Dh and I had a good talk about our future last night. Many of you would know that DH had a small stroke in March this year and collapsed again a few weeks after that. Since then he's been fine, he is 64 and I'm 56 (;) ). We are both in good health, we own our own home and have no debt. We own a store now and he works there 5 days and I work 2 days. I have wanted to sell the store since he had his stroke but he was firm in the belief that he couldn't manage financially without it. Now he's changed his mind and wants us to have more time together and to be able to get away occasionally. He also wants to work from home. We need to have an income, we will sell the store and get a reasonable amount for it but we have no money put aside for our old(er) age. The government here offers an old age pension to anyone over the age of 65, he could go on this next year but I couldn't.

We've been trying to think of something we could sell from home that would allow us to have a small income and be independent. We thought about emu oil, which we sell a lot of in our store, but it's not enough. Besides, everyone is selling emu oil on the web.

Last night we decided to test out some eBay sales. We realised that the key point is not to have one product but to have many. We're going to see how well we go for a 6 month period, and if we do ok, we're selling our store and retiring full time to work from home. Our financial year ends June 30, so that is our deadline. We are lucky in that we have a list of suppliers for a huge range of wholesale goods and as we'll keep going to the gift fairs to see the new products being released each year, I doubt we'll run out of items to sell. I'm so pleased about this and even happier that it was his idea to go for it now.

I want to live a simple life. I want to grow and produce as much as I can from my home. We have vegetables growing most of the year, we have chickens and I make all our food from scratch. We don't need a lot. We have everything we need to live a happy and fulfilled life and I see it as am exciting challenge to make ends meet each week.

My family and I have changed so much during this past year and much of it is due to the inspiration of this site. I thank you all for unknowingly helping us change. I see this next period of our lives as a huge challenge and a time of creativity. I've also started writing again, which pleases me a lot. :)

I'll keep you posted about our progress as we go. I don't see any pitfalls but who knows what will happen, as CJ says, be prepared for everything.

I wish you guys the best of luck......:)

Geez - Rhonda - like there is nothing you couldn't take on!! I truly believe Homeopathic is just at the crest of what it is going to do - I feel like you can't go wrong and another (kindof silly thing) that you have going for you on the American Market which I (perhaps wrongly) feel like a majority of your income will be from - is that Americans right now love all things Australian and English. they don't believe in our products/our word any more as much as they do yours - they believe European but they really believe that Australians are in the know - and have nothing to gain by lying , if you know what I mean - it is a good time for overseas entrepreneurialism!! Good luck to you I know you'll be fine - and if you ever decide to come homestead n American soil you know I have room for you and your animals!!

thanks roxy and kimmee, it feels good knowing others are wishing us well. As you know, kimmee, I'm a confident woman so i'm feeling really good about what is ahead.

Well Rhonda (now that's hard for me to type to you.....:lol: ) I think you're on the right path. Gripey and I have been talking about and planning on doing much the same thing. His business is one that we could possibly train someone else to do (we have a wonderful helper at present, who would be an excellent candidate) and still maintain an income from. We have invested in another venture that we're very excited about and hope to be able to count on that for future income as well but it's a wait and see game. We're also considering rental property. I truly want to find some ways to make some more "passive" income rather than the kind that you have to be physically working at to make, kwim? I'd love to have an ongoing dialogue with ya about this....Rhonda (I'm still having a hard time with this.....B. ;) )

I'm having a hard time typing in Rhonda too even though I knew for a long time. :toothy:

Its nice to hear that your looking at ways to retire and have a home based business Rhonda. I look forward to hearing more of what your plans are.

Retirement can be an exciting time in our lives. Its all what we make it.

DH did a printout of our expenses last night. At the moment we spend around $450 a week - that includes food, all insurances (including private health @ $1000/year), rates, electricity, gas, entertainment, phones, internet, clothing and everything else that we could think of - I'm sure, like CJ, there will be things pop up that we don't expect but that have to be bought and paid for. I'm not sure if anyone is interested in the exact details as none of the dollar amounts relate to north america.

