Method & Madness ~Two~

In this second installment (a tad long, sorry), I’m going to delve more into the how and the why – who knows, I might get all of that out of the way so we can get to the fun stuff!!

So you probably recall thinking how crazy we are to have jumped on this opportunity so quickly, especially with the first impression it gave us.  So I’m going to show you here, WHY we’re not as crazy as one might think.

Homesteading to me is a way to get back to the basics.  So our MAIN goal right now, is to become 100% debt free, and save as much as we possibly can so that in a few years, we’re financially able to achieve our dream.  In order to do that, we need to lessen our expenses considerably.  While we both have full time work – mine being an office job, and hubby being a self-employed contractor – we’re always finding that there’s more month left at the end of the money.  Frankly, we’re tired of it.  It’s time (way overdue if I’m honest) to get our shit together.  If we don’t, the dream will always stay a dream.

And that’s why this house.

The house we were renting was great – an old, 2000 square foot century farm house on 34 acres of land.  It was 10 to 15 minutes drive from town in every direction, and hooked up to propane for heat, and a well for water.  Lots of pros, and also some cons.  The main con being that our rent was $1450 per month, plus utilities.  Our only year-round utility was hydro, but in the cold months (and I mean, we do live in Canada so we’re talking October-ish to sometimes May), we also had to fill the propane tank.  Big house = lots of propane.  We ended up spending about $500 every 3 weeks on average.  That ends up being a LOT of money, and no savings.

We thought that by getting back to civilization for a little while, we could at least eliminate the propane cost, as well as some of the back-and-forth commuting which was getting quite tiresome.  We weren’t off grid or self-sufficient by any means, so driving to town was a must on a daily basis, usually multiple times.

This house – as pitiful as it was, seemed the answer to our prayers.

A development company bought this house in the Spring, in hopes of tearing it down and building condos or town homes on the lot, and the neighboring vacant lot which they also purchased.  Those types of permits can sometimes take a long time (we’re hoping for at least 3 to 5 years).  The lot is quite large, I’m thinking about 1/4 acre which is pretty big for town living, so it has a lot of potential for perfecting the craft of homesteading.

It also comes at a monthly price tag of only $900 (that’s a $550 savings right off the top!!). And calculating the monthly utilities, it still comes to less per year than we would have paid on propane alone at the other house.  We’re also 3 minutes (literally) from our house to my work, the grocery store, the gas station – and my daughter is taking public transit to school (which the station is DIRECTLY behind our house), so there’s a lot less driving overall.  $$$ SAVINGS $$$

We also managed so score FOUR MONTHS rent free!!!  Yep, you read that right!!

Because the house was so…..um…..we’ll use the word ‘dated’ to be nice…they agreed to give us a few months free, in exchange for updating it ourselves.  The electrical also needed to be updated throughout.  You’re probably seeing dollar signs now, but don’t fret!

Because hubby is in the construction industry, he pretty much does all of it himself – and for those things he’s not qualified for, he’s got contacts oozing from his pores!  The reason the landlords wouldn’t spring for renovations is simple – they’re tearing it down, so they aren’t going to sing any money in fixing it up.  What we were able to do, with Hubby’s handiness and my talent for finding things on the cheap – is fix up this house for about the same amount it would have cost us to live at the other house for a month.  Maybe even a little less.  In the grand scheme of things, I’d say that’s pretty darn good!

Now, it’s still a bit of a work in progress.  We’ve made it livable, if not perfect just yet.  But I have to say, it is already unrecognizable from where we started.

And that, my friends, is HOW this place is going to help us achieve our dreams.  By saving so much money per month, we’re going to be able to chip away at the debts that hound us, as well as put away for a down payment on our own place, or our own land, a few years down the road!  The great part is that everything we’ve brought into this house, materialistically speaking, we’ll be able to bring with us when we leave.  (I’m also going to ask the landlords if we can take other materials from the home when we leave, since they’ll be tearing it down…such as windows, pipes, lumber, etc) so that if we find vacant land, we’ll have a really good start on building our own home, for pretty much nothing!

So I’ve been dying to share a little bit of “before and after” with you guys, and ultimately I wanted to wait until a space was 100% completed, but as I’ve mentioned so many times already, I have no patience.  So I’m going to share anyway!  Here  you’ll see the “BEFORE” pictures of what the kitchen used to look like.  How anyone could function in such a place is completely beyond me.

And in this next picture, you’ll see an after picture – I actually call it my ALMOST after because it’s not completely finished.  What is left to do in this room, is the trim around the window, doors, quarter round along the ceiling, as well as a back splash, and a real table.  This bistro set is doing the job for the time being.

