The road to home (farm) ownership-part 2

We are not wealthy people by any means. So how in the world did we afford to buy an existing farm in this economy? While I cannot offer a straight "this is how we did it" answer, I will share some of the lifestyle tips which we live by and I believe allowed us to now be where we are.

First of all, we set our priorities. What do we really need vs. what do we want? Yeah for a while there, (before baby) we had a great time buying frivolous things. I admittedly have a fabric buying compulsion. I can't help it. I just love fabric. My husband likes high end man stuff and tech stuff. But one job loss coupled with a newborn baby pretty much quit us of those habits.

We set realistic goals. What was our time frame for moving from the city to the country? How much money did we need/could we save during that period of time? My husband's job loss followed by a few years of poor paying positions put our dream behind. But not really. If we had been rigid in our timeframe, we might have lost the farm and everything else we had when we found ourselves faced with no income for an undetermined period of time. What is that old saying, "Life happens when you are busy making plans?"

Finally, we are capitalism's worst nightmare. We try to be self sufficient. We do not mind expending a little bit of energy to do it ourselves. We make our own laundry soap, make our own yogurt, supplement our winter heat with wood, and use the barter and trade system whenever possible. We try to save more than we spend. We never buy new cars (or really anything else new for that matter). We're happy with last year's model (or the year before that... or the year before that). I buy most all our clothes at second hand shops and I am a regular at consignment sales. We still wear name brands and maintain our high end/high quality taste but at less than quarter the cost! We also try to make smart purchases. I won't say we never impulse buy, but rarely is it for large $$$ items. We are happy to leave a store, think about it for a day or two, and come back again later. If the item is still there when we come back then it was meant to be. If it is gone, then we simply shrug it off and move on.

My super awesome $50.00 antique couch!

I think too we are blessed with a great deal of luck. We listen to the little voice in our head. When it tells us to wait, we wait. When it tells us to go now- we GO NOW! We know when to ask for help. And when we get "no's" (and we have gotten many of them), we do not let it be the end of the road for us. We simply change our course and carry on, our heads up and our feet planted firmly on the ground.

Over the years, we have never lost sight of our goals and dreams. When faced with roadblocks, rather than sit and stare at them hoping they would go away, we find ways around them. We reset priorities. We set new short term goals in order to meet long term ones. We get creative. We were patient and we ultimately persevered.

Original farm relocation goal: 2 years
Realized farm relocation: 6 years