We have one adult son living with us and although he pays board and for cable TV I'm sure we'll reduce our expenses when he leaves. He's going to Canada to work next year.

Much to DH's horror I said I wanted to keep the cable TV, even though I've never watched it at night (and he does) I love watching Martha Stewart's Living, the cooking shows and some of the lifestyle programs. I see this as my entertainment and sometimes I tape the shows when I'm busy and watch them when I have time. I also want to upgrade to broadband internet when it becomes available in this area. Although this will increase our internet bill it will reduce out phone bill and with us listing on ebay, it will save a lot of time with our listings.

One of the big things that DH will be doing is to enlarge our garden and to produce most, if not all, of our vegetables. We might also get a few more chickens so we have eggs for bartering.

Dh is liking the idea of self sufficiency and simplicitiy more and more now. He said we might be able to sell the store in February, depending on how well we go on ebay. Up to now it hasn't been great but I haven't spent a lot of time on it either so this is something I'll spend much more time on in the future days and weeks. Yesterday I sold $200 but I need to double that on a permanent basis for us to be successful.

I have to go finish off my bread now, I'll be back.

To continue on, I tried to sell our old second car on ebay last week but it didn't sell. It's a good reliable car but although I had a few watchers, no one bought it. I'll try again with that soon. I also have many other things to sell on ebay, things from my home and stuff we can buy for our store. I really like the idea of ebay. It allow you to recycle items and get a little money for them along the way. Mind you, some of our stuff I've just given away and I'll contunie to do that every so often - it makes me feel wonderful.

My goal at the moment is to cut my grocery bill in half. I currently spend around $200 a week on groceries, meat, fruit and vegies. I'm sure I can cut this down, I hope I can get it down to $100 a week. With our garden and chooks in full production I should be able to do it. It would help if DH was a vegetarian too but I doubt that will happen. He did say he's perfectly happy to eat meat only twice a week so I might try him on that and see how he goes. It will make a huge difference to our food expenses, particularly when our DS moves out next year.

I'll update everyone again soon. I hope you have some tips and hints for me. I need all the help I can get.

Rhonda, you can do this & I'm so happy for you! It can only work if you 2 are on the same page & you are. You my friend are well on your way. And when you rest your head at the end of the day you are indeed going to sleep well with all the hard work your self sufficiant hands will be doing.:thumb: I am so happy for you & Hanno.:hugz:

Rhonda, I am so happy for you and your hubby! and a little jealous too.:D I just know you will meet your goals and soon be living the "good" life.

I believe that you can accomplish anything that you set your mind to! :hugz:

Rhonda, what can I say? This plan of yours and dh's sounds wonderful! :smball: I really admire people who chose this path

This all sounds so wonderful Rhonda, I wish you and your dh all the luck in the world! :)

Julia

:smball: Rhonda- That sounds like a wonderful plan, and a very worthwhile way to live. I wish you and your DH all the very best, and just know you will do well! Good Luck!

Rhonda,

I think this is a wonderful goal and I wish you the best making it a reality! I know you can do it and I am so inspired by you!

How wonderful! I look forward to hearing the continuing story of this decision!

Good Luck Rhonda, I know you and dh can do this :)

Thanks for your support, everyone.

Well, it's just over a month since I last posted in this thread and a lot has happened. Most importantly, we are not selling the store in February. What we thought would be a promising entrance into Ebay selling didn't prove to be as great as we thought. But a lot of good things happened too. (It always balances out :) )

We've realised that what we buy wholesale for our store is still too expensive for ebay buyers. Naturally there are a few exceptions but as we want to make this our main source of income we need to have a more reliable way to make a buck.

Enter Diane. Diane is one of my best friends. DH and I have known her for 25 years. She has a store that sells Bali imports - furniture, tribal masks, buddhas, clothing, jewellery etc. Diane also wants to get out of her store and wants to concentrate on importing only.

I don't know if you remember the day I went to Diane's place for lunch and ended up with a massive hangover, well that day we hatched this idea. She's very interested in the ebay thing too but she knows nothing about computers. We decided to go into business - me, DH and Diane and each of us can have a different job to do. She does the buying, I do the selling and DH does the accounts and the shipping. Fortunately, Diane is in the same situation as DH and I. She owns her own home and has no debt. We can all live on a small income.

Okay, the stage was set. We dived into ebay again with lots of things from Diane's store. Her margins were different to ours as she was buying from makers, not wholesalers, it was much cheaper. With her stuff we could afford to start our auctions lower and hopefully encourage people to start bidding. It worked, people bid and we sold almost everything we listed but we aren't getting great prices. We are covering costs, plus some, but it's not enough to maintain a business to support three people.

:confused:

Back to the drawing board. Grrrr:skept:

This is our new plan and I'm pretty confident this will work. We are continuing to sell Diane's stuff to practise selling and work out the most effective way of selling. In February, Diane, DH and I will travel to Sydney and stay with my sister. We're going to the big gift fair there and we are going to look at what the new things are and see which direction the stores are going this year. We're going to take notes and make sketches. Then we're going to work out what we all think we could have made in Bali. It will be a fraction of what it costs to have it imported by someone else. We are also going to design clothes and have them made in Bali. Diane has already had quite a few dresses made that she designed and they seem to sell well. But we'll concentrate on things that are popular with young girls now. Diane also has some other excellent clothing contacts that I know will pay off - designer clothes, wedding dresses and such.

When we come back from Sydney I'll let you know how we went and if we are still confident.

On the home front, DH is getting our vegetable garden ready for planting in early March. Our first crop to be planted will be potatoes. He's cleared three beds so far, he's doing it before work, and he's put weed cloth over the three cleared ones. In the next few weeks I'll make a plan of what we'll need to plant and then buy the seeds from our farmers' supply store just before we plant. We still haven't got our new chickens but I'll probably pick two more up in the next month.

I worked hard to cut down our excess water bill and that resulted in a very small charge this quarter. I was very happy with that. However, our electricity bill went UP $50. It turned out that DS was drying his clothes in the dryer and not hanging them outside. :surprise: Grrrrr Our other bills remain the same or have reduced slightly.

I've started an emergency fund and a change jar. I'm still getting used to having the change jar and remembering to put my money into it, but I'm getter better. It's good how fast it adds up.

We've all started to use a little bit less of everything we use in the house. Less butter on bread, less toothpaste, less sugar and salt in everything. We've cut out softdrinks all together and DH is trying to cut down on meat. It feels good as no one feels like they are giving up anything and we are better off for it.

I'm still working on slicing my grocery bill in half and I'm experimenting with difference approaches to shopping. Currently I shop once a week for things that I need + I spend $5 a week on my stockpile.

I feel really positive about our future and I hope that our ebay plans work out. If they do we'll be able to sell our store and earn our living from home. That's an aim I've had for a long time so I'm crossing fingers and toes that it works.

I forgot to add that I might make a bit of money from drawing embroidery patterns for my DIL. We've already sold some to the local big craft shop and she'll sell them at her craft studio. That might expand later.

Rhonda, What a wonderful story! I'm glad that you three were enterprising enough to come up with plan after plan when the first one didn't work out! It sounds like things are going to work out for you all! How thrilling! I look forward to hearing more about your adventures!

thanks amy. I think that's what success usually is - trying until you get it right and not giving up.

I have a bit more news about the embroidery side of my plans.

