What is your home like?

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People post here and state how bad things are at home. For example posters mention how many homes don't have running water or electricity. That makes me wonder, how can you have a computer ( or access to a computer) and no running water? I have assumed people who do not have running water would use their funds to get water not computers, but that is my values.

I do have electricity, running water, and heat. My husband and I both work and have lost most of our retirement due to the economy and falling housing prices We have 2 cars but they are old cars but paid for. We do have broadband at our house. Overall we have a good quality of life, we live in a place were almost 50% of my pay is taxed. We have to pay insurance, home, health, and car insurance with is almost $15K/year. It seems no matter how hard we work it is hard to save. We are not hungry but if one of us had an extended illness it would be hard. And I can only see the taxes going higher.

How are conditions where you live? What are your major expenses? Things have shifted for us, now that our kids don't live at home and my parents have died ( we ended up supporting my parents) but we still don't seem to get ahead.

How much of a tax rate do you pay? How are planning on retiring?

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You can't get running water if your area doesn't have an aqueduct and sewer system.

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We only recently got the sewer system but had town water, neighbors have well water. Had a septic system which was getting disgusting, now we have to pay sewer tax which is cheaper than a new septic system.

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You can't get running water if your area doesn't have an aqueduct and sewer system.

Actually yes it is possible to have running water and not have a sewer system...It just depends on how you look at it....I lived in the outskirts for sometime and we had running water (from a well) but we had a septic system, which in a way is a sewage system but in a different form...So yes it is possible to have running water with out a sewage system. Having a septic system and a well is hard if you've had them then you know what I'm talking about...You have to constantly keep up with the maintenance yourself and it costs money to repair of your own money if it goes down...Usually if it's a shared well then you will have to share the cost but it's still NOT cheap to maintain...I know of a neighbor of mine who's well dried up just within a month after he purchased the place, first the water started turning brown, then mud started coming out of the faucets...forget about flushing the toilets because that was already ruined due to the well drying up...When the well inspector came out he estimated it would cost the new neighor $40,000-$50,000 to fix the well....that's just the cost of repairing the well itself....Now for the septic system if it goes out on you, we're talking about the same in cost, maybe a bit less but not much...But that's just for the septic system, not including the damage to your yard if it backs up and kills it and your whole house...So having a sewer system and water maintained by the city is much much better...Also your well can be running great, and your septic system can be shot...and that would have to do with the lack of maintaining the septic system because if you're not constantly maintaining it can get plugged and ruined...It's hard to explain but I'm sure you can get the picture.

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We only recently got the sewer system but had town water, neighbors have well water. Had a septic system which was getting disgusting, now we have to pay sewer tax which is cheaper than a new septic system.

Alex I pat you on the back...Been there and done that with the septic and well systems....I know exactly what you're talking about...:up:

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I'm talking about people in developing nations, guys, not us living in a rural area.

It would be easier and more economically feasible to get a used PC than running water.

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Ok, my knowledge of developing countries is all second hand, that is why I asked this question. But how can you run a computer without electricity? If I had to choose, between water or electricity I would choose water. I was without electricity one time for almost 3 weeks, we had running water and were so lucky, people who had wells had to wait for a water truck to come everyday.

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Alex I pat you on the back...Been there and done that with the septic and well systems....I know exactly what you're talking about...:up:

The worst was well the septic system was all backed up, we had raw sewage poring into our basement, it was after midnight.....while my husband and son were filling up garbage cans with sewage, I had the pleasure of calling a pumping service. That made us petition the town for a sewer, glad we did it since with the economy we would never get it approved now.

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Well, i'm from an underdevelopped country and it does aggravate me to see on tv that the only image that is shown from third world countries is sickness, hunger, death, poverty, war, illiteracy and the like... That's all that's shown by the media and of course, most people (that I have met here at least) believe that's all that there is to it. For Alexk49, people dont choose between water and the internet. And just like you would, people there would rather have water that the internet if they had to choose. Internet access is pretty easy in cities, you have plenty of internet cafes, and in my country a lot of people (a minority) do have internet at home. So young people like me do have facebook, myspace and the like profiles and use msn messenger or skype; they are far from being "computer/internet challenged".

What they show on tv is only a part of the reality and too bad that they need to show images that appeal to feelings and emotions or looks/sounds sad/weird/different for the sake of audience. An example is that commercial about a little boy that has lost his parents, lives in a small single room "house", sleeps on a piece of plastic sheet and is cold at night, has nothing to eat and has to care for his little brother...and of course...call now and send $XX and you'll receive a picture, just like they do for abused animals... pfff. Tt's all about business anyways.

By the way, I'm from Congo, central Africa.

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Alexk49, sorry, i mispoke, you said choosing between water and electricity. They are both important. Water first of course, and this has nothing to do with cultural differences, that's just natural common sense... we need water to live, no electricity doesn't kill. Plus usually, the infrastructures like running water and electricity go hand in hand. So people don't choose really, unless you have outage or something like that. As long as they is potable/drinkable water. But contrary to what the media tries to portray, cities do have water and electricity, they are... cities!

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There are actually computers that can run without electricity called XO and they are sold on Amazon to be used in areas that have very little electricity.

You can also see ads about them on television where the little girl is thanking everyone for making her life better. They cost about $350 and are donated to school children all over the world in areas that normally would not have access to them.

They are basic systems but they have access to much that can help make things better for the next generation in many countries. I think that Amazon also has somethin in place where you can purchase one and donate it.

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