All For A Good Cause

There are days when I don’t want to get out of bed…and there are days when I don’t want to go the extra mile – feeling like you’re working for nothing is all a frame of mind.  One which I have to constantly remind myself is false.  I’m not working for nothing – I’m working for my future.  For our future.  For my dream…my destination.  They say it’s not the destination, it’s the journey…but I think the destination is pretty important too.  The goal…and the getting there is the fun part (sometimes!)  That’s a statement I have to keep in the foreground or else it’s very easy to lose track of what this is all for.  Extremely long hours, with little reward – the learning curves, the start-up stages.

Our business is only starting out, and so I can’t yet leave my current full-time employment because we need the stability and the benefits…medical benefits that is.  Things are really looking up, even though we’re still in the very infancy of this endeavor, and that’s very motivating.  I’m hoping that the momentum stays on track, so that I can soon cut my hours down to part-time and put more hours in where it really matters – but until this business has a proven track record, I have to stay put.  That’s the truly frustrating part – you see, I sincerely despise my day-job.  I took it for the simple fact that it’s close to home and it doesn’t have a long commute – I drive through 20 minutes of back country roads that I now know like the back of my hand.  The pay is average – nothing to write home about, but it pays the bills, though barely some months.  Finding ways to cut back and save money is often easier said than done – especially when we don’t have many luxuries to begin with.

Yes, we do rent a rather large home, but the landlord hasn’t raised the rent for the three years we’ve been there, and he’s although he can be a “cheap bastard” at times, for the most part we’ve got it good.  We rent a 3-bedroom farmhouse along with 1 acre of the 43 acre property it sits on, and pretty much have the run of the place.  We don’t pay for water because we’re on a well – and we haven’t been paying for hydro all summer in exchange for taking care of the landlord’s portion of lawn.  So we haven’t had any utilities to pay since June, which is fabulous!  But now that the cold months are upon us once again, we won’t be mowing any lawns for quite some time…with that will be the return of our monthly hydro bills, and the cost of filling our propane tank to heat this large house.  Winters can be brutal…the last two have been harsh beyond anything I’ve ever experienced.  We’re really hoping for a mild and short winter this year…7 months of bitter cold and mountains of snow is not only a physical hardship on everyone involved, but also quickly becomes mentally draining.  Hoping Mother Nature goes easy on us this season!!

Another great perk to living where we do, is that we’re already in the country, were I find is easier to become a true homesteader – I’m not discounting statements that you can be a homesteader anywhere you live, that’s absolutely true!!  But where we are, it’s much easier to have a large garden, a green house, and even a chicken coop…all of which we plan on having come Spring.  I’ve been wanting all of those since we moved here, but I’m not proud to say we always seem to let life get in the way of what we want.  I’m not prepared to let that happen anymore.  I want to live my life the way I want, and I shouldn’t have to wait until we buy our own land to start!

So yes…right now, the hours are long – the stress is high, yet manageable – and the patience can run thin at times.  But we’re all managing to get along and work well together – as we all know that it’s really all for a good cause…that of our futures.

Keep The Head On My Chicken

These last few days seem like a blur – I’ve been running around like a headless chicken, in a million different directions with no clear destination.  My brain is telling me to slow down and focus, while my heart is jumping all over the place from one idea to the next.  It’s dizzying and exhilarating at the same time.  I think that because I’ve been waiting for so long for this decision to happen, now that it finally has, I feel like I have to make up for lost time.  Logically, I know that’s not the case – but logic seems to grow wings around here!

I’ve got unfinished lists coming out the wazoo – I’ve got half-formed ideas lurking in the corners of my brain – I’ve got good intentions, but zero focus.  I need to breathe.  I need to relax.  I need to concentrate.

One thing at a time…okay…maybe two.  While I’m on this ongoing decluttering rampage, I also need to find a way, or ways, to make extra money.  This extra money will have two tasks: Saving for the Big Day, and Clearing All Debt and Cleaning my Credit.  Yikes!!!  This in its own is daunting and a chore that scares the noodles out of me!!  I have never been good with my money, and there’s not a whole lot of it going around these days.

So I’m going to attack this with everything I’ve got!  Other homesteading bloggers I started following seem to live by the teachings of Dave Ramsey…and others in my life have mentioned him to me before as well… millions of people can’t be wrong!  So I’m gonna check him out!  I need …my family needs… some serious financial education.  And although I read over and over again that you don’t need to have a lot of money to become a homesteader, I’d nonetheless like to be financially CLEAN – Zero (or near) debt, a great credit score, and a little buffer of savings.  I also would love to be able to pay up front for any land we decide to purchase when the time comes, and I believe that with knowledge, and wil
l power, we can achieve this.

