Howdy from OK

[pammy]

*waves*

Have been a reader for years, can't see any of my older posts, so thought I would re-introduce myself. ;)

Trying to get to simple living sometimes is not so simple. Working towards that. Have downsized, upsized, downsized and went everywhere in between. Tired of it. I want simple. Less stuff, less needs, less wants. I want to be comfortable with what I have and stop the hunting for bigger and better.

Looking back I've never been so stressed and scared as when I had what appeared to be a pretty sweet life: dual-income-grown-kid with a too-big new house full of high end stuff. Lead to excessive drinking and addiction. Cancer and hubby passed. Struggling and hitting bottom. More than once. Lessons learned, good and bad. Lived out of my van while searching for meaning. Digging my way through life. Have been in big debt and completely debt free. Am back to school in my 40's. Became a grandma. :D Was widowed for 5 years before taking the marriage plunge again, gained a stepson (so different than my girl!).

Life is stressful, and I want simplicity. Maybe I'm just getting old.

Aiming to move out to family land in a few months. Getting away from mortgages and rent. Would really like to get away from utilities, but yeah, too expensive upfront, maybe eventually. Stepson about to be off to college, so entertaining idea of going semi-tiny. I want to garden even though I've always had a black thumb. What we want is just our little piece of land in this world, away from the noise, be able to get by decent on one not-stressful income, and get our time back. Enjoy the birds singing again.

Anyway... "Hi"

[Teacher Terry]

Welcome! It sounds like you have had so many ups and downs and need a little peace. I hope you find it on your land.

[razz]

Getting away may seem like the solution but eventually one needs to face where one should change one's thinking about stuff, priorities, dreams, realities and what comes first. It is a never-ending journey so welcome to the club.

[rosarugosa]

Welcome Pammy. Glad to have you on the Forum.

[messengerhot]

*waves*

Have been a reader for years, can't see any of my older posts, so thought I would re-introduce myself. ;)

Trying to get to simple living sometimes is not so simple. Working towards that. Have downsized, upsized, downsized and went everywhere in between. Tired of it. I want simple. Less stuff, less needs, less wants. I want to be comfortable with what I have and stop the hunting for bigger and better.

Looking back I've never been so stressed and scared as when I had what appeared to be a pretty sweet life: dual-income-grown-kid with a too-big new house full of high end stuff. Lead to excessive drinking and addiction. Cancer and hubby passed. Struggling and hitting bottom. More than once. Lessons learned, good and bad. Lived out of my van while searching for meaning. Digging my way through life. Have been in big debt and completely debt free. Am back to school in my 40's. Became a grandma. :D Was widowed for 5 years before taking the marriage plunge again, gained a stepson (so different than my girl!).

Life is stressful, and I want simplicity. Maybe I'm just getting old.

Aiming to move out to family land in a few months. Getting away from mortgages and rent. Would really like to get away from utilities, but yeah, too expensive upfront, maybe eventually. Stepson about to be off to college, so entertaining idea of going semi-tiny. I want to garden even though I've always had a black thumb. What we want is just our little piece of land in this world, away from the noise, be able to get by decent on one not-stressful income, and get our time back. Enjoy the birds singing again.

Anyway... "Hi"

Hello Pammy! Welcome to the forum. Hoping everything is fine with you here. Let us all stay positive that life will be great ahead.

[Float On]

Welcome! Sounds like you need some peace in your heart. I hope you find your happy place and your happy way of doing things.

[pammy]

Thanks all for the welcome! :)

On to the positive... I am so dying to get moved out to the land. Hubby inherited it from his grandma, 5.66 acres, which is next to his aunts land, cannot be sold outside of family. Has road access, we just need to finish the road to our part, waiting on more $$ to rent the equipment. The grandma (in her 70's) has the water well, with water already piped down to our spot. The hubby's late mother, when she lived there years ago, had septic installed, we just got to find it. The spot where these are secluded and plenty of trees. So peaceful feeling out there.

Other than getting the road finished and the septic found, we are still at the deciding what to put out there part. I have a paid older mobile home in a park right now, it's what we live in at the moment. It's 5 miles to the land from where it sits now, not bad. The logistics of getting it there is the problem. The road leading to the land isn't big enough to move it on, so getting it there is a problem. Plus, not sure structurally it's sound enough to move. We dislike paying every month for something to live in, so yeah.. getting something new is out of the question. I've entertained the notion on building eventually, so we are leaning towards possibly getting a cheap RV in cash to move it there. Then selling current mobile home where it sits. Electricity near so that's no problem. Taxes are $14 per acre a year. Propane should be easy, there's 3 places in town that deliver or fill up bottles.

