How do you find time to Homestead??

You need to decide if this is what you and the wife want to do.

If it is, there is no need to hurry. Keep your jobs until you have enough in the bank that you feel secure. Then you can quit the second one and spend more time fixing up the homestead so it will be ready when you retire.

I bought 34 acres, 60 miles away, 2 years ago. I have not done much to improve the raw land. I do spend some time there at all times of the year to see what it's like. Does the snow linger in one spot? Does the low spot fill with snow melt in the spring? What home sites have good southern exposure for passive solar? Where does the wind blow continuously? Will the wolves come and eat my chickens? How well does the road hold up in the spring? Do great big drifts of snow form in places? Where should I put my house, barn, gardens, and orchard?

Spend your first few years visiting the place as much as possible and planning. A 1 hour trip is close enough to let you visit on those Sunday afternoons. Start fixing it up after a few years and when you have quit the second job. Get it good enough to live in by the time you retire. Then you can make it what you want once you are living on the land.

I took my tent trailer over to the new place on Easter and camped a few days. The lakes are open for about 10 feet around the edge with thick ice covering the middle. The dogs water dish was frozen in the morning. I am going to build an outhouse and a root cellar/tornado shelter/bomb shelter this summer. Oops, if you say you are building a bomb shelter the gooberment will think you are a militia wacko.

If it were me I would slap a mobile home on the property and move there. An hour commute is not that bad, at least not in this part of the country. If you really want to be there, make it happen. My DH commuted 2 hours one way daily so he could be here every night.. Of course that left most things to me to do, but it worked for us. He did find a position here after awhile so life is even better now.

We both work full time and we don't find the time to do everything we want but each weekend day we discuss the priorities for the day.

It sounds like you have a nice place that with some work will be fabulous. We also bought a less than perfect place and have spent all our spare time fixing it up and loved every minute of it.

We bought a place an hour away from work and commuted. If your wife really wants to be there now get a mobile home and move. She can get cracking on stuff that needs to be done while you commute to work until you can get that pension. It would have to cut your expenses since I assume you are either paying a mortgage or rent where you are now? Even with the added gas you should come out ahead.

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"You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit me." C S Lewis

Is your wife working? Maybe she could get a job and cut you a little slack?

It sounds like you have the makings of a great homestead. If it were me, I think I would ask my wife to help out some. Either there fixing the place up, or here earning some money. Doing it all by yourself will wear you out.

You know the old adage: "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy."
SBJ

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The day the Lord created hope was probably the same day he created Spring. ~Bern Williams

For the last year, my wife and I have been driving 5 hours one way every other weekend to take care of our place and get the house fixed up.. We take as much vacation time as we can or rather have to work on it too..

We are quitting our jobs at the end of May to move there...

The plan is, my wife gets a full time job that hopefully has insurance.... Then depending on if her job will pay the bills or not (living in the country can be real cheap) I will either stay home and take care of the place, animals and garden, or, get a part time job.. or, find something to do on the side to raise some extra cash...

If there is a will there's a way.. You have to be dedicated to it... If you want out of the rat race as bad as we do.. you'll figure something out that will work for you.

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Never let your fear decide your fate!
Kein Mitleid für die Mehrheit

My wife and I are both teachers, so we spend about 50 hours a week at work and another 10 to 15 hours a week working at home. Her commute is about 10 minutes and mine is about 45. We have the benefit of vacations and summers to complete big projects, but we still manage to get a lot done otherwise as well. I think the biggest thing for us is that we are homesteading at our house even though we've only got an acre. Also, we don't have cable, so there's never a time where we can just come home and park it on the couch for the rest of the night. My only hobbies are my homesteading activities, woodworking, and church. Because of that, I am always able to find a half hour or an hour to do the things that I need or want to do around the property.

Your situation sounds difficult. I would put up a mobile home and move there ASAP as others said. Commuting isn't that bad. I will probably be commuting 45 minutes each way for the next decade at least. I use the time to get a lot of thinking done. I also have the Bible on CD, so I listen to it a lot while I am driving and that makes the 45 minute drive feel a lot more meaningful.

Hi SimpleGirl

thanks for the insight...I don't think the Adirondack Park will allow anything like that...wish I could but we cant...

My next question is for all you folks on here...

You use a lot of two letter abbreviations and I don't understand any of them...what is a "DD" and "DH"???.....

On another note:

We will keep digging here on it but it is going to be a funnel of all my fund$$$$ for the next 4 years...I do hope it is worth it...it will be a seasonal place for me. My wife will probably be the main resident there....she needs to feel like it is home....I think she does already...I just don't have the time to enjoy the journey...

