philokalia
7-22-17, 4:58pm
Hi, guys and gals! I've been gone awhile, but kept popping into the Facebook group now and then. I used to go by Rabbithorns if you know me from a few years ago.
Hubby and I made it out of Australia after six years of struggling and him getting sick and income getting less and less. We were sad to leave but couldn't make it there.
With hubby misdiagnosed and then never properly diagnosed, and him not able to work, we decided to move to the US where I'm from. My parents are getting elderly (dad just turned 89 this month and stepmom is 72 and just over cancer) and they really needed help. So we moved to Kansas and live about an hour away from them - the closest we could get and afford a wacky old fixer upper cottage.
But it's our first home alone together along with about 3/4 of an acre. Woo-hoo! We're settled and we owe no one but we also have nothing. LOL We're living very frugally on enough money to pay the utilities and buy food for the rest of the year and I'm working on building my home business. I design sewing and embroidery patterns for Australian magazines and have an online shop also. Helping my folks and a younger developmentally disabled brother hasn't left me a schedule that allows for me to work a schedule outside the home yet.
Our small town has only a Walmart to shop in. But there's an Amish settlement nearby and they have a bulk goods shop and a produce shop so that saves us.
I've always lived on very low income, sometimes by choice. I learned to live without relying on money for everything because I was raised by Depression-era relatives, so most of my frugal living just comes naturally because I never think to buy what most people buy. Like plastic garbage bags. Who thinks they can live without plastic garbage bags? We never bought them and I only throw out a small paper bag of trash a week so we don't even have trash pick-up at the house. So what's natural to me knowing how to live with almost nothing - and not ever feeling like I have nothing because I have everything I need.
My neighbors are all lovely people. The prairie is one of my favorite places to be. I love to make new things out of old things: clothing, tea strainers, old picture frames - anything - and then I pretty much just give stuff away because I also don't like owning a lot of things so housekeeping is a breeze. America has a remarkable amount of old stuff lying around. It's a repurposer's dream!
I love to bake but don't do it often, as with just the two of us it just goes to waste - except the cookies. I don't garden; I'm a plant killer and I don't like being outside in summer. But we do have a fenced in garden lot that we'll probably prep in the fall and hubby can work next year. We only got here in January and we wanted to see what grows naturally first. I discovered a lot of poison ivy and not much in the way of edible weeds. But we also have tons of fireflies, cardinals, blue jays, 2 woodchucks, a wild turkey, and some opossums and armadillos.
That's me. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. Toto, I don't think we're in Oz anymore.
Hubby and I made it out of Australia after six years of struggling and him getting sick and income getting less and less. We were sad to leave but couldn't make it there.
With hubby misdiagnosed and then never properly diagnosed, and him not able to work, we decided to move to the US where I'm from. My parents are getting elderly (dad just turned 89 this month and stepmom is 72 and just over cancer) and they really needed help. So we moved to Kansas and live about an hour away from them - the closest we could get and afford a wacky old fixer upper cottage.
But it's our first home alone together along with about 3/4 of an acre. Woo-hoo! We're settled and we owe no one but we also have nothing. LOL We're living very frugally on enough money to pay the utilities and buy food for the rest of the year and I'm working on building my home business. I design sewing and embroidery patterns for Australian magazines and have an online shop also. Helping my folks and a younger developmentally disabled brother hasn't left me a schedule that allows for me to work a schedule outside the home yet.
Our small town has only a Walmart to shop in. But there's an Amish settlement nearby and they have a bulk goods shop and a produce shop so that saves us.
I've always lived on very low income, sometimes by choice. I learned to live without relying on money for everything because I was raised by Depression-era relatives, so most of my frugal living just comes naturally because I never think to buy what most people buy. Like plastic garbage bags. Who thinks they can live without plastic garbage bags? We never bought them and I only throw out a small paper bag of trash a week so we don't even have trash pick-up at the house. So what's natural to me knowing how to live with almost nothing - and not ever feeling like I have nothing because I have everything I need.
My neighbors are all lovely people. The prairie is one of my favorite places to be. I love to make new things out of old things: clothing, tea strainers, old picture frames - anything - and then I pretty much just give stuff away because I also don't like owning a lot of things so housekeeping is a breeze. America has a remarkable amount of old stuff lying around. It's a repurposer's dream!
I love to bake but don't do it often, as with just the two of us it just goes to waste - except the cookies. I don't garden; I'm a plant killer and I don't like being outside in summer. But we do have a fenced in garden lot that we'll probably prep in the fall and hubby can work next year. We only got here in January and we wanted to see what grows naturally first. I discovered a lot of poison ivy and not much in the way of edible weeds. But we also have tons of fireflies, cardinals, blue jays, 2 woodchucks, a wild turkey, and some opossums and armadillos.
That's me. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. Toto, I don't think we're in Oz anymore.