Yurt in the snow, a great alternative construction home for cold climates.

Best Alternative Housing for Cold Climates

When considering what sort of alternative construction home might be appropriate for you, one of your first considerations should be the environment in which you intend to build. Materials and building methods appropriate to coastal Oregon may not be best for Minnesota or Louisiana. You need to figure out what kinds of temperatures you are preparing for in order to logically sort out your best options from the dozens of possible building methods available to you. I find it useful to use the plant hardiness zone map put together by the US Department of Agriculture. It’s a quick way to see how harsh your winters and summers will generally be. This article will deal with alternative housing appropriate to the coldest zones, 1 through 4. This includes much of the upper great plains, rocky mountains, and the northeast, plus most of Alaska. All of the housing types listed here have been tested through by real people using them to survive and thrive in challenging climates throughout human history.

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Volkswagen's new electric crossover, the 2021 id.4.

Cheapest All-Electric Crossovers for 2021

There are huge changes coming to the lineups of almost every major auto manufacturer. The success of Tesla (and to a lesser degree of the Chevy Bolt and Nissan Leaf) has led other manufacturers to design and produce a wide range of electric vehicles to meet consumer demand. Until now, almost all electric vehicles have been coupes, sedans, or hatchbacks, as the technology just wasn’t there to produce a useful and affordable truck or SUV for the marketplace. And while we still are not seeing all eclectic Ram pickup trucks rolling around Walmart parking lots, we are starting to see an emerging market of electric crossover vehicles that are a bit roomier than the electric cars we have become used to seeing in the past few years. Better yet, a few of these early electric crossovers are actually not too expensive, especially when considering the $7,500 federal tax credit that you may be eligible for if you buy one of these new vehicles.

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The cheap, safe city of Richmond, Virginia.

Five cheap, safe, mid-sized cities to move to

With remote work having freed so many of us from the shackles of office buildings, it may be tempting to look across the nation for affordable cities to relocate to. But where to begin? So many cities boasting low cost housing, like Detroit and Cleveland, have some significant problems with violent crime and property crime. Let’s take a look at five small cities who:

  1. Have 1 bedroom rentals available under $1,000 a month.
  2. Have 2 bedroom homes for sale under $200,000.
  3. Have violent crime index 50 or less.
  4. Have property crime index 60 or less. 
  5. Have populations between 100,000 to 500,000.
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