Such is the nature of our society these days, and so lots of the newbies perusing various sections of this forum are surely thinking, "The people here are kind of interesting, but they are definitely not cool!" The newbies - many of them, anyway - are torn. They might be intrigued by what we are saying and doing - but if they follow in our footsteps, they will be renouncing coolness, which they value and enjoy. Also, they could be ostracized by their cool friends, and who wants that?
Cool newbies, please read my story below. It is a synopsis of the journey that led me to relinquish coolness and embrace a survivalist lifestyle.
*****
MY OLD LIFE
I was once a suburbanite and owner of an IT business that afforded me status and provided the closest thing to financial security I'd ever experienced. My annual income was well north of $100K, and I was building a nice retirement fund.
My then-husband and I were cocooned in a luxury condo. We didn't lift a finger to mow our manicured lawn or trim a bush or shovel a flake of snow or paint a square inch of siding or replace a shingle. Such tasks were taken care of for us.
We ate out several times a week.
My closet was full of designer clothing I'd bought at the best stores in the best malls.
We enjoyed luxury vacations.
My FICO score was 831 and my wallet was full of credit cards.
Though I didn't carry a lot of credit-card debt, lots of times I spent money like water. For example, I didn't hesitate to buy expensive clothing or electronics or convenience foods any time I had a whim.
Having grown up in a lower-middle-class family, I thought I'd arrived. I was cool for sure, and being cool was important to me.
*****
THE CRASH
The downward spiral commenced on September 15, 2008. As many of us remember, that's the day Lehman Brothers collapsed. Following this came many mega-bank failures, and the AIG debacle, and the taxpayer bailouts, and the meltdown of the real-estate market, and massive layoffs throughout the country.
My customers were suffering from the fallout of all this, and consequently the business I'd been building for decades nearly folded.
Both my husband and I were heavily invested in real estate, and most of it was now worth far less than we'd paid for it.
Our 20-year marriage - plagued by major problems from the beginning - succumbed to stresses exacerbated by the economic chaos visited upon our family during these troubled times.
I was heartbroken. I'd lost the love of my life, my livelihood was hanging by a thread, and my financial situation - though okay for the moment - was probably headed for disaster.
Virtually everything I'd ever worked for was in shambles.
*****
STARTING OVER
I was going to have to rebuild my life, and I knew I needed to do it in a rural setting. I'd lived in urban and suburban areas mostly, but for several years during childhood I'd lived in the country, and in my heart I knew that's where I belonged. If I wanted a chance to find peace and serenity, a bucolic setting was a requirement.
Though my circumstances were far from ideal, I did have some things going for me.
FIRST: The IT business I'd established years ago had evolved into a home-based, Internet-centered enterprise. Thus, I had few constraints in terms of the location of my new home - I could live anyplace where phone service and Internet service were available.
SECOND: I had some money to work with, because my retirement fund was intact. It had not been affected by the country's economic meltdown as I'd snatched it away from Wall Street in 2004 after shenanigans at Strong Funds were made public. It was now ensconced in a CD at a local bank.
THIRD: I owned, free and clear, a reliable 4-wheel drive vehicle.
FOURTH: Though I was dealing with the same ongoing health issues I'd had for decades, I was in pretty good health, basically.
I knew of a beautiful rural area where real-estate prices were reasonable. I studied my map and spent some time with Google Earth. I liquidated my retirement account.
On July 4, 2010 I started driving. I wanted to buy a house!
I explored town after beautiful town. One thing led to another, and a month and $27,000 later I was the proud owner of a tiny house in a tiny town in my target area. The little house on an acre of land would serve as my base of operations while I worked to stabilize my life and while I planned the next big step: buying acreage and building my dream house.
The Divorce From Hell dominated my existence during the next two years. Finally, it was over. I ended up with some cash and some real estate and a decimated credit profile and some major income-tax obligations and a big load of guilt and despair.
After the divorce settlement, the first thing I did was pay cash for 30 acres on a beautiful hillside on the other side of town. The second thing I did was pay cash for a custom-designed post-and-beam house kit. I was on the way to realizing my dream of living in a beautiful country house in a beautiful place.
My plan was this: I would build a small house on my lovely 30 acres. The house would be rustic, yet it would have lots of modern conveniences. I would putter around in a vegetable garden and herb garden. I would pick apples and raspberries and blackberries; maybe I'd learn to make jellies and jams. I would be one of the white-collar people in a predominantly blue-collar community. If something needed to be repaired or built, I would hire somebody to do it; there are plenty of people in the area with skills to handle such work. I would hire somebody to plow my driveway, of course. I would sit quietly on my porch and enjoy frolicking chipmunks and rabbits and deer and moose and turkeys. I would watch sunsets from a big window in my living room. I would have lots of time for reading and gardening and long walks and gourmet cooking. I'd enjoy concerts and lectures and art and theater and restaurants in the two small cities within easy driving distance. I would live out the rest of my life in this way.
*****
CHANGE OF PLAN
But then, over a period of just a few weeks, several things happened that convinced me to embark on a trajectory very different from what I'd had in mind originally. It all started with a yard sale.
Not long after the divorce settlement I bought a DVD movie at a yard sale. The movie is called End of the Road: How Money Became Worthless. It is a documentary that explains what was behind the 2008-2009 global financial crisis. The main message is twofold: 1) Bad policy implemented by The Powers That Be and collusion between government and Wall Street were largely responsible for wrecking the world's financial system, 2) The average person can protect himself financially by investing in gold and/or silver.
After viewing End of the Road several times and doing some relevant research on line, I was convinced I should invest in silver. Problem was, I had no clue how to do it without getting ripped off.
By this time I'd gotten to know some homesteaders and farmers in the area, and one of them, Donna, invited me to a pot-luck supper for organic farmers and gardeners. While there, Donna and I were chatting about my interest in precious metals, and she told me, "You should talk with Dan, over at the next table. He knows a lot about this."
I sat down with Dan and broached the subject. He told me a little about investing in silver, but then he said something like, "Before you get involved with that, you should really understand the big picture." And he recommended I read the book Patriots: A Novel of Survival in the Coming Collapse by James Wesley Rawles.
I did. It is a story about a well-prepared group of friends who survive a full-scale socioeconomic collapse in the US. The group has spent many years and much money equipping themselves for such a catastrophe. They have guns and ammunition stockpiles and food stockpiles and medical supplies and vehicles and fuel stockpiles and tools and non-hybrid seeds and gold and silver and much more. And they have the requisite knowledge and skills to make good use of all of it.
This book changed my life.
I decided immediately that my new house would be off the grid, even though utility lines were just a couple hundred feet away from my building site. I decided I would heat with wood and maybe even use a woodstove sometimes to cook. And I knew I'd become a serious gardener instead of a dabbler.
Fate was with me, I guess, because as it turns out, the land I'd bought is ideal for a homesteading-type person living off the grid: good farmland, trees for firewood, a pond, a small established apple orchard, berry bushes, several ideal locations for solar panels.
And I was now hungry for in-depth knowledge about the Federal Reserve, the too-big-to-fail banks, quantitative easing, the IMF, mortgage-backed securities, collateralized debt obligations, AIG, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, gardening, woodstoves, chain saws, electricity (particularly photovoltaic technology), fuel storage, organic foods, seeds, soil health, antibiotics, fencing, plumbing, manual water pumps, 12-volt appliances, composting toilets, snow-removal equipment, situational awareness, OPSEC, radio communication, water purification, food preservation...so much more.
I began the daunting process of educating myself, at first focusing most of my efforts on attempting to understand what was really behind the 2008-2009 financial catastrophe.
I read these books and more of similar genre:
The Great Deformation by David Stockman (explains how capitalism has been corrupted by interference in markets by The Powers That Be)
All the Devils are Here by Bethany McLean and Joe Nocera (posits that greedy traders, inept and corrupt regulators, unethical subprime lenders, government officials and other Powers That Be all contributed to the demise of the world's financial system)
A Colossal Failure of Common Sense: The Inside Story of the Collapse of Lehman Brothers by Patrick Robinson and Lawrence McDonald (a former Lehman Brothers vice president tells about mismanagement at Lehman Brothers and explains why it was allowed to fail)
Too Big to Fail by Andrew Ross Sorkin (a behind-the-scenes account of how the 2008-2009 financial crisis developed into a global tsunami)
The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine by Michael Lewis (chronicles the stories of a number of astute individuals around the world who saw the financial crisis coming and set themselves up to profit from it)
The True Story of the Bilderberg Group by Daniel Estulin (a fascinating account of the annual meetings of the world's most powerful people)
I watched these movies:
Inside Job. Directed by Charles Ferguson and narrated by Matt Damon, this documentary provides a comprehensive analysis of the 2008 global financial crisis. Includes interviews with movers and shakers from many different disciplines and countries.
Margin Call. Directed by J.C. Chandor and starring Kevin Spacey, this movie turns the convoluted financial meltdown of 2008 into gripping, thought-provoking drama. Fiction, but one can well imagine that thi story likely has much in common with what happened at a number of Wall Street firms in the days leading up to the meltdown.