Going small appeals to me. Realistically it will have challenges, to be sure. Would love some input from others that have gone small. :) We know, as of now, the hubby and I do okay around each other in small space. We already do in the home we have now. The mobile home is single wide, and we basically occupy less than half of it: bedroom, bathroom, kitchen and living room. Hubby enjoys puttering in the yard, I enjoy being outside, so there will be plenty of outside living.

The land is a mix of trees and brush. The soil has been untouched for lots of years, at least 30. There's shade and sun. The place where the home will sit is north of a hill with trees all around, which I LOVE for the shade in Oklahoma's hot summer. Aim to put some wind blocking shrubs/vines on the north side to cut winter's north wind. Will lengthwise face the south, laying out outdoor living space to take advantage of passive/solar. To the west of the spot is near where a creek runs when there's enough rain, where I want to put the garden. Wild deer and turkey seen about every time we go out there. We hope to eventually grow most of our food. Have been reading on root cellars, fermentation, canning, dehydration, and all the good stuff. Have already been reading up on eventual housing designs that will compliment the resources we have on hand, like cobb or underground (cause, let's face it, Oklahoma: tornadoes!). Want to get out there any way we can for now to start working on this. My daughter and I have thought out a possible business utilizing the land, that would be awesome! (she's taking classes in herbalism and holistic meds)

This place is 8.1 miles from our smallish city of 12k population with just about anything we need. There's no zoning restrictions.

Well anyways, my thoughts are leading me to think of going small, minimalist for living to be able to work with what we've got to aim for as self-sustainable as possible. I've got a year left of school and my aim is to be able to work remotely, if at all. The hubby enjoys having a schedule of a job, but we both agree that we don't need for him to have one that is high paying, just an easy less-stressful one that he can leave at the door. Going this route will enable us to live this way. Maybe someday finding a hobby that either of us enjoys that earns enough neither one of us is required to have a paid job. That's the dream anyways.

Maybe all of this above doesn't fall in line with simple. I don't know, I just want our needs to be simple, minimal. I'm just rambling, haha. Kinda nice to put this to words. Errrr.. type. :D

[SteveinMN]

Hello, pammy! It sounds like you have stories to tell and dreams to reach for!

It sounds like you and DH have done some thinking about what you want your end state life to look like. I think you'll find (as most of us have) that "money for time" or "time for money" is pretty tightly linked. I also would suggest you do some contingency planning, especially if you're looking at one income supplying your needs.

There is a great joy in living simply. There are many people here happy to hear your stories and support you on your path. I look forward to seeing more posts from you.

[Ultralight]

Hello! Glad to have you around!

[Teacher Terry]

How small a space are you actually living in now? I know half of what you have but that can help you figure it out. It really varies what is comfortable for people. You can always change your plan. Nothing is permanent until you are gone:))

[pammy]

Right now the home is 16x80, so 1280sqft. Way too much to heat and cool for the 2 of us (soon). Stepson is off to college in another town in August, leaving the back half empty. The areas we do use now has extra space that is unused. Like, the bathroom in our bedroom is too big, the dining area in the kitchen is pretty much unused, the master bedroom has unused space, the living room is pretty large, as well. Cutting out the back half and excess space, I think we can be comfortable in a decent sized rv. For a year or two, anyways.

Hubby has already got plans to utilize some stuff grandma has sitting around, with her blessing. He's found some line drying poles, some old structures he can repurpose, 6ft fencing for our two little spoiled princesses (ie. doggies), metal barrels, possibly some tin for the roof of structure over the rv and porch, poles.. seems like he finds stuff every time he goes out there.

So many things working in our favor for this. I did mention I'm in Oklahoma, right? Grandma has underground house not far from us, so no worries bout tornadoes. There's a very tall pole on the property, 75-100ft, which may get used for local tv channels, possibly internet connection (a neighbor had inquired about it already), a cousin has deer stands up on our part which he's used for game for years, hubby has considered putting in a fishing pond out in a corner (they've had one before).. just so many options to consider. Hubby has warned I may have more quail than I know what to do with.

Right now what's holding things back is money, yee. Hey, I'm a pro at saving, it's in the works. Is there money saving strategies in this forum?? I've got years of tips and tricks under my belt. :) You'll probably see me posting, fair warning, lol. Proud cheapskate here. You name it, I've tried it I bet, haha. :D

I live cheap. There, I've said it. I'd like to live cheaper. Right now I've got things down pretty low: bought a used trailer for $1500 cash, did some sweat work in it, rent is $190 a month for lot rent, including water. Two cell phones cheapest pay as you go rate for the towers here, no data. Always working on electricity, hard in a trailer park with zero shade and hot Okie weather. Internet is my bone of contention right now, rural I get the only available, but no satellite/cable bill, we stream tv Netflix is my luxury. We drive older, used, paid vehicles, and shop liability only insurance rates for better prices, hubby is the shade tree mechanic. Groceries, I do it all: price book, bulk buying, cook at home, deep freeze, sale shopping. Eating out is a luxury, even then I'm looking for a deal (finally getting these boys to admit my cooking is better than eating out). The hubby has never thrift shopped before me, he couldn't believe it, haha.