I will keep writing the big checks for the stuff that needs to get done tho...

You folks on here are awesome...I am learning so many new things here...

MikeC

DD Dear daughter
DS Dear Son
DW dear wife
DH dear husband
SIL Sister in law or son in law

so on and so fourth

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Dorothy Kaye Collins

That's a great price for all three of those. Excellent.

We built our home for $7,000 - that's materials since we did all the labor. It's small (252 sq-ft), bright, cozy, warm in the winter, cool in the summer and just about indestructible so low maintenance. As an added side bonus the taxes are minimal since it is small and they consider the construction low grade since it is concrete. The irony there is it will outlast stick built houses by an order of magnitude but I'm not arguing. See:

http://SugarMthFarm.com/cottage

In all that you do... have fun.

Cheers,

-Walter

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SugarMtnFarm.com -- Pastured Pigs, Poultry, Sheep, Dogs and Kids

I agree with the others, mindset may need changed... I posted a thread on finding out new place, and we are in the process of prepping the property to move onto it full time. I am the one who will be working two jobs while DH logs, builds, etc... We expect to build our retirement home (log home), pay off the property, and be debt free in (5) years or sooner. This will enable us to both retire earlier than we ever thought possible. Living on the property will make all the difference in the world. We will live in a singlewide trailer while DH builds our log home. Also, since DH does the logging, we just pay a driver, and make more $.

As for our lifestyles, we fish, hunt, clam, crab, shrimp, grow most of our own food, and preserve (can/dehydrate/freeze). We have a boat w/cuddy cabin, just big enough with a deep hull to take out on the Strait of Juan De Fuca. Fired the tv 6 years ago, watch an occasional movie. While working on our property, we read.

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Christie Acres
www.SequimForLife.com
http://www.irealtyvirtualbrokers.com...lori-christie/
http://luxurywaterviewhomes.com/
SequimLiving@gmail.com

Hi Everyone

I wanted to add a little note to this story....I think we are pulling the plug on the whole homesteading property we bought...it is now early August and I have not had time or any inclination to visit our 20 acres....I have two guys at work that might be interested in it....they dont work 2 jobs and they both live closer to the property than me...I hope one of them can buy it and enjoy it..I gave it a shot at least....it has been 10 months since we closed on it...hoping and praying we can get our money back out of it that we spent...

We have family in the North Creek / Warrensburg NY area of the Adirondacks so we might look around in that area for something more livable than what we purchased last October 2013....

I don't really think I can do this type lifestyle at this time in my life....I think I am cut from the wrong piece of cloth to do it...

MikeC

Sorry to hear it Mike, but I guess it's better you realize it before you get in any deeper. Hope everything works out for you!

You work alot Mike! I see no solution to that schedule.
I would think you'll have to find a way to phase out your second job.
I worked 18 hour days 6 days a week for about 8 years. The goal was to pay down debt so I could find more time. I lived on my place and had little time to spare with that schedule.
Now with one job I feel like I'm retired.
Soon I plan to retire my current job. Love working the farm. You have to truly love it. I always refused to leave my place even though it cost me higher wages.

Sorry to hear that it didn't work out for you and hope you find a good buyer. Working as much as you do, it probably just became overwhelming ( it sure would have for me). Good luck and perhaps down the road you will find what you want and be able to enjoy it. I'm in the process of a five year plan to retirement myself and our homestead is being built along that schedule. We will be moving to it soon at which point I will have a 1 hour commute but, for me that is a small thing, the peace and quiet of the homestead makes it worth it. Again, I wish you good luck in all you do.

You have to live on the property. I worked many long odd hours 7 days a week, no Holidays or Vacation. But I still managed to work a small 100 acre farm and do other things I enjoyed.

Must admit I did without sleep but I was young and full of it

big rockpile

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I love being married.Its so great to find that one person you want to annoy for the rest of your life.



If I need a Shelter
If I need a Friend
I go to the Rock!

I do my homesteading between naps. In the early years it was a bit trickier but I had moved onto the land when I bought it. Nope, no power, no running water, no house, no barn, no structures of any kind... just raw land with 3 kids, a couple of horses, half dozen goats and a useless wife. Being there creates a whole new set of priorities and you do get things done because you have to... not because you want to. For me, homesteading was/is my life, not a hobby nor dream.

