What would you do to achive your dreams?

Big Dave · #1 03/03/12, 06:51 AM

The auctioneer is coming this week. Our dream is to be fully out of debt and to be fully Sustainable.

We are selling everything but the house and one car. I am 60 and can not take it with me. I do not want any debt when I am gone from this world. I take this from Holy Scripture in what would you give up to follow Jesus. If that offends you I am truly sorry. What would you do to achive your dream?

TxMex · #2 03/03/12, 07:37 AM

I think you are being very sensible. Debt is a terrible weight that drags you down.

Come to think of it, I guess I'm living my dream. Just didn't think I'd be doing it solo. No debt. Nice little farm that is paid for. I travel as much as I want. Yep, I think I'm there.

jwal10 · #3 03/03/12, 07:58 AM

I guess I don't get it. You "had" everything you wanted, now you are giving it up. How about all of us that have lived "lightly" all our lives. Just asking....James

Rick · #4 03/03/12, 08:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Big Dave

The auctioneer is coming this week. Our dream is to be fully out of debt and to be fully Sustainable.

We are selling everything but the house and one car. I am 60 and can not take it with me. I do not want any debt when I am gone from this world. I take this from Holy Scripture in what would you give up to follow Jesus. If that offends you I am truly sorry. What would you do to achive your dream?

Hi Dave

Are you selling your bed and easy chair?

I have often wondered, and can't recall: did your wife trade me a TON of soap and salves for comfrey root starts?

We have already done it, I guess. We live where only a few UPS and Phone Company trucks have been. Deer, cattle and insects most people have never seen. We garden and can much of our food, provide our own electric and water. We learned to kill and harvest deer for meat (thanks again for prodding me Tracy Rimmer). This year Rick lll killed his first!

We too sold everything, in various time periods starting in 2001 when we cashed in the Life Insurance and borrowed 17 Grand from Mom to make up the purchase price.

I worked 5 more years of 60 office union hours per week, and put the overtime in a tax deferred 457 plan. The real estate/ Robber Baron Banker collapse made getting our Real Estate investment plus profit back incredibly difficult, but it all worked out.

The perfect scenario would have me collecting a full pension NOW instead
of half in 2020, but that was not Ann's dream. I left the Transit company in 2006, and swiftly went from 260 pounds to 180. You see Ann's dream had me NOT dropping dead from a massive coronary. So far so good.

Best Wishes.

James, seem to me everything he had wasn't his dream.

am1too · #5 03/03/12, 08:51 AM

Debt free is absolutely wonderful. My neighbor is jealous. What would I do? Hmmm! Well I for go any relationships that detract from my dreams. Does make going it alone difficult. But I personally think the peace is worth it in not having to fight one over the conviences of modern life. I used to live in the city.

TRAILRIDER · #6 03/03/12, 09:38 AM

Debt free is indeed good. I owe on my farm, that's all. And it is my life long dream to own it out right and work on it myself until the day I die.
What would I do to achieve that dream? Almost anything. I wouldn't cheat, lie, steal or do anything remotely illegal. But yes, I would clean toilets, scrub floors, work extra jobs that no one else wanted. And put away every extra penny.
I try to enjoy what I do right now though. I know I'd pay it off faster if I didn't keep my horses and goats and cats and dogs. But hey, I might die tomorrow

Then what?

willow_girl · #7 03/03/12, 09:48 AM

Quote:

But yes, I would clean toilets, scrub floors, work extra jobs that no one else wanted.

LOL. I'm "there."

Funny, yesterday I was advising a client who lives in a big, fancy house about how to get out of debt and live a more stress-free life. He's miserable. The irony only occurred to me later -- I'm his cleaning lady! Who takes advice from their housecleaner?

Then I remembered how, growing up, my mother used to take me along with her when she cleaned rich people's houses. One day, on the way home, she pointed out that the lady we had worked for was afraid to answer her phone (which rang all day long) because those were calls from collections agencies. While they had a fancy house and a Cadillacn and a housecleaner, they were deeply in debt, while we were debt-free and our home was paid off. Things are not always as they seem.

Big Dave · #8 03/03/12, 08:07 PM

James- Yep I pretty much have gotten a lot of things. One of them is debt. I am getting rid of the debt and to do so means getting rid of some comfortable things. Motorcycles, truck, televisions, couches, chairs, Toy collection, Camera stuff ect, ect... I do not want to leave any debt or be encumber any of my loved ones with my stupid unthinking decisions. I just do not know how to live lightly. I have been homeless twice. I will not go there again. Currently I want to grow food to feed people. To do such I need cash to set up my operation. Being out of debt will help in this endever.

Shygal · #9 03/04/12, 12:54 AM

I kind of dont understand....what are you going to sit on, boxes ? And lie on the floor to sleep?

Callieslamb · #10 03/04/12, 06:49 AM

We would do a lot. To many it may not seem like 'much' or had we lived 'differently' maybe we wouldn't had to had to do what we did. If that makes sense. So a pox on those self-righteous few that have always lived the perfect life with no bad choices and would make fun of others because of their choices. We sacrificed our family home and DH's job to live out of debt.

When we decided to live out of debt, we knew it wasn't going to come easy. The only thing we could do was sell the family home. It was a beautiful home - one that had plenty of room for the grandkids to come visit. But, it was our only option. After six months of being listed - nothing happened. We prayed harder that the Lord would help us. And He did. DH's company offered a package - 3 yrs salary if you'd quit. So, we decided to do it. The co was shocked. The day we signed the severance package deal, the house sold. There we were, no house, no job. Dh's company hired him back as a contractor - for more money than we were making before. We moved into an apartment. We lived their a year trying to find another job. No luck. Then a larger co bought DH's company and they hired him with a nice sign-on bonus and a raise. We bought a very, very small house with 1 acre. We had done it. It cost us everything and it cost us nothing. When it was all said and done- it was no sacrifice.

