We bought the house through two local Realtors (buyer's and seller's agents). Sounds like a "duh" statement, but the first three Realtors we met here were from Santa Clarita, which is DOWN BELOW. So the commission will be spent here where we live.

We bought the house from a person not a bank. 90% of the houses for sale here are owned by the corrupt banks whose lending practices caused the bubble and burst in the housing market, which, combined with the war and its deficit, is causing all the economic misery we have and will yet see for the next 5-10 years. Also, in buying from a person, we let him get on with his life after his wife's death from cancer last year. We heard from a neighbor here that he has already been able to buy a house in Mississippi, back where he grew up.

We used a local mortgage banker. They have already sold my loan to Wells Fargo, before we even made the first payment, but all the paperwork was done by people who live and work here in The AV.

Ditto for the escrow company.

The painters live about 30 miles away, but they are in The AV too. And they're good people who could use the extra cash.

The home inspector was a local too. In  fact his wife was born here. Not many adults can say they were born here since it's all been built in the last 20 years.

We bought all the appliances locally. They're all high efficiency and Energy Star models.

I don't use any gas during lawn maintenance because of the electric weedwacker and human powered reel mower. I have had the same tank of gas in my truck for more than a week because we live closer to my work. A tank used to only last me 6 days at most.

Whenever possible, we buy American or North American-made products, though that's increasingly difficult. 

We're not turning into hippies by any means. Our decisions to reduce gas consumption are based on our home economics, obviously, but also for national security reasons. All gas purchased funds our enemies, weakens our economy, and threatens our sovereign existence. That simple. All Chinese products bought fund our enemies, weaken our economy, and threaten our sovereign existence. Please think of that when you purchase things. Where it comes from matters to all of us. It is probably way too late, but let's try anyway, since we had such a great thing started in these United States.

The truck and car will be paid off in a few months. We already own Piddy Ting. I want to save up for the 2010 or so release of the Chevy Volt.



It's an eclecric car that can go 40 miles without using the backup gas powered charger. In my normal routine, I'd never buy Russian, Venezuelan, Iranian, Saudi, or Iraqi crude, directly or indirectly, ever again. And if we (Americans) have some energy independence, it won't much matter what happens in Iraq, Iran, Israel, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia. And we can go back to minding our own business.