question about homesteading work

$500 a month. Aaah...I remember the 70's. I wish I could get down to $500 a week. Got my gas bill yesterday. It was $304. Not bad for a house that doesn't go above 65 degress. I hate to see what it would cost to actually be warm. Oh well, I made all the choices that have put me in the position I'm in today, so can't complain.


Nomad

I'm in central NY and I live on about as much as Glenda

75 electric
40 tv
60 telephone
60 heat

25 house insurance
60 car insurance
40 property taxes

$360 a month without food and gas

That is about the cheapest I can get it. I could throw the tv and phone out and save a hundred

Ok wait a minute I did not say that you are to be dumb about medical cost sparkey.. I mean do you think we would go into this not thinking the whole things through. I mean really. Do you think we would want to loose our home our way of life for not just us but for our five children... We have looked into having insurance on our children and us.. I was looking for ideas on how to get started. Somewhere to start. NOT to stop at... We are doing everything in our power to make sure we have done everything and planned for everything... In the first place if you would have asked right now my husband works a job outside the home we have health insurance we have a 401k, we buy stock, we have short and long term disb. We are not dumb nor are we going into this blind... We would not and have not ever planned on setting our children or ourselves up for a fall... Once my husband leaves the regular work force we do not plan on going back however if he had to he would... NO question!!!! I am not sure what your problem is with my question and answers or the issue of no health insurance. Honestly there is many many good paying people out there with NO insurance.. And those people do not raise your health care.. It is those few that do not pay there bills that cause the problem for ALL of us. NOT just You...

glenda Sounds great. Our electric was $112 for February. We have all electric. That included washing clothes, drying them, cooking, tv, lights and running chest freezer. The highest I remember our bill eing was $175 last summer when we had almost a month of 90 degree days.

Now if I could get my medicine, mortgage and food bill down my DW would be happy camper

Glenda, I'm not sure your initial inquiry was addressed sufficiently.

Also, don't let your feelings get hurt on these threads. Everyone is just expressing his or her own opinion, some more tactfully than others. How could anyone who doesn't know your situation make any intelligent criticism? I'm not in the judgement business and work hard to stay that way.

First, I suggest you use that computer and start writing the book. You have much to offer to this greed drenched world. Amy Dacyzyn with the Tightwad Gazette, made a ton of $$ from her learning experiences with frugality. Joan Dye Gussow wrote This Organic Life telling how she was able to put into practice what she preached in her very successful career. I read her book annually! You could start with some background on each of you, include lots of pix, then go on to tell how you got where you are then how you stay there. What got you started? You graduated from school with the same education as the rest of us. What is different about you? You could also tell about your plans for the future. I know I would read it! (with me, that means buy it) I love reading and hearing about people who are doing their lives in a satisfactory way. Leading their lives in a way they choose. I try to be encouraging to all who are trying. There's a book to that effect called "Do What You Love, and the Money Will Follow". The title is what works for me. I know you don't spend a whole lot of your life sitting around and reading, but I live vicariously! My library is loaded with books about those who are doing. I'm on four of these forums and have given some thought to collecting all my contributions and trying to work it into something that will read. Could be interesting to the family, at least.

Try to look at earning money from the farm in bits and pieces. If you raise nothing but strawberries, a bad market could kill you. But a variety of things (I know, it's called diversifying) will cover your bases. The variety will probably change as time goes by and some years will be better than others. I had some friends who did this with the proviso that each bit had to pay at least $1000 per year. They felt that less than that took more time than it was worth. We used to call this farming, but nowadays, there is so much work that can be done on the puter, marketing thru the internet, so much more appreciation for crafts and art, a growing appreciation for the locally grown, good food. I think the modern farmer is a far different critter from my grandpa and his farm.

I'm at the end decades of this life, but can still do plant propagation, growing plants from seed, growing some of our own food, flowers, chickens and rabbits, etc. With help, we could do so much more, but one of us has to pay the mortgage. I'm not it!!, but I can do a little to help. I can hold "yard sales" here from time to time, sell the occasional quilt or wall-hanging.