So the kicker here, is that we did this entire kitchen for approximately $600, and we get to take all of it with us when we leave.  So it’s not a lost investment, it’s something that we’ll be able to use, and add to, when we build our own place.  Even without all the finishes, as it stands now, the difference is astounding!  What do you think? My favorite parts are the flooring which we got for $80 at the ReStore – I love the rustic driftwood look – as well as the little cubby shelves Hubby built me in dead space, which gives me so much extra storage (which, in a house this size, every big of storage we can find is like gold).

A lot of things we have, or had, we’re having to get rid of.  We do have a small amount of storage space in the garage and basement, but it’s not enough space to keep all of the things we own.

This downsizing is time intensive yes, but at the same time will also help us save a little extra money from the sale of these items.  The idea now is to have only what we NEED, but at the same time, make sure that those things are quality items that can last for a really really long time.

Anyway folks, that’s it for this post – sorry it’s been a little long.  Sometimes when my fingers start going I have a hard time stopping them!  Stay tuned for the next installment, and I can’t wait to read all of your comments and suggestions!

Method & Madness ~ One ~

This is the first post in an ongoing series – which will be staggered in and around my regular posts.  I want to explain  a little about how we came to be where we are, why, and how it’s going to help us get where we’re going.

We’ve never owned a home.  We’ve always rented, pouring thousands of dollars a year into someone else’s mortgage.  I’ll be 37 in a couple of weeks, and hubby is 42, and we both thought we’d be so much further along in life by now.  I can’t complain too much – the path I’ve chosen has given me the most beautiful daughter – who is turning out to be the best young woman I know.  It’s led me to Hubby, and so many great friends along the way.  Had I not chosen this path, I would be missing out on all of those blessings.  But now, it’s time to move forward.

We’re both tired of throwing our money away into something that will not benefit us…ever.  So when this opportunity came to us…more like fell into our laps (with the help of a co-worker), we just couldn’t say no!  We had been looking for a place in town for some time, but nothing was available within our budget, and expectations.  When I got a text one day from a co-worker, saying there was this house, but it wasn’t exactly what we were looking for, I thought we’d take a look anyway.

It was bad.  Oh, it was really reeeeaaaaallyyyy bad.  The worst place I’ve ever looked at, let along lived in!  The smell, the crud…it was just disgusting.  We took it on the spot.

Are we crazy?  Well, maybe just a little.  But we’re also smart, and determined.  This little house is less than half the size of the one we moved out of.   Moving out of a 2000 square foot farm house, and into a 750 square foot “cottage” house, takes some major adjustments.  Especially when it looks like this….

Living Room

Kitchen

Master Bedroom

Friends, let me tell you – it smelled as bad as it looked, if not worse!  Between the orange and lime green carpets, psychedelic linoleum, wood paneling THROUGHOUT, and that kitchen… well, it doesn’t need any introductions.  You see that brown-ish “stuff” on the drawers there?  Yeah…that’s dirt.  Literally…it’s years and years of just never being washed.  Kinda makes your skin craw doesn’t it???

Now you’re probably thinking we’re REALLY crazy.  Nah….just a little. haha  My eyes look at a place like this, and all they see is potential.  Hubby looks at it, and he sees project.  He’s a contractor, does it all.  So looking at this home (the term is said extremely loosely at this point) – I still describe it as the 70’s throwing up…we took the plunge, and dove in head first.

Kitchen

The series will explain how this is helping us get where we want to go, and will show the transformation of this little cottage, for “porn set chic” to “Country-Beachy Cottage” (I’m still unsure on whether I want beach or country, so maybe it’ll end up a little bit of both)…Stay tuned!!! 🙂

Leftovers

I’ve been spending the last few days trying to decide what my next project is going to be on the homestead.  And as I’ve yet to start the rest of the yard clean-up, I need to get a move on that!

I have bits and pieces of pallets left over from the compost bin project, so I’m going to try and create something from them instead of just tossing it into the burn pile.  There isn’t much of it, so maybe a simple planter for an herb garden on the back patio?   Or maybe a planter and frame for climbing beans or peas…

Just a thought…

…and another…?

Either way, I get to use the drill again!!  Maybe I’ll try to use some of the bigger pieces of fallen branches along with it and see what kind of creative look I can come up with!   …post and pictures to come! 🙂

What kind of fun things have you made from old scraps?  I’d love to get your thoughts and ideas!!!

It’s In The Bin – Part Deux!