I now had a pretty good grasp of the corruption and bad policy that had led to the financial crisis. I understood too that the government hearings and legislation that took place after the crisis did little to fix the flaws in the system, leaving the average person at risk for financial ruin just as before the crisis.
In January 2013 I started buying preps: food and medical supplies and household supplies and clothing and fuel and books and much more. I developed a method for packaging and labeling the preps, I started thinking about where I would store all the preps, and I created an Excel spreadsheet for keeping track of them.
Since early 2013, prepping has been a major focus for me.
I've done extensive research on off-grid life and solar-electric technology, and I've optimized my house design for off-gridding.
I've bought junk silver.
I've bought tools and machines, and I've started learning to use them.
I regularly watch YouTube videos focusing on all the above-listed topics.
I frequent Web sites of companies specializing in solar-electric technology and equipment.
I've learned about highly efficient appliances designed for off-grid use.
I've joined the survivalistboards.com forums.
My research on these topics and related ones continues on an almost-daily basis, as does my effort to improve my DIY skills.
*****
MY LIFE TODAY
Currently my life is exciting and interesting and challenging and in many ways extremely satisfying, though certainly not without stress.
Construction on my dream house began in 2014. There is still a lot to do. Progress has been slow because money is tight. In spite of this, the house is a joy for me. I expect to move in before the winter of 2016-2017.
My health is pretty good in spite of some chronic issues.
I've made wonderful friends, and I have an active social life.
I do volunteer work from time to time.
I've amassed preps of many kinds: enough food for 2 years, nutritional supplements, medical supplies, personal-hygiene supplies, household supplies, canning equipment and supplies, clothing, books, lighting devices, batteries, tools, fuel, water-filtration equipment, and much more.
Having all the preps gives me a strong sense of security. A couple times in the past when money was tight I stopped visiting the grocery store altogether, for several weeks, eating exclusively from my food stockpile. And actually, these days I'm eating almost exclusively from my food stockpile not because money is a big problem but simply because the "Best By" dates on lots of my stockpiled foods are now coming due, so I want to eat them. (This has turned out to be a bit of a problem, in fact, because I prefer a diet consisting mostly of fresh fruits and vegetables, whereas my stockpiled foods are canned and dried. But I have to say, it's a nice problem to have!)
In the summer of 2013 I took a canning class at our local Cooperative Extension facility. Prior to taking the class I'd been intimidated by the idea of canning my own food because I didn't know how to do it in a way that was safe. After taking the class I was able to move forward with confidence. I canned 120 jars of applesauce that year, along with some other things, and I've done lots of canning since then. My new house will have a canning room (a simple kitchen) in one corner of the basement.
I've done some gardening on a small scale, and I continue working on my gardening skills.
I have three chainsaws, and I use them to harvest firewood. I have a small tractor with a mowing deck. I also have two ATVs and a couple utility trailers for hauling dirt, rocks, apples, berries, firewood, water, and various other things.
I'm learning some basic machine-maintenance tasks: tricks for starting a cranky internal-combustion engine, how to change the oil in a machine, how to take proper care of a 12-volt battery.
My happiest hours are spent working on my farmland and working on my new house!
And, all the intense physical labor I'm doing has made me stronger and healthier.
Of course, there are problems. Some of the problems can be eradicated eventually if I work hard enough, and I'm working really hard to get rid of them, but this will take time and lots of effort.
For one thing, I'm really burned out in terms of earning a living, and this makes it difficult for me to motive myself to work as hard as I need to work to keep my business viable. Truthfully, I'd rather be retired, but I can't afford to do that right now.
The tax obligations resulting from the 2010 shakeup in my personal circumstances are making a big dent in my life. Awhile back I negotiated installment agreements with the IRS and with my state's Department of Revenue. Combined, the monthly payments required by the installment agreements are more than many people pay for a mortgage. Also, there are other tax-related issues that are costing me tons of money. The tax matters are the most stressful problem I have these days, and they won't be resolved for awhile - probably a couple years at minimum.
And of course I hadn't planned to liquidate my retirement fund until I was ready to retire - but I had to do it when my life fell apart back in 2010. Now, in my 60s, I'm attempting to rebuild the fund. I'm making progress, but unless I win the lottery 
And there are of course many challenges faced by a not-so-young, not-so-strong, independent-minded female with limited DIY skills who is building an off-grid, homestead-type life. Like when a machine that's really needed to do a particular task refuses to start, or malfunctions in some way. Like when wind or rain or mud or snow or ice or sleet or extreme cold makes an already-difficult task much more so. Like when something really heavy needs to be moved. Like when many tasks need to be done and you don't really know how to do any of them and you don't really have time to do lots of research. Life can be frustrating, exasperating, and even maddening when these challenges present themselves.