Big Dave · #11 03/04/12, 06:56 AM

We can always get more stuff. Right now to keep from going to a lender we are just down sizing. Eliminating things we see as not necessary for day to day operations. (fine china, waterford crystal, hunting equipment not being used, metal detector ect, ect... Sitting on the floor is nothing new. Things will be different for a while. We want out of debt and stuff does not matter. Yeah we have discussed selling our bed (how did you know) but I am the one who wants to keep it. Some of our friends lost ALL their belonging two month ago when their home burned to the ground. My neighbors faired the same fate. Holding them as they watched their world disintegrate before their eyes impacted me and DW. They did not even have boxes to sit on or a bed to lay in.I also want to be off the grid. So I want a grey water system that heats the water in a passive system and I can reuse it. We want a wind turbine and solar panels for A/C. We want the hoop house and green house for 365 day a year harvesting of food to feed those that can not feed themselves. We want to have the largest lavender farm in Arkansas.So we had a choice. hold on to our stuff or use it to finance what is on our bucket list. I am willing to do this to achieve my dreams.

Rick · #12 03/04/12, 07:47 AM

A/C is best to stay on the grid - panels, turbines and batteries for cooling even one room would cost tens of thousands.

If you can tie into the grid to sell the extra power back to the power company that would be better overall.

willowworker · #13 03/04/12, 09:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Big Dave

We can always get more stuff. Right now to keep from going to a lender we are just down sizing. Eliminating things we see as not necessary for day to day operations. (fine china, waterford crystal, hunting equipment not being used, metal detector ect, ect... Sitting on the floor is nothing new. Things will be different for a while. We want out of debt and stuff does not matter. Yeah we have discussed selling our bed (how did you know) but I am the one who wants to keep it. Some of our friends lost ALL their belonging two month ago when their home burned to the ground. My neighbors faired the same fate. Holding them as they watched their world disintegrate before their eyes impacted me and DW. They did not even have boxes to sit on or a bed to lay in.I also want to be off the grid. So I want a grey water system that heats the water in a passive system and I can reuse it. We want a wind turbine and solar panels for A/C. We want the hoop house and green house for 365 day a year harvesting of food to feed those that can not feed themselves. We want to have the largest lavender farm in Arkansas.So we had a choice. hold on to our stuff or use it to finance what is on our bucket list. I am willing to do this to achieve my dreams.

I also did what felt right for me.....and have never looked back!

TxMex · #14 03/04/12, 09:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Big Dave

James- Yep I pretty much have gotten a lot of things. One of them is debt. I am getting rid of the debt and to do so means getting rid of some comfortable things. Motorcycles, truck, televisions, couches, chairs, Toy collection, Camera stuff ect, ect... .

What kind of motorcycle?!!

Big Dave · #15 03/04/12, 06:45 PM

TXMEX Pm sent

postroad · #16 03/04/12, 07:12 PM

Years ago I sold all my motorcycles. Then I quit smoking and drinking. We recently stopped eating any fast food and pop.

There is the Internet and satellite TV, but after that there would no low hanging fruit to prune.

It sure is expensive to live simple!

One benefit is that the investments in land, livestock, equipment etc will hopefully be a multigenerational thing.

ronbre · #17 03/04/12, 07:56 PM

Dave, 100 % in agreement with you (Mat 18:18,19)

we got out of debt many years ago and own everything outright and have been putting in perennials, trees, nut trees, fruit, bushes, vines and permanent food forest gardens to be more and more sustainable..

a hernia surgery emergency last spring put us back slightly in debt, but we can manage the payments (no interest) and will have that paid back off soon..as well..hallelujah

lemonthyme7 · #18 03/04/12, 10:55 PM

My DH and I are leaving our 24 and 20 year old children in charge of our home and moving 2 1/2 hours south so he can take a better job. We have 6 years left to pay on our house and 2 years on our car. We can see the light at the end of the tunnel and would like to hurry it along. LOL If we had to rent a place it would not be worth it but one of the job perks is completely paid for housing. I will be getting a job for the first time in over 25 years (since before the kids). Yes, it is a little scary but we feel that this is the path we are supposed to take.
On a side note - when we set up our mortage we set it up on weekly payments and paid just a few dollars extra each week than we needed to. We will be paying off our 20 year mortage in 14 years! In such small bites you don't even miss those extra few dollars but they really add up towards the interest.

Coloneldad5 · #19 03/05/12, 04:10 AM

I have just taken out the last loan that I ever plan on doing. Having just purchased some land and built a house on it. It is in a location that makes it somewhat easy to cut back on a lot as there just isn't a lot around. The plan is to cut out as much of the unnecessary as possible (yes we still have a ways to go in that area) and grow/produce as much as we can. I will be planting some 30 fruit and nut trees this spring, starting a garden, chickens, bees and maybe a couple of turkeys. I am hoping that in the next 5 years 75% or more of the necessities of my family will be produced and grown on my little homestead.

CesumPec · #20 03/05/12, 08:24 AM

what am i willing to do to acheive my dreams?

1. living debt free is a priority. If i can't afford to pay cash or the credit card bill in full each month, then I can't afford it and do without
2. work 12 hour days getting my land in shape so that the fam can live there full time starting in about 18 months
3. be away from home 3 weeks out of 4 working my land, putting up fences, putting in an orchard, improving pastures
4. spend most of my down time reading and studying like I was try to get a PhD in order to learn as much about farming, solar power, energy efficiency, and building a home.
5.