was one made in China, for 9$. While comparing the two, a salesperson nearby said that the two of them were about equal. I said to him "If you want a 17$ an hour job, then buy the American wrench, if you want a 9$ an hour job, then buy the Chinese wrench". For many years, we here in America have been trying to save a buck, by buying cheaper overseas goods. It's now coming full circle, we have managed to mostly destroy American manufacturing, and living wage jobs. American companys would not move overseas, if they knew that people would stop buying their products.

[innjtown]

@norsea: I think the majority of my fellow Americans assume the government knows what it is doing, and trusts it not to be moronic.

@mustang: If the Fed goes tits-up, having a strong community will probably be a life-saver. Perhaps you and your kids will be the people who save your neighborhood.

@maxandgeorgia: I'm learning about wilderness survival, lol. I am learning how to find and clean water, trap animals, and live off the land. I'm preparing for a moneyless society.

@craftsman: I think I will finally be out of debt, just in time for the crash. My ex-fiancee left me 10's of thousands in debt, which has take about 8 years to payoff. I will be out of debt by January I think. After that, I will spend on preparing for the collapse.

@henw: True, we should not worry ourselves to death. However, our human condition is to survive, and to deal with perceived threats to that goal. We plant extra food in the summer so that we will have some in the winter. It is our worrying nature that allows us to survive.

@flashbackk: I think we have been over-spending since the 80s. I remember talk of the "Grant Ruddman Act" saving us in the 80s, I guess they shelved that!

@henw: It will be interesting to see what happens with the 20M illegal aliens in the USA, if we get to a point where regular Americans can't afford to eat.

@nodpete: I think the current situation in the USA proves that any form of government can become overly corrupt given enough time. The founding fathers had suggestions to deal with a corrupt government, but it is not legal to say them anymore.

@aage: I'm new to RV/TT's, but I have basically decided that that is what I am going to live in. I'm also interested in the US economy. It just so happens I now expect the US economy to crash, and am wondering how that will affect my RV/TT plans. I wish I owned a few acres of farm land, and had a TT to live in. It would be great to be self-sufficient.

@rangebowdrie: Indeed this mess is of our own doing. We are basically a nation of people who consume on credit. One of our political leaders, I forgot who, said, "The American way of life is not negotiable.". That type of inflexible thinking is what keeps us on the downward spiral. You know you have a problem when the government mails people money, to keep them spending.

[mustang]

@ innjtown we have a Dear Abbey Alert hahahahaah Wow someone has to much time, How did you remeber all those names or did you go back and forth or make notes.

[innjtown]

Originally Posted by mustang

@ innjtown we have a Dear Abbey Alert hahahahaah Wow someone has to much time, How did you remeber all those names or did you go back and forth or make notes.

@mustang: I just write my comments in to Notepad, then I post them in the Reply box. If people spend their time to write me a comment, letting them know I read it seems to be the right thing to do.

[PeeWee]

Originally Posted by innjtown

I fully expect the US dollar to continue becoming valueless, unless someone in the US government begins addressing the National debt. Other countries are already beginning to devalue the USD against their own currencies. If they stop buying our debt, we (Americans) are screwed. If we stop buying their stuff, they will have to stop buying our debt. I don't see any way out of it. My plan is get a tubular tin trailer to hide in.

How long could you last, without being able to buy things for your RV/TT? Is there some chemical you have to use to keep the toilets working, for example? (antifreeze if your up north, I guess).

Other nations are having their problems, and the dollar is ascending against the euro. How long? Who knows! The more we think doom and gloom...guess what...the more doom and gloom.

[craftsman]

I don't think we're going to think these problems away with just a positive attitude.I think you have to acknowledge that there is a problem before you can hope to do anything about it. The fuel crisis isn't a temporay problem like it seem to be in the 70's. I'll bet that in ten years, $5.00 a gallon is going to to look cheap.

[AZ-JH]

Hope for the best but prepare for the worst.

[RivetsforRon]

Originally Posted by craftsman

Prepare for the worst and hope for the best, and always live below your means. Support your local business's and stop shopping at all big box stores and eating at chain restaurants, contrary to some beliefs they take both jobs and money out of your community and promote cradle to grave minimum wage jobs as well as destroy the landscape with cartoon architecture.Eliminate all consumer debt and bank at your local Credit Union. That's just a few.

Here here!!! I have been worried about this issue since the late 80's when I started to see so much debt accruing. My father taught me that debt is bad no matter what it is for or who it is to. He had a bad experience with a credit card that over-charged him for a refrigerator in the '70's and wouldn't hold a credit card since then. When I was younger I thought he was crazy... now I see how WISE he really is. He owns his own home, has paid for every car in cash, sent me to school and did it all in an average blue collar job.

Thanks Dad- more Americans should be as great as you!

As for me I try to be as local as possible but I got me self into debt for my advanced degrees and for a house- now I see the economy going belly -up and so I'm getting a tin can that the bank won't take away- b/c they can't take what they can't catch
Just Kidding ::
Ron

[Lothlorian]

I joined airstream forums to learn how to fix an airstream I paid for (I own it, not the bank). I bought it for property I own in the heartland of America. I bought it because I saw this country's financial train wreck coming down the road. I own the trailer and I paid for the land. I am a horticulturist who has acreage to grow food. I bought the land for my family so If the worst happens we can move their and grow our own food.

I had a conversation with an Old Georgia farmer and i asked him how the depression affected him and his family. He told me his family never felt the horros of the depression because they raised their own meat and grew their own vegetables. Remember pre World War II 45% of the workers in this country were farmers. Now it is less then 2.5%. If you have water, good pasteur soil, sun, a stand of timber you should be able to grow your own food and survive. I buy the magazines, Grit, Mother earth News and Organic Gardening. Six more years and I am on the land going organic and green.