I've kind of rambled here, rather than offering concrete suggestions, but each of us have varying situations with varying requirements. You will find your path and it will be right for you. Read on, these forums are a valuable resource.

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Best wishes,

Sandi

"Anger is an acid that does more harm to the vessel in which it is stored than to the object on which it is poured." Corrie TenBoom

................Glenda , I think you've got the Bull by the Horns on keeping your living costs down to the bare minimum . Here is one thing I think you should look into in terms of constructing a "legal" wall around your property . Look into setting up a trust and transferring ALL your assets into the protective legal umbrella that it will afford you. This ....MAYBE...a method of protecting your property , After your husband leaves the workforce . I'm assuming one of the Major consequences will be the LOSS of health ins. coverage for your family . You never stated explicitly that you HAD health ins. that was provided by your husband's employment so I'm making that assumption . Find a knowledgeable Trust attorney and see if he can help you and Advise you and DH in this regard . It could also be the Case that setting up a Trust will NOT be worth the Cost but I would definitely Explore ALL the avenues before I Did nothing . Exteremely large medical expenses are a Prime factor in 50% of the Ch.7 bankruptcy filings for people with little or NO medical Ins. Anyway , I think you're doing an Absolutely fantastic job in managing your money and raising your family on a limited budget . fordy..

Glenda see if when your husband quits work you can have in place catastrophic coverage. To kick in if your bills are ever, say over $5000 to $20,000. It's a lot less than full HMO style coverage.

She should write a book and live on the proceeds!

__________________
Follow those that seek the truth, but fear those that think they have found it!
- Vaclav Havel

God wants spiritual fruits – not religious nuts
- Unknown

Glenda, you are my new hero!

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I cried because I had no shoes, until I saw a man who had no feet.

Wow! Glenda, way more than $500.00 a month here and our only utility is our phone. Our property taxes are more than 5 times that ($300). They jumped $400 for 2004 alone with the new school (that they now don't have enough money to operate) and 6-year assessments. I can barely comfortably budget with $38k/year net and that's with no automobile loans and only liability. I do budget for some medical, home improvement, auto repairs, etc. Why do you pay so much for internet service? Is it high-speed? We just re-financed and shaved 8 1/2 years off our mortgage and can have it paid off in 10 years with no extra payments or "pain". Of course, that's if DH keeps his job. I have always been concerned about having my house and land paid for and then having it taken away due to medical bills or some other catastrophe. Anyone have guidance on how to protect what you've paid dearly for? This could be another thread, I guess, or maybe has been addressed previously.
We love sunny days here on our homestead, so wishing you a sunny day!

[QUOTE=3girls]

First, I suggest you use that computer and start writing the book. You have much to offer to this greed drenched world. Amy Dacyzyn with the Tightwad Gazette, made a ton of $$ from her learning experiences with frugality.

I have this book checked out that book from the library right now, for the 3rd time and it has such great info! Their grocery bill is between $175-200 a month w/6 kids! A coworker has borrowed it and now he's on the tightwad fanclub so to speak! But it's do back Tuesday...
Glenda, if you do write a book, essay whatever, like 3girls suggest - I'll buy!
JackieA

Thank you all for your kind remarks. Really.. I will think about the book thing. I have been told by many many friends I need to write a book and give other's the insite that I have..

As far as why my internet is so high. Yes we do have high speed. We do not watch tv and well our internet is where we spend our fun time. We also use it for taking to our family that lives in florida.. We do not have a phone except for our prepaid cel phone and we only use it for work/ calling family memembers.When we need to.

I am sorry that it sounded like my feelings were hurt in one of my comments before it is just that we do not need to make anyone feel like they have not thought things all the way out unless you have asked them.. I do understand how one might feel about raising health care cost. It is out of site.. however it is not just because of poeple that do not have health care. I have seen and talked to a many many people who have health care and well they do not pay there remaining bills and the bill is left for others to pick up.. That is not right. But it happens all the time. I have also talked to people that apply for public health care and do not think anything about going to the doctor or hospital for a cold. They are not paying the bill. This is also wrong in my book.. It does not matter if you have or do not have health care you have to plan on paying what ever your bill is.NO matter what.

