by StAnn 13 Replies latest jw friends
Just wondering. I always like talking with other frugal zealots.
DH and I found our dream mini-farm the other day. It was PERFECT with the exception that it was only five minutes away from my parents' house. That little flaw is reason enough for us to stay where we are and keep looking.
But we'd like to find a mini-farm and raise goats, alpacas, and chickens.
StAnn
I'd love to do that, but I don't think I'm up to it physically any more.
W
What FF said.
However, if my teenage g'sons would come with me, after retirement, I would move way back into the sticks.
Syl
I try to live frugally. The only debt we have is 2 mortgages on 2 houses. They are not large and we have interest rates of 4.75%. My husband's brother and his wife live on a mini-farm. They have a fishing pond, a large garden, a small grove of various fruit trees. They plan to get a couple of mules and some chickens soon.
My 24 year old daughter has dreams of living that way too.
I have to live frugally... I'm F'g broke...
I wish that, when I was younger, I had known then what I know now about finances. All the money that I wasted because I just didn't know any better.
The frugal "bible" for me is The Tightwad Gazette by Amy Dacyzyn. Recently, I read "America's Cheapest Family" by the Economides and got only one tip out of it. I was bummed and told my husband that I had wasted my time reading that book. He just said, "See, I told you that you're the cheapest person I've ever met. At some point, you just can't get any cheaper."
Now, I do have my splurges. I love good coffee with real cream. And I don't save and reuse foil or gift wrap.
We are not completely debt free yet but we're close. My husband's first wife died and when we got married he still had about $40K in medical expenses, etc., related to her. (She had kidney failure, had a transplant, it didn't work, more dialysis, then suicide.) We've almost paid it all off and also have a mortgage, which will be paid off in seven years if we don't move first. (We've been here 3 1/2 years and had a goal of paying off the house in 10 years.)
I'd love a mini farm with what I mentioned above and also a root cellar. I've always wanted a root cellar of my very own. And a summer kitchen. We figure that I have so many plans for our mini farm that we'll be happily puttering away on the farm until well into our retirement. And I think it will keep us healthier, since we'll have so much physical activity.
We're thinking meat goats, probably boer goats, as they're easier to handle than cattle. I would like to have one miniature jersey cow for milk products.
StAnn
Scarred, what are they gonna do with the mules?
StAnn
What UC said.
We had chickens, a couple of horses and a cow when I was a kid. I've got that filed under "been there, done that, got the T-shirt." I want to live on the country, but not a farm.
My sister-in-law is physically disabled with emphysema. She's only 52 but she has very little oxygen stamina. She is on oxygen and even with that she cannot walk up the slightest hill or even walk more than 50 yards at a very slow pace. She wants to go on trail rides near where they live in Northern North Carolina.
They may just get 1. But they are also looking forward to them keeping the grass cut.
JeffT, I grew up on a working farm. We had everything. I've never adjusted to living in town and don't like the taste of store bought food. I'd like to raise my own instead of buying it in bulk from local farmers. Right now we buy eggs from one woman, black angus from another man, get milk products from yet another source, and buy local vegetables and fruits from various small farms. I buy my flour from a mill so I can make breads. It would be a lot less hassle to just raise our own. And with the black angus, we have to buy the whole thing if we can't find someone else who wants to buy half. I have two freezers to store all that meat.
StAnn
