Debt free or away from densly populated areas when SHTF?

[CharlesHarris]

My situation is quite different, being in the US, but goals were similar. After 9/11 I decided that I was going to retire away from DC, and be debt-free, and started working on a plan to accomplish that. My Dad had died in 1995 and the wife and I split the blanket. She got the house, while I paid her mortgage until her townhouse was paid for. I moved into the house I grew up in to take care of Mom. She lived to be 96 and passed in 2010. The old house was sold to pay off the debts from her medical care, and my brother and I split the proceeds, having enough to pay off car loans and a home equity line of credit.

I moved 90 miles away to a vacation cottage in the mountains, on 5 acres, which was fully paid for and had no mortgage. The last year I was working before I retired I drove 150 miles daily to and from work. I packed bag lunches, shopped in thrift shops, lived frugally and saved every penny. Weekends and every holiday I worked in converting the summer cottage to a year-round residence, and catching up on neglected maintenance. New roof, finished cellar adding a reinforced safe room and tornado shelter with food storage, bunk bed, toilet and sink, then installed genny and 1000 gallon LPG tank. Paid cash as I went. Took 4 years to complete the work, finishing most of it after I retired.

I keep enough cash in the safe for a month's expenses and have food storage for a year. No mortgage, both cars are paid for. No credit card debt or outstanding loans. I live off Social Security and a government worker's pension and have a modest brokerage account which is well diversified and serves as my cushion.

If you don't spend money on vacations, new cars and frivolous things, but live modestly and frugally, it can be done. It takes discipline.