For those of you who haven't read this in another thread, my DIL teaches craft and her DH and father just built her a lovely craft studio in the backyard. She hopes to have craft classes, sewing bees and quilting circles there. One of the first classes she will teach is a beginners' embroidery class. She already has quite a few signed up for it. On Christmas day we were talking about this and she commented that there aren't many good Australian embroidery patterns. I showed her some embroidery I'd just finished and she asked where I got the patterns from. I'd made up my own. Well, one thing lead to another and we decided that I'd draw a series of patterns for her to teach her beginners with. The first drawings have been given to her, she's shown her friends and she got a fabulous response to them and orders for several kits when we have them ready for purchase.

In Februdary, DIL Cathy will also teach a patchwork class at the best craft store in our region. Her first project will be a patchwork and embroidery quilt, using the patterns I've drawn. She showed two of the patterns to the store owner so she knew what she would be teaching, the owner asked where she got the patterns from and cathy said we made them ourselves. The store owner asked if she could also stock our range. ("our range" LOL) Since then two other stores have asked to see them and want to stock them.

So, now I'm drawing and stitching my little heart out. Every waking hour I'm either drawing, stitching or typing here for ebay or the village. Life's good.

I should be working at our store today but DH told me to stay here and stitch. :)

Cathy is much better at embroidery than I am but we are both stitching every pattern. They usually take 1-2 days to do one. When we have 'the range' together we'll have them printed to fabric and then sell them in kit form. They'll sell anywhere between $15 - $35. All the patterns we're stitching now we're tracing onto the fabric using a lightbox. When we have them printed it'll be much easier. It's good for me because it's teaching me to be neat and I'm learning a lot of stitches, but mostly it's backstitch.

Cathy's doing up a couple for magazines that publish projects. We hope that will provide publicity in Australia for us. We'll probably sell them on ebay when we have a lot done up as kits.

I tried to find my sister to help us with the stitching but she gone away. Everyone else I know is like I used to be and not interested in craft at all. I thought about asking around for some stitchers but one of the craft store owners cathy is dealing with told us to quard the patterns and not let anyone see them until they are ready to sell so it's difficult getting it all done with just both of us working on them. Oh well, it keeps me out of trouble. ;)

"The range" so far includes the five patterns for cathy's quilting class, 7 in a series I'm stitching, and I have ideas for 5 more series which I've yet to draw but I've done a quick sketch of each one, so I don't forget it. Every one needs to be drawn, traced to fabric, stitched, scanned into the computer and then a kit pack printed out with the finished embroidery on the cover. Even if I do say so myself, they look good. :)

It's funny how things develop if you leave yourself open for things to happen. Never be afraid to take a chance, even if you haven't tried it before. I want to encourage everyone who reads this to try new things all the time, you never know that is waiting just around the next bend in your road.

I am smiling from ear to ear. Big happy smooch to you!:smooch:

Your right, always take a chance/risk. And never give up because something always works out.

Can't wait to hear the rest of the story...

Very cool Rhonda. I completely agree with what you said about being open and trying new things. Ya just never, ever know where the next phase or level will come from. WTG on this phase b.t.w. . ;)

Dear Rhonda,
What an inspiration you are to me! I am 32 and trying to decide if selling our house is the best decision. My husbadn we laid off 2+ years ago and still struggling to find the right career path. He does have a job and we are grateful but it does not pay enough to pay our bills. I am trying to be a Mommy full-time and have been for a year this month!
Unfortunately, unlike you, we do have Credit/Car debt. It would get us out of debt if we can make what we want on the sale of our home. Your story and decision to sell your store gives me hope and courage to sell my house. WE have decided to do it and now we just need to make decisions about what realtors to use and what is the best price to list.

In the mean time, each week I wonder how I will feed my family and it amazes me how the Lord provides. It is never how I think I have it planned out. I do not have a saving or a full pantry. We start out with nothing every week yet we don't go hungry. I am challenged by to you to use less of everything!
Your words have encouraged me. " I see it as an exciting challenge to make ends meet each week." is exactly how I feel. I just need to get DH on board. (He sees it as a burden)
I hope the dreams you have will become a reality.
Keep me posted. I love your wisdom!