We do have some what I call luxuries: hubby former smoker, I got him to vape, shopped around to find flavor he liked and buy in bulk, saving tons and keeps him happy. I am a homebody, and enjoy gaming, so I do pay a subscription but save on paying 6 months at a time, I save gas and money by being entertained at home. Every once in a while we will rent a movie off Vudu instead of going to the theatres. Hubby used to get a tea at the convenience stores a few times a day, that adds up, so I got him a Yeti cup for tea we make at home and he still has his cold tea during the day. I make leftovers easy to grab for lunches instead of fast food when hubby is at work, he never thought of setting food on dash for a hot meal at lunch in his truck, at it tastes better than a big mac. These little things keep the peace. Give and take. These little things make it so I don't get too much laughing over cutting the dryer sheets in half or buying generic almost always on things.

Truth be told, I don't see things I do to save money as a hardship. Quite the contrary, I enjoy the hell out of it! This is fun to me. :)

[rosarugosa]

Pammy: We have a frugality section of the Forums and I think you would have a lot to contribute there!

[ApatheticNoMore]

What are you in school studying? Interested in what work one can do remotely. My prior field is 100% the opposite of simple, I want a life less insane as as well. I think a more peaceful life appeals a lot to introverted types which I am.

[Teacher Terry]

Our RV is 162 sq ft and after a month with 4 dogs and 2 people I am homicidal:))

[Alan]

Our RV is 162 sq ft and after a month with 4 dogs and 2 people I am homicidal:))
Ours is about 220 and I feel the same after about 3 weeks with one each person and dog.

[Teacher Terry]

Alan, one of our small dogs passed away but still have 3. The 80lb guy lays right in the hallway and we have to step over him. We don’t have any slide outs because it is old. I think it would make a difference if we did. So basically you sit in the booth, the 1 chair or get in bed. Ugh!

[Alan]

Alan, one of our small dogs passed away but still have 3. The 80lb guy lays right in the hallway and we have to step over him. We don’t have any slide outs because it is old. I think it would make a difference if we did. So basically you sit in the booth, the 1 chair or get in bed. Ugh!We have two slides in the main living area so that gives us a bit of room between the booth and the couch but I know exactly what you mean. We're considering taking out the couch and replacing it with two small recliners. Our dog likes to claim the space between the couch and booth as well.
Our third slide is in the bedroom so that gives us a wee bit of room to navigate around the bed, and don't get me started about trying to wash your hair in the shower, your elbows strike every surface. It's all fine for short periods of time, but I start to feel penned in after a few weeks.

[pammy]

Woohoo! Frugality forum here I come! Haha.. just so used to hitting' new posts' I haven't seen it. :)

I've got a year from being done with my bachelor's in Health Information Management. I'm hoping to use it for billing/coding, which can be done remotely. My previous job was x-ray tech, but an injury prevents me from doing the physical aspect (people are heavy!! and getting heavier), so I took that x-ray degree and my AS in computer science to stay in the medical field. There's lots that can be done with that degree, but I'm introvert as well, people are draining. I picked this field specifically so I can telecommute. The health field is changing so much with everything going digital, and of course health care is always going to be needed, I hope this added 2 1/2 years of schooling I've added won't be in vain even though I'm older getting in to this different field. Hope the years of experience I've already got in medical will be a benefit. (lot of hope here, lol... 'hope' I'm not just deluding myself, haha!!)

Speaking of introvert.. and the smallish type of housing we are looking to occupy soon, along with you guys that are already living in small quarter (thank you for the input!! keep it coming! :D).. I'm probably just crazy enough to try making my very long time dream of building my own little cottage a reality. My girl cave, my own introverted space. I've spied some lumbar on structures that can be repurposed. Other people build their own homes, why not try it myself?? :D On a small scale, to learn from. We've tossed around the idea of trying this for extra space for the stepson so he has his own place to come to between semesters. All these grand plans, haha. :D

The hubby said his grandpa used to have an outdoor solar heated shower out there at one point and it worked great, he will probably try it. Of course, he already has plans to build an outhouse, cause... well, he's a dude and he doesn't want to stink me out of the rv he said. Goofy man. But I'm cool with an extra potty, as well. Truth be told, he's already named it The Schmidtter, cause, well, we are the Schmidt's. Sounds like we will try building quite a few things out there already. My daughter, son-in-law and grandbaby will need a place when they come visit eventually. Maybe with all this future building we will get good enough to build a house for ourselves. Hehe.. I can just see how well this will go over "(stepson) here is your cabin for when you are home, it's not perfect cause we are experimenting on yours until we are good enough to build our own." hahaha

