How we went from $42,000 to $6,500 and lived to tell about it!

[ohiofarmgirl]

Forty-three years later, while cleaning out the biffy.....

that is hilarious! i wonder what the jeweler charged for cleaning THAT! great story - thanks for sharing



i actually really liked the article... especially about building a wood burning bread oven. i'm hoping to use their plans to build one next summer. i think the point is to use whatcha got to do whatcha can.

and they are selling something (their video and books) but so what. good for them for having an original story and making a go for it. if they left out all the fights and hard times then that just points to the kind of optimism that we can all use.

a lot of people talk about 'simplifying' their lives but few actually do it (aside from us!) so good for them. i think its refreshing to hear a 'real' do-it-yourself story than they same buy buy buy mentality that screams from every direction in our pop culture.

 

[ORChick]

My first thought reading the article was that he made it sound so easy - after 10 years of no steady work (11 layoffs, I think he said), they decide to downsize, and buy a bit of property in the country. With what? Well, he had to borrow $9000. How many people, I wonder, could do something like that? Granted, many would not want to, but for those who would (and you may count me among them) how easy would it be to "get rid of the non-essentials, and buy a bit of property outside the city"? Not so easy, I think. We weren't able to get into the country until after we retired.

ETA: Full disclosure: Part of the delay was that DH is a city boy at heart, and really didn't want to live in the country for a long time . But it would still have been difficult to just uproot, and move, especially if we had been in the situation of the fellow writing the article.

 

[big brown horse]

I enjoyed the article, thanks for sharing Bee. (I didn't even think twice about them trying to sell a video and sourdough starter. To each their own. I would have done the same thing...hey by the way, I have sourdough starter. )

I think they sold their city dwelling to buy that piece of land, so they probably had a little nest egg left over after the sale of their dwelling in the city.

Anyhoo, I think it is possible, I've read many stories like this before. I read between the lines and assumed there was difficulty along the way. It can be done, I've had friends that lived in a yurt on a city block size piece of land. They gardened their neighbor's property for him. Their whole yard was a garden and they raised chickens and rabbits. They sold eggs and rabbits for meat, he was an artist, she sold her jewlery. A nice simple life.

 

[ohiofarmgirl]

i love the word "yurt"

hi BBH!

 

[big brown horse]

me too





BTW, In case you want to make sourdough, sourdough starter is just 1 cup of flour, 1 cup of warm h2o and a little time. Then when you are ready to make the bread, you add 2 more ingredients; sugar and salt (and more flour). EASY PEASY! Youtube will have a ton of sourdough making videos.

 

[ohiofarmgirl]

thanks - i need to get a sourdough starter going one of these days. i'm stuck on making a 'sponge' starter with whole wheat the night before, then using just a smidge of yeast and letting it rise all day. i just took some out of the oven and i'm eatin it with LIVERWURST!! its soo good i'm....

but back to these folks and the article - i think people would be surprised at what they COULD do if they HAD to. maybe they didnt have a better idea, maybe they were flakey, maybe they didnt have anyone to help them, or maybe they were just fearless. i know people (including me!) who ditched a traditional life and went out and lived in the country, off grid, traveled the world, or made huge life changes just to see if they could.

none of the folks i know who did things like this claimed it to be easy... and there was a million reasons why it wouldnt work.. and the only reason it did work was because they kept at it and made it work, if only on sheer determination.

 

[Beekissed]

It's funny how some folks were skeptical because these folks advertised something at the end of the article, when the whole article was describing how they went from being paid by someone else to having their own business.

Hello? Of course they are going to take the opportunity to advertise their business...wouldn't you? That was part of their story, how to make money from home.

If you had a business and you had an article in a publication detailing how you got started, would you then not try to promote that same business? I would! I have, as a matter of fact. That would be a smart thing to do and I don't view it as underhanded whatsoever.

The fact that they chose to change lifestyles and didn't detail any hardships about the change is not suspect unless they have actually written a whole book about the subject. A small encouraging article doesn't really have the space to get into that.

They are touting poverty as if it were a virtue while trying to rake in bucks selling you their bread scheme. What a huckster.

I didn't get that message at all....I guess if you view everything in a negative light, the world seems a pretty dark place. Touting poverty? They were celebrating the fact that they had changed from being dependent to independent. I too celebrate this fact and, though I was considered poor by others while growing up, I did not consider myself thus. I'm sure they don't feel they are poverty stricken either....actually, they were quite delighted in their new, more simple lifestyle.

Bread scheme? A home-based business isn't really considered a scheme....maybe it is where you come from?

hiker, I know you must feel somewhat grumpy from toting that rather large chip on your shoulder. Why not lay it down and get some relief and lose that angry feeling?

 

[FarmerChick]

one thing is it is not easy to walk away from society and do for yourself.
we all do it to some degree, can ya imagine doing it all the way.

no thanks for me..LOL

I know alot would love it but some want conveniences and what this society offers. I am one of those.




I think it is not as easy as it sounds for alot of people. I think family ties gets invovled also and things like that. It never is "just about you" in this life....at least not for me..LOL

and just buying a place in the country can not be done overnight if you have no money.

alot of stars have to be aligned in ones life to make drastic dramatic changes usually. sure it can happen, but for many I don't think monster change ever comes without a price of some sort. Some to the good, some to the bad.....each has a degree of what they can handle.


just rambling out thoughts.

 

[okiegirl1]

That article is a thinly disguised advertisement. They are touting poverty as if it were a virtue while trying to rake in bucks selling you their bread scheme. What a huckster.

sorry, but I believe poverty CAN be a virtue. When you get so caught up in wealth, you can miss alot of living. It has way more to do with attitude than how much is in your bank account.

 

[Beekissed]

Verily I say unto you, it is harder for a rich man to get to heaven than it is for a camel to get through the eye of a needle.

Surely you were born into this world naked and you will leave it the same way.

Poverty has such a negative connotation.....I prefer to be called Monetarily Challenged!