/diy/ - Do It Yourself

>>286752

They way I look at it, its like the rent vs own dichotomy. Sometimes, depending on your circumstances, its better to rent than own.

Take your tap water issue. If you had a well and pump and all that jazz, yeah, your tap water wouldn't cost you anything per month but would it be worth it and how far would you go for it? If your equipment lasted 30 years would you make your money back vs paying your city however much they charge for water every month? What about filtering? Testing for contamination? What if something breaks? Your on the hook for all that. Heck, you might spend all the money to get it and then find out it tastes like donkey ass or that its so hard it clogs pipes over time.

This applies to everything. With community infrastructure, yeah, you gotta pay the piper but its long term cost and overall quality is extremely competitive in many cases. If you live out in the boondocks on a sizable plot of land you'll probably need your own infrastructure regardless. That shit wont fly in a larger town, let alone a city. Your costs would greatly outweigh the benefits and you'd need to hold down a job just to play your property taxes anyway.

Basically, you really have to weigh your options here. Its nice to try and get out from under the thumb of civilization or have the smallest impact on the earth, etc but it is only feasible is a limited set of circumstances if you live in the first world.

This is why all these survival nuts live in places like Montana and Colorado. The land is cheap, the infrastructure is either terrible or non-existent and there is no one looking over their shoulders making sure they're not dumping their shit in the rivers or burning their garbage in a pile behind the house.