But all said and done I think as Americans we will figure it out. We will have to make huge changes. Recreational Vehicles may become permanent houses for many in the future. You are already seeing that happen in California. The BBC featured the growth of squatters living in RV under bridges in America because they lost their house.

Solar, wind, geothermal, and nuclear power will be advanced to take up the needs of fossil fuels. Noticed I didn't mention Bio Fuels. If we go after Bio Fuels are food prices will get worse. What is it now for a bushel of corn and soybeans? I remember when it was 2.50 a bushel for corn. Read this document. http://www.farmdoc.uiuc.edu/manage/n...fefo08_13.html

If we don't want another war we cannot starve the world.

This is getting to heavy of thread for me. Time to drink a cool one.




Lothlorian

[henw]

Stocks are rallying. The price of oil is dropping.
I suspect there are those who always think the economy is bad.
Glass half empty.
All you are guaranteed is the moment.

[Lothlorian]

Oil is a non renewable resource that will run out. China and India are buying up as much as they can. It took a few billion years for the earths plant residues to breakdown into fossil fuels. We are going to run out. The asian economies are growing and putting more vehicles on the road and building more factories. The price of oil may come down but how far for how long with demand increase? I sure don't see any new refineries being built in the USA. What happened to our new elected congress? Do they even show up for congressional sessions?

I feel the market will change the way Americans will do things in the future. We will go through some hard times before we will move forward again. I plan on being one of the Americans who will change many habits so I can live comfortable, and make sure my children and grandchildren have something to hold on to. If they lose it then that is their fault.

I agree we should look at a glass as being half full, but when it is the fourth quarter and you need two touch downs to win the game you better have a good plan. Our coaches(congress) are to busy pointing fingers at each other, blaming each other for losing the game.


Lothlorian

[maxandgeorgia]

We see day to day changes in oil prices/gas; I'd not want to call gloom and doom or pollyanna based on any of these. However, what it took our earth billions of years to create, we (humankind) have nearly used up in a proverbial snap of the fingers. Okay, so we can squeeze out a little more and stretch out our use a little longer, but no one should think that just getting possibly 20 or 30 more years of non-sustainable fuel is any kind of solution. Some posters here are addressing their plans for a sustainable future, simple living, free of debt, and providing in very basic ways for their families. This is all radically hard to think about (a la Depressions tales we were brought up on but never believed would apply to ourselves), but I hope lots of us are beginning to think that way. Myself, I found 45 young laying hens on Craig's List...thinking real hard about big brown eggs! ~G

[innjtown]

@PeeWee: If you look at a chart of the USD vs the Euro, you will the Euro has been rallying against the dollar since 2005. The last two months have been an exception.

@Lothlorian: You have done exactly what I want to do.

[Foiled Again]

Never underestimate the power of advertising. I used to think I was fairly immune to TV commercial hype, then one night I was working on a project with the boob tube playing HSN in the background. I nearly reached in my purse and ordered a set of fine English china... REALLY - it was beautiful but I'm a paper plate entertainer!

What was I thinking...? The answer was that I wasn't but had bought into the sales woman's emotional ploy... sort of a Norman Rockwell, gather around the turkey warmth.

I'm not sure we won't turn it around, especially if we come out of this "gotta have everything and gotta have it now" attitude, but look at how pervasive the attitude is. How many women felt validated about having 40 pairs of shoes - after seeing Sex in the City? (Supposedly sane women really pay $1200 for a pair of shoes? Well I've done some stupid things, but at least shoes aren't my weakness.)

Think about the average home that has been built in the last 10 years, 3000 sq ft, 5 bedrooms, 6 baths, etc. Who NEEDS it? Who CLEANS it! MacMansions. Think about marble countertops. People spending enough to send a kid to a good college for a year on marble countertops. If you get sick and tired of formica, replacement costs a few hundred dollars, not $20K.

Look at all the stuff growing green mold in people's yards. Unfortunately RV's including Airstreams are BIG on that list. So are motorboats. I don't think most of us can pursue 9 hobbies, but lots try.

HOARDING - I notice new shows coming on TV about this problem, and it is much more widespread than most of us would believe. I've graduated to "periodic purging" but I still find myself buying stuff I don't need. Sadly I also replace "lost" things, then find the originals. No one really needs six pairs of tweezers, do they? Simplifying my life has made it quite a bit better, but I still have to work on it, and living in an Airstream I'm not likely to start collecting anything bigger than a thimble am I?

Here's a little test. Open ONE drawer and pull everything out into three stacks

• stuff you use once a week or more
• stuff you haven't used in a month, but do use 4 or more times a year
• stuff you haven't used in a year - sell or toss this stuff and your house will seem bigger.

Most of us will find that the third stack is the biggest. Two words of advice? Yard sale.

Paula

[henw]

OK Paula, come clean, are you really Suze Orman?

Tom

[overlander63]

A personal disaster caused us to move out of our house, and full-time in our Airstream. I am working for 70% less pay than I was two years ago. Once you get past the ingrained stigma of living in your trailer, it is pretty simple. You don't buy what you don't need, but want, simply because there is no place to put it.
I do almost twice a week hear from people that don't know why we are doing what we are doing "Ugh! You live in a travel trailer?" Society has placed such negativity on living in one, because it is counter to the American Dream. But the trailer is paid for, the truck is paid for, and (until last Sunday) Marie's car was paid for (and will be again in a few weeks). As long as I pay my income taxes and state registration, no one can take them away.