hwillm1977
Almost Self-Reliant
So I thought I would give this journaling thing a try... although I probably won't be that consistent with it, it will be an interesting thing to have.
Because of our poor credit, we cannot get a mortgage... so our self sufficiency dream started by finding a person willing to rent-to-own their trailer in a trailer park... nothing fancy about living in a 12 foot wide 40 year old trailer, but it was ours and we loved it.
Then I started to think, if someone would rent to own a trailer, why not a house? So we began our search for a run down (and I mean REALLY run down, our budget was $30,000) farmhouse in the country... it took us 2 years to find someone willing to rent-to-own their house to us, and I'm happy I did because now we have 6 acres of land, a 3 bed, 2 bath house in the country built in 1883... which we managed to secure for $25,000.
It sounds nicer than it is, we don't have interior walls in most rooms, plaster has rotted and fallen out of the ceilings, when we first got here I lived alone (my husband drove long haul at that point), with no electricity, no running water, and no heat.. in November.
This journal will be a record of our adventures in re-building this house into a beautiful family home, and starting our self-sufficient life.
Here's some pictures:
The day we bought it (it had been vacant for 6 years before we got there):
Kitchen, the floor here slopes 11 inches from one side of the room to the other, so cupboards don't actually close
We plan to tear this down and build a new kitchen someday, but for now we live with this:
The day we moved in:
How beautiful and peaceful does this house look, I adore it... my favorite spot is my hammock on the front porch in the summer:
Because of our poor credit, we cannot get a mortgage... so our self sufficiency dream started by finding a person willing to rent-to-own their trailer in a trailer park... nothing fancy about living in a 12 foot wide 40 year old trailer, but it was ours and we loved it.
Then I started to think, if someone would rent to own a trailer, why not a house? So we began our search for a run down (and I mean REALLY run down, our budget was $30,000) farmhouse in the country... it took us 2 years to find someone willing to rent-to-own their house to us, and I'm happy I did because now we have 6 acres of land, a 3 bed, 2 bath house in the country built in 1883... which we managed to secure for $25,000.
It sounds nicer than it is, we don't have interior walls in most rooms, plaster has rotted and fallen out of the ceilings, when we first got here I lived alone (my husband drove long haul at that point), with no electricity, no running water, and no heat.. in November.
This journal will be a record of our adventures in re-building this house into a beautiful family home, and starting our self-sufficient life.
Here's some pictures:
The day we bought it (it had been vacant for 6 years before we got there):

Kitchen, the floor here slopes 11 inches from one side of the room to the other, so cupboards don't actually close


The day we moved in:

How beautiful and peaceful does this house look, I adore it... my favorite spot is my hammock on the front porch in the summer:
