Where am I now? Where am I headed? What do I do next?

[SandraMort]

I don't know which folder this belongs in, I'm sorry! I need to go through ideas on where I am now, what needs to change and what I'm not willing to change, and how to do it without getting overwhelmed or putting myself into debt in the name of getting myself self sufficient. Suggestions?

Where to begin? In some ways, I love the idea of LBYM. My husband and kids are ovolacto and are happy to have grain and bean based meals, my children were all born at home (and my third was UC) and my current infant (like her sibs) has never had formula. I do not buy baby food or (other than when I'm under a major time crunch) disposable diapers. I'm planning to join a natural food buying club next month to get bulk foods at (hopefully!) wholesale and am a member of a CSA and frequent farmers' markets when I can. I just ordered chickens to keep at the home I'm moving to ($400 a month less than I'm paying for now and WITH 8 acres to free range my birds!) and have already lined up help to find me local farmers to buy feed from to avoid retail stores. Our work commuting costs will go down, too, since my husband will begin to telecommute when we move and my part time freelance computer work is done from home as well.

But there are so many ways I have room to improve. I have a ton of excuses for why I can't, or why it's hard, and those will be a struggle. But I WILL get out of debt and I WILL feed my family better food than we can get in NYC right now. I just need some help getting started.

Thanks!!!

 

[FarmerChick]

Go slow
truly think hard about the smaller ways you can change. List the reasons on paper what you want to accomplish and why----like for health reasons eat better quality food, then search ways to do it cheaply. Looking for a lifestyle change to slow down, then search ways to relax that involve just mother nature and real fun, not bought entertainment. Looking for ways to change the way you run the household, like no more paper towels, etc....then decide what is best for you, a bunch of old rags, maybe a stash of linen napkins to use in lieu.

WE ALL want to be more self sufficient, to grow better in this life, we just need to know what is best for us individually and learn to adapt to our situations.

Be careful though cause you can end up spending tons of money you didn't plan on to have 'this new lifestyle'---like me..LOL...I farm. I have 120 acres and when I decided to convert to a "real" farm for income, the cost of animals, new barns, fixing old barns, 24/7 care of animals, etc. etc. --whew...the $$ added up fast and large......so take it slow. Sometimes just a few changes are enough or you might want to invest in something like solar energy etc......which can be very costly to set up but might be what you desire.

paper and pen can be your best friend right now to see what goals you want to head for....what your comfort level is-----to me one thing I learned is you can't BUY true freedom. True freedom is having no debt....and I am close now to that and I can't wait..LOL...never going into more debt is my true frist goal in this life now.

so I hope you can search out the small changes you want.

 

[Dace]

I feel a bit like you, somewhat overwhelmed at this point.

I live in a mcmansion (which I hate) I have a modest garden and would really like to get chickens (gotta fight the HOA)....and I am very unsettled now. Our business collapsed (in large part to the current economy), and we may have to give up the house and rent...how can I tear up someone else's yard for a garden? and clearly chickens would be out of the question! I have 4 kids who don't like veggies anyway, my dream is to ditch this place and get a small little piece of land with a modest house where we can have animals, bees and a large garden and really become more SS.

I believe in living simple and doing without and peak oil. My DH is not quite on the same page with me although this summer he has embraced canning with me LOL....at least that is a step in the right direction

We *may* have the opportunity to move to PA (from CA) and then I will really be on my way to farm life....trouble is that I don't know how my kids will do. Am I thinking about what is best for my family or just making my dream a reality? I am conflicted and some things are just out of my hands. I know that things always happen for a reason and that eventually we will be on a clearer path but right now I feel a bit upside down.

 

[enjoy the ride]

1) plan on letting a whole year go by without doing anythign permanent at your new place- I can't tell you the number of times I have planted, built or fenced only to have to undo it due to land being wet in the winter when I thought dry because I saw it in the summer, or planted where the wind came through too strong in another season or simply wanted it in a different place.
Give yourself time to explore around and see what works there.

2) whenever you have a few dollars that is not gone at the end of the months, write a check and send it to wherever the debt is asap. Without waiting for a bill. If you wait, it will be gone somewhere else. Paying down any debt is always more satisfying to me than something that I have to clean or maintain.

3) Always stop and think about what you want to purchase for at least a day or maybe a week- it always amazes me that I am not really interested in something if I give myself some time.

4) as you can, start building up your supplies- for years I scouted out canning jars at garage sales. If anyone over 50 was having a sale, I went. I don't think I ever paid retail for these. Same with misc stuff like dehydrators, plants, tools, etc.


Do you have a place orgainzed for your new chicks? A place to store feed?
Sounds to me like you'll be plenty busy.

 

[Beekissed]

I worried about my kids, also, with a major move, Dace. I found that kids are so much more adaptable than are we adults!

One just has to take the plunge and realize that anything that is good for the family as a whole, will ultimately be better for the kids. Try to think of it as planting seeds for their eventual adult lifestyle. They may stray from it but, one day, when they really need to know those things, in this failing economy and uncertain times, they will thank their mom for teaching them how to live a different kind of life. Every move, every new experience, every new skill learned is just adding to their bank of knowledge. How can that be bad?

The result: I came home from work the other day and my 22 yr. old son, who is visiting, made me a cheesecake with blackberry topping...from scratch! And had picked, washed and sliced all the apples I needed for making sauce the next day. AND had made some very fine-textured, delicious homemade bread. No...he's not particularly a girlie man or effeminate in any way...he was just bored and needed something to do. The fact that he knows how to do those things, is a direct result of our moving from what we had to what we wanted, and teaching the kids what I learned as I was growing up.

Go for it!!!

 

[Dodgegal79]

Beekissed your son is awesome. LOL. My brother is the same age and he is like that with my animals, he may pick it up a little more in other areas now that is is living with me for awhile. Congrats on raising good kids!!

 

[Beekissed]

Yeah, Dodge! I keep trying to give him away to girls, cause he's real cute, but they seem to want scruffy, no-accounts! One day they will look around for a good one and they will be all gone.

He looks for the scruffy, no-accounts also, so I figure its the ignorance of youth...I did the same thing!

I guess I do have good boys...with the help of God, some of my teaching and a whole lot of purely-by- accident (which is God's way of making it look like our idea ) they turned out pretty good. If you asked them they would tell you it was due to their mean ol' mama but, then, they exaggerate a great deal!