I found this book last fall while walking around a table at the local flea market. The table was piled several books deep, end to end with none displaying a price.
As I started wading through the pile of books the guy on the other side of the table looked up, spat a chew of skoal into an empty can, nice day ain’t it, he said wiping his mouth with his sleeve.
Not bad – now if we could get it to stay this way all the time we’d be in good shape, I said; continuing to riffle through the mountain of books. What’s the price on your books?
We’ll let’s see, novels are .50 each, hardcover’s $2 and the rest $1.50 he said, dipping another pinch of tobacco from the can. You like to read?
Yeah, when I find the time. How about you, I asked?
Western type fiction mostly and the Bible.
Tell you what I’ll do, buy five and I’ll let you have the novels for .25 and non fiction for $1 each, he said putting the lid back on the can.
After about twenty minutes of fighting my way through the pile of books, I left with nine titles, including a copy of “How to Survive WITHOUT A salary” by Charles Long. When I got back to the trailer, I put the books into my read pile.
I managed to read several during the winter, finishing “How to Survive WITHOUT A salary” a few weeks ago. While not an end of the world type book, “How to Survive WITHOUT A salary” does offer some good advice and mental mindset needed to live on less.
He states in the preface:
There’s something about this so-called global economy that reminds me of the sanitary worker who falls in a cess pool. To his great relief he discovers a bump on the bottom where, if he stands on his tip-toes and stretches his neck, he can just keep his mouth above the surface of the muck. To his great dismay he also discovers that taking a step in any direction only makes his predicament worse. He refuses all offers of help, muttering through clenched lip: “Don’t make a wave… Don’t make a wave…
As survivalist’s we plan and prepare for a multitude of disasters, often forgetting about the need to survive everyday life and live on less.
I’m afraid the current economy, or lack of , will force many to live the conserver lifestyle – if they want to or not. The U.S. is built on consumer debt, if you’re in debt the employers and the bankers own you and you have no choice but to participate.
So the first step to the conserver lifestyle is to get out of debt and stay out. I worked for years for a hardwood flooring company. Ten hours a day six days a week, during peak production. I was running on a thread mill, never actually getting anywhere.
Sure I had stuff or more accurately the bank did. They were kind enough to let me borrow it, as long as I paid the monthly payments. I was in misery, with two options – work 20 hours per day or live on less.
This was the main disagreement, the ex-wife and I had, ultimately leading to divorce.
She wanted glistening things to show her friends and I wanted a life. No compromise, it was her way or the highway. I chose the pavement, or more accurately the travel trailer on junk land and couldn’t be happier.
“How to Survive WITHOUT A salary” offers techniques, tips and advice that will not only help you live cheaper but acquire the proper attitude needed to make changes to better your life and become more self-reliant.
Some of the subjects covered include, the secondhand market, buying at auctions, accessing needs, making a casual income, budget, food, clothing, entertainment, taxes, being poor, barter, downsizing and a lot more in its 200 pages.
It’s a good book, that will help you not only save, but make money, but I don’t recommend you buy it new. If you can find it used like I did, by all means buy it or better yet, check the library.
How about you – are you living the conserver lifestyle? If so we’d like to hear about it in the comments below.
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Found a used copy on Amazon.com, good price, looking forward to receiving & reading.
20 years ago I went through a crisis with 3 kids and no job. I was not in debt thank God! Applied for food stamps and they offered me $7 a month. Realized I was on my own for the next year. We down sized and I discovered thrift stores and garage sales. I quickly used savings to pay off house. Biggest expense was utilities. Drove very little. Went through 6 tanks of gas in a year. We learned a lot and can still live on very little… We took a vacation not far from the house. Camped out in the woods for 3 weeks. Great experience on survival. Good link to the book. I am going to check it out.
A time came and I was given the choice to be laid off or resign, I took resignation. My family and I have been living without a salary for 6 years now. We down sized greatly, turned cars in back to the banks (repo) and cut back on bill. We did not have credit cards already, so no real bills there. I now blog for a living and an internet journalist. God has blessed us and when we continue to live by His rules, he promises to take care of us. We are living examples of that. We garden, raise chickens, have dairy goats. We shop second hand, drive cash cars, and work out of the home. The key is having home based businesses and creating multiple streams of cashflow. People can do it, they just have to make some sacrifices. But once you get established, blessing comes your way and your cashflow streams grow.
We are very blessed.We have no debts other than utility bills, insurances, and property taxes. I don’t believe in credit cards, and wouldn’t own one if you gave it to me. I always say,”If we can’t pay cash for it, we don’t need it.”
I shop with coupons at discount stores, shop at Goodwill, yard sales, and I’m always finding great things that people throw out. I’m not too proud to climb in a dumpster and find the treasures there. You’d be amazed at the valuable things I have found.Sometimes I sell them, making money when I need it.
We grow gardens, I home can a lot,(including meats..) and barter when I can.
M.D., I like glistening things,too, but I’ve learned to create them myself, or find them in the trash.I have several beautiful, carved, antique pieces that I’ve stripped and refinished.Some needed rebuilt, too,but I am a woodworker, and artist, so no big deal.
If we want something bad enough, there is usually a way to get it without spending a lot for it.Just have to take the time to put forth the extra effort.
And yep, God DOES provide, when we belong to Him.
I was planning to expand last year with a third 20 acre parcel to my families’ mountain retreat property in rural New Mexico, where the property taxes are 1/10 that of Arizona.
(Our mountain land is very similar to land just west of Flagstaff towards Williams, Arizona – pine trees and snow, except we have abundant water.)
But, those of who left the private sector for a steady, though lower salary, have had a rude awakening with the arrival of increased socialism in America in 2009.
My government municipal utility job at the Water Department threw us all a bone worse than those pesky annual pay “freezes” – which we’ve had half a dozen before under Demcratic control – instead of merit raises: we’re getting annual pay cuts; furlough days.
Some other city run by socialists thought of it, got away with it, so our socialist leaders copied the idea, as usual. We cannot elect our own leaders in our own City Wards; They are elected at large, instead. Our City is composed of 22% on federal disability payments, and similar percentages of retirees and welfare recipients. So, the majority votes socialist, even when half of the retirees are awake and not AARP sheep!
If I want to expand by 20 acres, the family fallout shelter land, I will have to take to heart cutting expenses in the high-tax-for-contemporary-art capital of the Southwest where I currently work. Land prices have dropped by 25% in Western New Mexico, so it is a good time to buy more. On the other hand, more improvements are needed to make shelter space for more people; more heat sources for the ice cave climate.
One tip for anyone who is thinking about a mountain shelter: Compare all of your future State’s taxes, not just property tax, but income tax, vehicle tax and sales tax. I was shocked to find out after I bought that my future shelter State of New Mexico is not in the top 10 lowest! (NM is No. 12)
I tend to forget, because this used to be a free country, that every State with an income tax imitates the Federal IRS and taxes retirement income! Ouch! Wyoming ranks much better, and Idaho is much worse!
I found a copy of How to Survive Without a Salary: Learning How to Live the Conserver Lifestyle for 75 cents on half.com
They have several copies under $5.00 (cheaper than Amazon).
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