I’ve put myself on a spending freeze (excluding necessities such as fuel, groceries, and monthly bills), and so far (it’s only been 3 days), so good.  Instead of stopping off at the local coffee shop every morning before dropping my daughter off at school, we fill up travel mugs with our own brewed java, and eat breakfast at home before we leave.  My daughter may not be too pleased with this new arrangement, but at 16 she should know the value of a dollar, and the even greater value of discipline.  So Maxwell House in our travel mugs it is!  This new breakfast ritual alone will save me approximately $50.00 per week…not even considering the lunches I now pack for us as well…another $50-$70….  I just took a break from this post to check my bank account – I’m so ashamed, but I’m going to write it anyway for the sake of staying true.  Between September 1st and October 31st…that’s 2 months… I spent a total of $608.82 on breakfasts, lunches, and miscellaneous other food outings.  It makes me sick to my stomach that I could spend that much money without noticing the gravity of it!  Redirecting even $100 of it towards extra groceries every month would not only give us enough food at home to cover every breakfast, lunch, and dinner…but it would also put over $200 back in my pocket every single month!!  That’s $2400 a year… an entire month’s pay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I think I’m going to be sick……..

Wow, so this blog entry seems to appear more like a personal journal than a public posting…thankfully it’s brand new and not advertised, so I doubt anyone is really reading this.  But if you ARE, I’m sorry! 🙂  I should probably delete the whole thing, but I won’t.

I apologize for the incessant rambling…that’s the headless chicken going wild on me again!  At least it’s in one general direction this time…maybe I can manage to keep the head on my chicken for a little while!  Wish me luck…with me behind the wheel, I’m definitely going to need it!!!

Do It With Purpose

I find it much easier to stay on track with any effort, when there’s an ultimate goal attached to it.  When there’s a purpose behind the action, I tend to remain more focused on the tasks and responsibilities.  I need to do things with a purpose in order to stay on track…if not, I have a really nasty habit of starting things and never (EVER!) finishing them.  I swear, sometimes I have the attention span of a flea!

So now that I have a big WHY, and a partner who shares my why (finally!), I feel it’s going to be easier and much more enjoyable to achieve so many things I’ve wanted to achieve in the past “just because”.  It’s no longer just because.  To keep with the mindset of my last post, and decluttering my home.  It’s no longer about the simple act of being neat or tidy.  It has now become all about the goal of living simply, in preparation to becoming homesteaders.  Realizing that when the moment comes to make the move, we will not be able to bring with us mountains of “stuff”, and putting it all in storage indefinitely while we build our home is not financially intelligent.  Therefore, the purge begins.

As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, the range of things on the to-do list is quite large.  Small things like cutting back on my cookbooks (I mean, who really needs two shelves full??), to large things like a room full of boxes that haven’t been opened in the last three years.  I woke up this morning with a smile on my face, actually looking forward to getting started!  Now if you know me, you know that housework is not something I enjoy.  But the prospect of killing 3 birds with one stone excites me!  Bird 1 – I will acquire an uncluttered, easy to clean home.  Bird 2 – I will be practiced and prepared when “moving day” arrives.  Bird 3 – all that “stuff” that we don’t need can be sold, adding beautiful dollars to my “Homestead Fund” jar!!  The challenge now is finding a way to sell my used things for a decent price, and in a relatively short amount of time.  Even if we do have a few years ahead of us before “the moment”, I would like to become free of the ‘junk’ in a timely manner.

My role models touch on the subject of “don’t buy a lot of things, but buy nice things”.  I take this as gold.  We don’t need to have a lot of stuff in our lives, but the things we DO have should be of good quality.  Things that will stand the test of time, and help us achieve the lifestyle we seek.  Invest in things that make sense in the long run, and in some instances, can serve multiple purposes.

Now, I’m the creative type.  I’m artsy, I’m crafty…and I have one hell of an imagination (this doesn’t always work in my favor!).  So I believe I’m going to succeed rather well in this endeavor!  My first thought when I hold something that people would normally toss in the trash, is always “can this be used for something”.  Now some of you may think ‘she’s a hoarder / pack rat’…I’m really not.  I just have a very strong aversion to adding my garbage to the insurmountable piles already in our landfills.  And if something can be re-used or re-purposed, then why not?  So I’m going to start this project with that mentality.  For example (sticking with the cookbook scenario here), I have a large recycled/recyclable cardboard binder I found in this aforementioned junk room.  It’s empty, it’s in perfect condition, and it’s not being used.  So instead of tossing it, or donating it, I’m going to use it to make my own cookbook binder and store all of my favorite recipes, thus eliminating the shelves of books in my china cabinet, and re-purposing an unused item that was just collecting dust and adding to the clutter.  Then I’m going to list all of those cook books on craigslist or kijiji, and hope to get a few dollars (some are brand spanking new!) out of them, to add to the jar (which incidentally, is a re-purposed instant coffee jar I just cleaned out and added a pretty label to!).

So I’m doing it all with purpose – I’m decluttering, re-purposing, consolidating, keeping it out of the landfill, and fundraising, all at the same time – working towards the ultimate dream life goal.  Baby steps that may seem long and complicated, but are really not.  They’re liberating and empowering and satisfying!  This blog might not depict “homesteading” properties immediately, because unlike a lot of blogs of this kind, I’m not actually homesteading at the moment.  But I’m hoping that through the next couple of years of preparation, I can possibly help other like-minded kindred spirits along their own journey.  I’m hoping that through my trial and error, others may avoid making my mistakes…and I’m sure there will be many!

And for the rest of the stuff in the junk room…well, it’s November now and yard-sale season is pretty much over…I wonder how a VIRTUAL YARD-SALE would do…. any thoughts???

I’d love to get your comments and ideas, and I’m very open to suggestions!!!