When starting this thread I was looking for a starting point.. Not a ending point. I gave my base line budget. This is what I have to have to run my house. It did not include everything there was no money in this budget for food, seeds, animal feed, fixing our one truck, etc. But that was not brought to my attention. What was, was the fact that we did not have health care and well that gets me a little. If you have no food do you really think health care is going to be that big of a deal.

Again I am sorry that I seem a little upset. Really I am not. My husband is going to leave the work force, we will have health care, we will make sure our children are well taken care of just as if he worked the only difference is he will get to see our children grow the rest of the way up.. No we will not have a new car anytime soon, No we will not have a new house, Or a vacation home or any of the other junk most families today have in there lives. But what really matters to us is the life we live and the time we have together as a family.. Not the amount of money in our saving and checking account. See one thing i guess you all should know is this there is NO amount of money that can make you happy.. None.. If I have learned anything in my 34 years I have learned that no matter what when we come to our last days we will not sit and wish we had made more money. My mother taught me that. She passed away Sept 9th, 2001 when she was passing away she said the only thing she wished she could change was the fact that she did not spend enough time with us kids... I nor my husband will come to the end of our lives and wish that... NOT for anything...

Glenda, You're awesome!
Writing a book on your wisdom is an excellent idea, or write related articles for magazines... perhaps land a permanent monthy column in a related publication. If you're not sure about your writing skills, submit some articles to various magazines and see what the editors think.

I, for one, would love to read about how you do it!

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Before you marry someone, ask yourself, "Will they be a good killing partner during the zombie apocalypse?"
-someecards.com

Glenda, you are truly an amazing person and obviously, your family is too. If you don't want to write a book, perhaps you could write a web page with all your tips and hints about living frugally and maybe even keep a journal of your day to day living. If you have high speed internet, usually the internet company offers a free web page. I'm sure we would all read it!

Glenda--child care pays pretty good, and there are affordable catastrophic insurance plans out there.

I'll second it - That sounds reasonable. It is a little more than our family of five spends. We grow almost all our food (all meat, most veggies, many fruit) plus we sell some of it. We grow and harvest our own timber which takes care of heat plus we sell some. Our house isn't fancy and I purposely keep it looking down to keep the real estate taxes low. Make things fancy (e.g., siding ) and they'll jackup the assessment.

Doing everything you can for yourself helps greatly at keeping the costs down. If you have to buy it, ask yourself three times if you really need it. Then ask if you can wait. Then ask if you can make do.

A big part is not living in a high expense area plus avoiding all those little costs that add up like cable, cell phone, subscriptions, new car, etc. Also don't have more cars than necessary (1) and don't by preprocessed foods. After you get the mortgage and debt paid off one can live on very little. For us, real estate taxes and what little insurance we have is the killer.

On insurance we carry the bare minimum with huge deductables. Our real insurance is our investment in the land. The money we would have spent on insurance over the years we put into buying land so that one of us gets sick we have something to fall back on. If we are careful and lucky we won't get sick or injured and then we have the benefit of owning the land still. It is a better gamble than sending a lot of money down the insurance company drain.

Back to the original topic, you can make a living working from home, especially if you keep your expenses low. We raise pigs which we sell as piglets and market weight. We do timber. I write. My wife draws portraits. We have a home business in computers - I developed a special type of toner for laser printers for transfering to fabrics, metals, ceramics, etc. You bring in a little here, a little there and it all comes together. We also homeschool our kids which is one of our most important jobs.

Good luck!

-Walter

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

Glenda try looking around the Jobs and Ideas BB board at Barbarsher.com

Here's a link

http://www.barbarasher.com/boards/vi...85cfdf1d3cdac2

I sent you a private email reply.

Hi there, I haven't been on the forum in a while...but what I've been working on might answer your question. I just finished a book titled Living Beyond the Sidewalk: And How To Thrive There. And bless my web designer's heart, she just updated (actually totally revamped my site) so take a look if this subject intersts you!

http:beyondthesidewalk.com

Cheers,
Ellie Winslow

Thank you all for the information you have given me..
glenda