By Susan Kraemer
Cash, that most basic element of our economy, can be in abysmally short supply for new young families scraping by on marginal jobs.
Sustainable housebuilding may not be foremost in their minds.
But one young couple in Wales managing on an annual income of just $10,000 went ahead and built their own cheap home anyway, sustainably, mostly out of materials from “a rubbish pile somewhere.”
They had wanted to spend as much time as possible at home while their two children were young. Their nearby woodlands ecological management work would have been impractical if they were paying a mortgage. READ MORE…
Surviving the Middle Class Crash 
November 10, 2010 at 9:13 am
Thanks for this post Barbara,
Since the Second World War the mortgage racket has discouraged the owner builder with the exception of those in the building trades. I bought books on this subject in the 70’s and my father and I built a pretty nice, earth sheltered, passive solar, 1500 sq. ft. home in 1987/’90 in two stages for a total cost just over $25,000 cash, no mortgage. Had we sought more used – salvaged materials, we probably could have done it for closer to $15,000.
March 18, 2011 at 1:58 am
wow.
earth-shelter house is so cool