A touch of pride, and some achy feet and stiff muscles.  Okay, more than just a touch of pride.  I’m pretty much beaming to have not only dreamed up the idea, but then executed it and completed the project in the time frame I told myself I would.  Is this the beginning of a new, non-procrastinator lifestyle?  Could it be??  It’s definitely the beginning of producing less waste and sending less to the landfill!

When I decided I wanted to build a pallet compost bin, my biggest obstacle was not having any pallets!  And from following this couple** from the time they bought their land, I want to do this homesteading thing with as little money as possible.  So how to get my materials, without breaking the bank?  Social media is a wonderful thing.

I posted on one of the local Tell & Sell pages I’m part of on Facebook, and within 12 hours I had a bunch of people messaging me.  Some were pretty much offering me piles of rubbish, just so they could get it off their hands.  Thanks, but no thanks.  And so I opted to choose the offers from those I know and trust.  And within just a few days, I had 8 perfectly good wooden pallets delivered to my home, free of charge!  Thank goodness for amazing friends, and my daughter’s boyfriend’s mother!  I’m beginning to see that having connections in this lifestyle is a huge advantage!  I’m going to have to find a way to repay the favor to both of them!

Mother Nature was on my side today, allowing me a whole afternoon of dry, mild weather…of which I took full advantage of!  Started with a quick trip to our local junk store.  I call it that because it’s not your typical thrift store – it’s literally a glorified indoor junk sale.  You’ve got to dig and hunt for what you’re looking for, and often come out with dirty hands and craving a shower.  But it’s also a treasure trove if you know what you’re looking for!  And I did!  I found everything I needed for about $2.50.  Amazing!  Brackets, hinges, and some chicken wire.

The next step was to find the perfect spot in the yard to build it.  My backyard is quite slanted in most places, and the place where I wanted to build it was on too much of a slope.  The other side of the yard is more level, but also has more trees.  This exercise also brought home the fact that his yard has been grossly neglected for many years, and it’s grand time someone did something about it.  Just look at this mess!

I found the spot I needed, and as luck was shining on me today – it was JUST big enough, but barely!  Clean it up a little and voila!

So my plan from the start, was to build this by myself.  If I’m going to be a woman living on a homestead – eventually not an urban one – I need to be able to do things on my own.  Hubby may not always be in a position to help, and I need to learn to use all of the tools required to build and repair things.  So this was my first (of many) project.

Tucker did a great job as site foreman, examining the merchandise for safety!!  First lesson learned today, pallets are flippin’ heavy!!  After dragging them from the front of the house, up the “hill” to the backyard, I’d already had a hell of a workout.  I’ve concluded that being a homesteader eliminates any need for gym memberships!  My rubber legs after 8 trips up the yard with a pallet behind me are all the evidence I need on that!

As I was getting ready to start, one of our neighbors came and introduced himself.  Gus.  Gus seems like a very nice man.  A very set in his ways nice man.  After a quick introduction and idle chit chat, he went back to the house and I started arranging my pallets.  A moment later, he was back asking me to make sure nothing is leaning on the fence.  No Gus, it won’t be leaning on your fence.  What am I building?  A compost bin, I’m trying to live a greener life!  No Gus, I’m not going to put it all the way over there, because my flower garden is going to go there.  No Gus, it won’t smell, don’t worry.  Buy Gus!  (Insert heavy sigh and internal eye roll.  Nice guy Gus, really.)

Not wanting any conflict with any of our neighbors, I made sure to put some chicken wire in the back of the bin to stop any compost from spilling out and possibly ending up on his side of the fence.  A great feat on its own since he’s already got about a foot to a foot and a half

worth of leaves and natural compost built up behind a stack of covered lumber I’m sure has been there for years (as you can see behind my bin in the image below).  There you go Gus, chicken wire for you.

Now, as much as I hate to admit defeat, I’m not a stupid woman.  Admitting when you need help can not only save you a lot of unnecessary wasted time, it can also be a tool to help you learn.  And I admit, the doors had me stumped.  As much as I wanted hubby to just show me how to use the skill saw, I know that for now it was much better to let him help me instead of just teach me.  I value my fingers, and every other part of me.  He’s a contractor by trade and a whiz with all of these power tools that skill intimidate me to no end (also I mastered the impact drill today, and I’m very proud of myself!)

So with hubby to the rescue, we made quick work of the doors.  He also used some 2×4’s he had on hand to give my bins a little more support.  The mostly level, but not quite flat ground made it so that my bins were a little unsteady, and in order for the doors to swing properly, we needed to make sure they stayed square and sturdy.  He cut, I drilled!  Hinges screwed on, doors hung, and done!