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"Nothing so needs reforming as other peoples habits." Mark Twain

One of the things you have to figure out is what you can fit in the time you do have. Buy property that gets you to that goal. Our off grid property is 1 acre, small cabin and buildings for chickens, goats, rabbits and pigeons. We started small but got out there as we could. I was under a lot of stress and needed time away. It just happened to be half way between our house in town and the water treatment plant where I spent 1/2 my day. I could stop by for lunch break and spend a few minutes getting my hands dirty. When DW retired we spent a lot of time there. We had a plan and got along with very little extra work and cost. We built the main part of the cabin, 12'x22' as a kit of materials from the lumber yard. It was slow going, 1 year the concrete pad, then a bunch of friends spent 2 weekends during spring break putting up the shell, finish work every chance we had. Added a bedroom/bath later on. We learned a lot in doing it, that came in handy later, saving a lot of time and mistakes on future projects. We moved our 2 goats out there first, built raised beds, then got 4 pullets given to us. The next year we moved our rabbits from town, and finally I got my pigeon pair. It was a 5 year plan but I was able to work 6 years longer than my goal of retiring at 50, by doing it. It relieved a lot of stress and improved my health.
The lake cabin is 6 hours away in the far corner of the state. I found an old miners cabin, moved it and set it up. Improved the spring and hand dug the waterline to the back porch and an outdoor solar shower. Still no septic, probably never will. Rustic cabin in a remote area.
The farm was a little piece of land that was a part of a farm we had years before. We kept it because it was way off the road, had a well with hand pump, an old cabin and barn. There was a nice pond and an old orchard. We didn't do much with it for years, a place to go play in the pond, fish and pick berries and fruit. The kids did a lot (most) of the mowing and upkeep. When we had more time we tore down the dilapidated cabin, saving the good materials, built a pavilion, rebuilt the barn and built an apartment in the loft. The beach cottage was a spur of the moment find. It was just an old garage that we put a floor in and slept there on trips to the beach. Saved money and allowed us full weekends away.
Each was easy, cheap and had a reason. As a family, we decided we could spend more time together, get what we wanted/needed and keep them up while away from the stress relaxing. Gave us cheap recreation, travel to see different areas, stress relief for me, more time together and the kids can enjoy them in their futures.
Being a supervisor meant a lot of time away from home, at all hours, but a lot of vacation because supervisors could not be paid overtime. I got 2 hours off for each hour over 40 hours weekly. The last 2 years I worked 1/2 time , 2 weeks on 2 weeks off, because of all the overtime. Lots of stress and nights without sleep but it allowed us to retire early. It also gave us a reason to live simply and save. We paid cash for everything, things were not perfect for years as we had to put off upkeep at times but did what had to be done to protect our investment. We also had great opportunities to collect materials and store for future improvements.
There is something about old properties and materials, built with your own hands that soothe the soul and works its way into your heart. We have a tree house at the farm in a big old oak tree, the swaying in a breeze, makes a nap special, afterwards I am refreshed and ready for some good hard physical work. The little chapel here, overlooking the creek, hearing the water tumble over the rocks. That can't be felt anywhere else...James

I'm glad you are being honest with yourself. Don't let anyone push you into something that is not right for you, even your wife. Four years is not very long. Like most have said, live as cheaply as you can, save all you can, and then form a plan for when you can retire in four years. You are in the prime of your life but really, do you want to work like this until you are too old to do fun things? Based on what you have said, you should have the money to truly quit working in four years and move out to the country be it in Kansas or there. I really think you and your wife need to work out this compromise because it sounds like you are going to be spending a lot of time in Kansas without her and that's not good. Someone is going to be unhappy in this deal depending on where you end up moving. Make sure you choose wisely.

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Living Large Down on the Farm.

Thanks Miss Kay

I am saving what was my mortgage every month with me working the second job I am banking that plus a little more...mortgage was like $1100.00 a month...so that feels good...I just sold 2 vehicles and that feels good...didn't make on either but now I don't have to look at them or worry about them either...I have 2 more project trucks that I have up for sale as we speak...it'll be good to see them go down the road too...
I think another good thing with this decision is we should be able to make back and then some of what we spent and we will put that in the bank...my wife worries about my pace that I have to live to save this kind of money....GOD has been good to me so far...he has plans for us all....I just hope I can survive the next 4 years and get a small (quiet) place to live at the end of it all...

I was out in Kansas in July of this year...that place is still pulling me really hard...I don't wanna jeopardize my marriage either tho...take our time...more baby steps I guess...

You guys are great on here...so much wisdom to be had on here...

MikeC