And last but definitely not least: I still love my ex-husband, miss him terribly, and struggle with guilt over my decision to end the marriage.
I have UTMOST RESPECT for people with DIY skills, mechanical skills, farming skills, and so forth! How in heck did our culture become so screwed up that the blue-collar people are lower on the totem pole than the white-collar people? The blue-collar folks are SO SMART - SO RESOURCEFUL! I am in awe of them and strive hard to develop some of the skills they have, knowing full well I'll never be even 10% as capable as the least-capable blue-collar person I know. In a post-TEOTWAWKI scenario, the skills possessed by blue-collar dudes will be in high demand, and their status will surely be elevated above the status of the white collar ones.
*****
MOSTLY UNCOOL NOW
So I'm not longer cool in the conventional sense of the word. And I couldn't care less, really. During the reboot of my life, being cool gradually became totally unimportant.
I rarely buy new clothes now. I cruise secondhand stores - in fact, this is one of my favorite ways to relax. The old me, of course, wasn't comfortable shopping in secondhand stores. I've built up a really nice wardrobe for very little money; these are attractive articles of clothing for social occasions or church. I buy virtually all my work clothes, too, at secondhand stores: jackets and jeans and work boots and flannel shirts. I have a big collection of work boots: warm-weather ones, cold-weather ones, waterproof and not. Some of the work clothing and work boots I wear frequently; most are packed away as preps.
I'm often seen around town in muddy jeans and a muddy jacket with a broken zipper. And with no makeup (too busy to put on makeup, usually). Years ago I would not have been caught dead looking like this, but I don't give it a second thought these days.
I practice situational awareness, and I do some things to prepare for the possibility of assault by creatures human and not. For example, I always carry a small canister of pepper spray. This could come in handy if somebody attempts to steal cash I've just gotten from an ATM, or if somebody tries to mug me in a dark parking lot, or if I meet up with an angry animal on my farmland. (My cool friends tend to roll their eyes when I mention my pepper-spray canister. LOL.)
My vehicle is 12 years old. Years ago I might have felt embarrassed driving a car of this vintage. I treat this vehicle with love and care, maintaining it carefully and putting major money into it from to time. I hope to drive it for many more years.
The electric water heater at my house stopped working a couple months ago. The old me would have found a way to get this fixed immediately, as the prospect of living without pressurized hot water for even one day would have been unacceptable. But the new me saw this as an opportunity for experimentation - a test bed for off-gridding, if you will. "How much of a pain is it to heat water for bathing and cooking?" I wondered. I've found out it really isn't such a big deal. "How many kilowatt hours will I save by not using the water heater?" I asked myself. Quite a few, it turns out. "How am I going to rinse the dishes I'm washing in water I've heated on the stove?" I wanted to know. I've been rinsing them in cold water from the tap, and this has worked out so well I've pretty much decided I will just do things that way from now on; this practice saves electricity at the current house and will save propane at the new house, which will have a propane-fueled tankless water heater.
Some of my cool friends from the old days have disappeared from my life - maybe because I'm not so cool anymore, maybe because I kind of flipped out during my divorce, maybe both.
My current circle of wonderful friends and acquaintances includes folks from various strata of society, whereas years ago I was a bit of a snob, gravitating toward upper-middle-class friends. In particular, I had a hard time being around people whose grammar was not up to my standards. I don't care so much about that anymore, though. For example, my friend Steve says things like "I seen Jeff in town this morning" (instead of "I saw"), and "Looks like them tires are low on air" (instead of "those tires"). Okay, so Steve isn't "well spoken." But Steve can rebuild a carburetor, replace a clutch, install a septic system, build a house, repair leaky plumbing, resurrect a dead chain saw, grow rows and rows of beautiful potatoes and peas and beans...you get the idea. Can I do any of these things? Heck no - so who am I to think I'm somehow better than Steve? Plus, Steve is an honest, kind person with a terrific sense of humor - a valued friend.
So my exciting, challenging, awesome adventure continues. Sometimes it's one step forward and two steps back. But I wouldn't have it any other way.
Oh, and one more thing. I do enjoy concerts and lectures and art and theater and restaurants. So I'm still a little bit cool.
Dare to be uncool. Here's my story. What's yours?
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