I managed to clean up a few of the leaves around the bins before darkness started setting in, and just as we were putting the tools away, the rain started.  Talk about perfect timing!  Now I’ve got my bins, built mostly by yours truly, and my very first project is complete!  I’m one happy little homesteader!!!  What’s next??

 

 

(** “this couple” is Jesse and Alyssa of Pure Living For Life.  These two are absolutely my inspiration, my muse, my homesteading idol!  Click the link above and follow them, you won’t be sorry!!!)

 

Slow & Steady?

Hello, my name is Edie, and I’m an addict.  A Pinterest addict.  I just can’t stop, and I don’t want an intervention!

It’s seriously the best thing since Google – have you ever tried to find something on there and failed?  I doubt it.  It’s like every single idea has been tested and tried and mastered!

And it’s a budding homesteader’s dream.  My problem now, is that I want do it all, right now.  I want to harvest seeds – I want to grow new things – I want to build things – I want to learn to can, and blanch, and dehydrate – I want to learn scratch cooking (or more of it).  And I want to do all of that today!  Yep…I confess.  I have a real problem with patience, or rather, my lack thereof!  I have to keep reminding myself that Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither will my homestead!

So…itty bitty baby steps it is.  With a couple of projects on the go, I need to learn the art of slowing down.  The skill of pacing myself.  So friends, I offer a most sincere apology right now, from the start – if my scatter brain makes you dizzy from moving from one thing to another and another still…maybe it’s a touch of un-diagnosed OCD, or maybe it’s just a bad case of excitement.  Either way, I don’t think there’s a cure….at least, I hope there isn’t!

Starting Line

Fair warning…this first post is sort of an introduction…and it’s a little long-winded (sorry!! I promise the others won’t be so novel-ish), so grab a cuppa (or something stronger, I won’t tell!) and get comfy!!

Okay… this isn’t really my starting line.  It’s my RE-starting line.

Those who know me well, know that I’ve got a bad habit (one of many) of starting things, and never really finishing them.  This isn’t my first blog on the subject of homesteading, but the last one sort of got side tracked a little.  Okay, a lot.  So I figured…new house, new start!

Homesteading has been a growing dream of mine for the past few years, and although I’ve taken sporadic steps in that general direction, my utter lack of commitment and consistency mean I haven’t achieved nearly as much as I’d like to by now.  So I’m dusting off my apron, hiking up my britches, and starting again!  And the inspiration I get on an almost daily basis from watching these guys build their dream, gives me the confidence I need, to know I can build mine!  (Check them out, they’re amazing!!)

We’ve just recently moved to town – from a 34 acre farm that wasn’t ours, and that I didn’t take advantage of as I should have.  This little house on the hill isn’t ours either, but it’s giving us an opportunity we just couldn’t turn down.

We know it’s a temporary  thing, so we’ve got to take full advantage of it while we can.  So here’s the deal…

Some development company bought this house, in hopes of tearing it down (which honestly, it should be!), to build condos or town houses (ick!..not a fan).  I’m not sure if this neighborhood is ready for that type of development, and I’m thinking (or rather, hoping!) the town will take it’s sweet time to approve their permits!  What we’re hoping for, is to have at least 3 to 5 years in this house.  The rent alone is putting $550 back into our pockets, and I’ve eliminated my entire commute to work.  For real.  It takes me 3 minutes to drive to work now!  Bonus!!  So the plan is to pay down all of our debts, repair our credit, and save every penny we possibly can between now, and the time they tell us to hit the road.

So we’re taking the proverbial bull by the horns, and giving this ‘practice run’ everything we’ve got!  When we looked at this place, it was a disaster.  Picture: 70’s porn set.  I’m not even kidding.  Between the wood paneling, and the lime green and orange carpets; it was like the 70’s threw up.  Sorry for the visual.  Now because they’re going to tear in down in a few years, whatever cosmetic upgrade we want is coming out of our own pockets.  (Hence the 4 months free rent they gave us!)  I will share some before and after photos in coming posts, for your ooh-ing and ahh-ing pleasure!

I digress.  “Practice Run” is exactly what this is, in every sense.  From the construction (I got lucky here – hubby is a contractor by trade, so many dollars saved!!), to gardening, to food preservation…and every detail in between!  We’ve still got quite a large lot here, and have been given virtually free run of the place to do with what we please while we’re here.  I plan on taking every iota of advantage I possibly can, and learn as much as possible.  Now is when I can afford to make mistakes, so that I can avoid the entire (or mostly) trial and error ordeal once we’re on our land and trying to make our homestead from scratch work!

So cheers to a brand new start, and hooray to chasing dreams.  Watch out world…here I come!!!