All these grand plans, yep. But, then reality hit yesterday. A month ago we rented equipment and spent the weekend with a skidsteer filling in huge gaps from previous flood to the road leading to grandma's place to get it passable. Ran out of time with the equipment to further the road leading up to our place. Well, night before last we got a huge dump of rain in our parts, 3" in short amount of time, the rain eroded a bit off the sides of where the road is passable to grandma's and not driveable. For now they are using access to the neighbors, bit rough but they can get to their place. So now, not only do we need to finish the road to our part, but fix again the washed out spots the rain got. Two steps forward, one step back. That's life. So, we keep on trucking and I keep dreaming and reading. :D

[Float On]

The hubby said his grandpa used to have an outdoor solar heated shower out there at one point and it worked great, he will probably try it.

My dad built a cabin on the farm and that's where I stay when I go home. It has a very high pitched roof and seems to do a good job of staying cool...ish under the trees. I open the windows all night and keep the ceiling fan running. It has a solar outdoor shower and it's nice. The bags just lay out on the ground then you hang one from tree limbs behind the screen. Since the roof is so high he hasn't built a roof system yet but if you can store water tank and hose on roof it stays really warm. I'm trying to talk him into a wood fired hot tub for chilly winter weather outdoor soaks. The cabin does have a portable toilet with battery operated flush but he prefers people go out in the trees somewhere so he doesn't have to haul it to the campground dumping station in town. I use to lead 10 day backpacking trips so I have no problems with the dig a hole and leave no trace method but we've probably got more trees than you do.

[Teacher Terry]

We plan to pull up the carpet and pergo and take out the one small chair and put a small table there. Then we will put dog food and water under the table. We are forever kicking over them both by accident. Float, your cabin sounds great.

[pammy]

The cabin sounds awesome, Float. A great getaway place. :) The hubby's grandpa had a system, if I understand his explaining, where a large barreled pvc type-ish tube that was fed water from a hydrant, painted black, and was gravity fed, said it was almost continuous really warm water. I can't imagine the logistics in my head yet, but it sounded pretty sweet. I still have a solar bag in my camping gear and have yet to use it, but will probably try it out soon. :)

I hear ya, Terry, finding a place where you aren't tripping over those doggy bowls is a must! haha Since your space is limited, do you find yourself outside more often?

[Teacher Terry]

We don’t live in our RV but just use it for trips. We are never in it during the day. We are off seeing stuff.

[pammy]

Ahhh, gotcha Terry. :)

Well, I think we may have found an RV. It belongs to my sis's father-in-law, who happens to love me. Little back story: my sis and bro-in-law have an rv dealership, high end niche RV's, specifically DRV's. My bro-in-law's dad traded this 5th wheel in for a new DRV model a few years back, and it has been at their dealership since then. He has entertained the idea of selling it for a while, but hasn't. Bro-in-law has been way to busy to fix the few things on it, so it has been on their back lot. When my hubby saw the bro-in-law at work yesterday he asked about it, to which the bro-in-law said we could probably get it for 5k, since it was me he'd be selling it to, worth more. My sis has a few other RV's that are newer and better, but cost more, one 10k, another 15k. We went to look at the 5k and the 15k on hubby's lunch break yesterday, the 10k one won't be coming in as a trade-in for another week.

On to the 5k RV, the one I am leaning more toward. It's a 36ft 5th wheel. Has 3 slides, one in the bedroom, and 2 bigger ones that are across each other in the living area, extending the space a lot. Residential size fridge, 3 burner stove w oven, decent counter space, entertainment center w fireplace, pull out sofa bed, potty closet, large corner shower w small garden tub, stackable washer/dryer, decent closet space in bedroom w lots of drawers, and one of those high dollar mattresses, what they call the garage basement under the bedroom has a large durable slide for tools n such. It's equipped for generator although it's not included, the wiring is already set up. For sure we know the main A/C needs repaired. It was winterized, but would have to check plumbing and such. Otherwise, some cleaning. Bonus: bro-in-law is certified RV mechanic, and will deliver and setup. Hubby also worked there for a little while, so has experience fixing things on rv's as well. This one is not a DRV brand, it's a Montana brand. I think the DRV's are better insulated for 4 season weather, we have to take that into consideration.

I've been keeping my eye open for other rv's. Either they're crap, the setup is bad, no storage, or they are way out of my price range. This is like the best deal around. It's in no hurry to go anywhere, and I can get it at a lower price. Come mid-August I should have enough to buy it. Now, just need to get on to finishing the road. And figure out how much I should ask for selling this place, and whether I should include furnishings or not. What I would love is if someone was looking to buy mostly furnished. Heck, lots of oilfield businesses hiring around here, it's possible.

Anyways, there's the update so far. :)