Been re-reading Walden ( <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/205/205-h/205-h.htm" rel="nofollow">https://www.gutenberg.org/files/205/205-h/205-h.htm</a> ) lately, so eyeopening compared to our strange "modern" world:<p>> And when the farmer has got his house, he may not be the richer but the poorer for it, and it be the house that has got him.<p>> It is possible to invent a house still more convenient and luxurious than we have, which yet all would admit that man could not afford to pay for. Shall we always study to obtain more of these things, and not sometimes to be content with less? Shall the respectable citizen thus gravely teach, by precept and example, the necessity of the young man’s providing a certain number of superfluous glow-shoes, and umbrellas, and empty guest chambers for empty guests, before he dies?<p>And the coup de grace, his own accounting of building his own house:<p>> The exact cost of my house, paying the usual price for such materials as I used, but not counting the work, all of which was done by myself, was as follows; and I give the details because very few are able to tell exactly what their houses cost, and fewer still, if any, the separate cost of the various materials which compose them:—<p>> Boards.......................... $ 8.03½, mostly shanty boards.<p>> Refuse shingles for roof sides,.. 4.00<p>> Laths,........................... 1.25<p>> Two second-hand windows with glass,................... 2.43<p>> One thousand old brick,.......... 4.00<p>> Two casks of lime,............... 2.40 That was high.<p>> Hair,............................ 0.31 More than I needed.<p>> Mantle-tree iron,................ 0.15<p>> Nails,........................... 3.90<p>> Hinges and screws,............... 0.14<p>> Latch,........................... 0.10<p>> Chalk,........................... 0.01<p>> Transportation,.................. 1.40 I carried a good part on my back.<p>> In all,..................... $28.12½<p>> These are all the materials excepting the timber stones and sand, which I claimed by squatter’s right. I have also a small wood-shed adjoining, made chiefly of the stuff which was left after building the house.<p>> I intend to build me a house which will surpass any on the main street in Concord in grandeur and luxury, as soon as it pleases me as much and will cost me no more than my present one.