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Guest
·Hello everyone. I am new to this forum so first let me say hello and give a brief intro. I am 42, married with 4 wonderful homeschooled children (girl 15, boy 14, boy 11, girl 10) and currently live in the Hudson valley of NY (near Newburgh). I have been mildly interested in homesteading since I was in high school (read the Nearings books, 5 Acres and Independence, occaissional Mother Earth News mags, etc.) but got sucked up into the rat race of life in corporate America and raising a family in the burbs. I have worked for the last 8 years as a Project Manager in the e-Business area for a large insurance brokerage firm and most recently for Reader's Digest.
Two things have jarred my life severely in the last couple years. First - was losing 200 of my colleagues in Tower #1 of the WTC on 9/11. I was saved by being 15 minutes late to work that day. Second - I was laid off, downsized, outsourced . . . whatever the current catchphrase is back in Sept. from Reader's Digest and have been out of work ever since.
Both of these events have been wake up calls for me and I now realize that half of my life has gone by and I am really not happy with the routine of working my ass off to make some corporation exec's rich, spending every waking hour of my day commuting (2 hours + each way into Manhattan for me), and never getting to see my family or pursue MY dreams & passions. (Music, Art, woodworking, & carving, reading, and fishing)
So here I am . . . feeling trapped! I just found out that if we were to sell our house, after paying off my mortgage and all fees, I would clear about $90k. So, my question dear readers is this . . . is it possible in this day & age for a family like mine to shuck it all, find a piece of land (10+ acres) somewhere in this country, build a house ourselves (cordwood masonry, earth sheltered, log home, etc.), learn to grow our own food (or as much as possible), have time to pursue our passions, not pay exhorbitant taxes (my taxes are about $5k /yr & rising fast), and not end up completely miserable or destitute?
We love where we live and our community & friends here, so leaving would not be easy, but I am fed up with wasting my life away on trains and doing unfulfilling work to make the $80k a year we need to make ends meet here. I should mention that I have a bad back (had a disk removed 20 years ago) that occassionally flares up on me, but a quick adjustment from the chiro usually clears it up. My wife & family will probably think I am nuts to consider such a major change. Am I? I am not afraid to work hard, but the rat race is killing me . . . physically, mentally, and emotionally.
We have no other savings to draw on after paying off debt. Will $90k be sufficient to get set up on?
Looking for thoughts & advice and a dose of reality.
Thanks!
Chuck
Two things have jarred my life severely in the last couple years. First - was losing 200 of my colleagues in Tower #1 of the WTC on 9/11. I was saved by being 15 minutes late to work that day. Second - I was laid off, downsized, outsourced . . . whatever the current catchphrase is back in Sept. from Reader's Digest and have been out of work ever since.
Both of these events have been wake up calls for me and I now realize that half of my life has gone by and I am really not happy with the routine of working my ass off to make some corporation exec's rich, spending every waking hour of my day commuting (2 hours + each way into Manhattan for me), and never getting to see my family or pursue MY dreams & passions. (Music, Art, woodworking, & carving, reading, and fishing)
So here I am . . . feeling trapped! I just found out that if we were to sell our house, after paying off my mortgage and all fees, I would clear about $90k. So, my question dear readers is this . . . is it possible in this day & age for a family like mine to shuck it all, find a piece of land (10+ acres) somewhere in this country, build a house ourselves (cordwood masonry, earth sheltered, log home, etc.), learn to grow our own food (or as much as possible), have time to pursue our passions, not pay exhorbitant taxes (my taxes are about $5k /yr & rising fast), and not end up completely miserable or destitute?
We love where we live and our community & friends here, so leaving would not be easy, but I am fed up with wasting my life away on trains and doing unfulfilling work to make the $80k a year we need to make ends meet here. I should mention that I have a bad back (had a disk removed 20 years ago) that occassionally flares up on me, but a quick adjustment from the chiro usually clears it up. My wife & family will probably think I am nuts to consider such a major change. Am I? I am not afraid to work hard, but the rat race is killing me . . . physically, mentally, and emotionally.
We have no other savings to draw on after paying off debt. Will $90k be sufficient to get set up on?
Looking for thoughts & advice and a dose of reality.
Thanks!
Chuck