Thanks for your kind words, leelee. I must say I feel nervous thinking of you selling your home. If my back was to the wall, I'd fight with everything I had to keep my home. It's the biggest financial asset we have and I'd never give it up without a fight. I wish you good luck with your decision and I hope it all works out for you.

Life's rolling along quite nicely. DS2 has decided that he'll be leaving in June to live in Canada for a year. It will be a time of sadness for us to see him go but it's also exciting seeing your children go off into their adult life when you know they're competent, well adjusted and ambitious. It's funny, DH and I decided a while ago that when we had an empty nest we'd start a B&B in our home. That's not going to happen now and what we're doing is a million miles a away from what we planned only 18 months ago.

There's been a big adjustment in DH's thinking in the past year. He's always been extremely pragmatic and never wanted to take a chance on anything that involved us or our finances. He saw our future in both of us working until we were forced to retire and then doing the things that retired people do. I've never wanted that. I wanted a lifestyle that would make us happy and fullfilled, while at the same time earning enough money to keep us sane and fed. I think that's what we might have made for ourselves. I know for sure that simplicity and frugality will be part of our lives from know on and I wish we'd been on board with it much earlier. No regrets though, we're moving in the right direction now and it feels good.

I've spent a bit of time recently making an excel spreadsheet for our ebay sales. I think I've learnt quite a bit about ebay listing by doing it and I'll adjust my selling tactics accordingly when I start selling again. That's probably going to be in late February. I've downgraded out store to a basic one until after we go to sydney. I'm not actively selling anything at the moment but our feedback rating is up to 70 now and we have some excellent comments. I was sent an ebay sales report for this month and our average price per sale was $41. I need to increase that dramatically or increase the number of items I sell if I'm going to be successful at this.

On the home front, we've prepared all our garden beds for planting in March. Potatoes will be the first in, followed by seedlings of various vegetables and herbs. I'm choosing those now and when we come back from sydney I'll plant up my seeds in containers and keep them in the greenhouse until I'm ready to plant in mid-late march, depending on the weather. I have got a few pumpkin vines growing now and I hope they'll produce about 20 pumpkins that will last us until the end of the year. The lemon tree is full of green lemons now, there might be around 50 - 60 lemons on there, We're thinking of cutting down our mango tree - it's a dud, and planting something that we can eat, maybe a Bowen mango or some more oranges or bananas.

The embroidery is still going well. It's so time consuming but I know it'll pay off so I'm giving it all my spare time. I doubt we'll have our kits ready until april though. I drew some new patterns today, so that makes 4 sets of patterns so far.

It feels so good to be planning all this out and knowing that soon we'll be earning enough money for our needs from home, I hope. I like knowing I can look after myself and my family and every day I'm learning new skills, mainly from the FV threads and the ladies here. The old threads here are a goldmine, if you ever have time, read through some from a couple of years ago. They are very inspiring.

I feel like I can do anything. I feel the possibilities are endless. I know there'll be hard work ahead but that's never worried me before and it won't now. In fact, I thrive on working hard and knowing that we can create our own independance.

In my next post I'm going to show you our vegie patch as it is now then I'll be able to keep you all informed of our progress from planting to harvest.

Rhonda- What a whirlwind of absolutely wonderful ideas and goals! You are an inspiration. DH and I have been tossing around several business ideas for us to do together, separately and possiably with a third party, but reading your story really made me smile becasue you have written down everything I have been "thinking" about.

I feel like I can do anything. I feel the possibilities are endless. I know there'll be hard work ahead but that's never worried me before and it won't now. In fact, I thrive on working hard and knowing that we can create our own independance.

I feel this exact same way!

Rhonda you and your husband are doing a wonderful job! I know you two can do it. It will be worth it in the end.

michele, carolyn and rebecca, thank you so much for taking the time to write words of encouragement. It really does mean a lot to me and I appreciate the support. :angel: :angel: :angel:

More good news! :cheergrl: Cathy came over yesterday afternoon to collect her dogs and she told me that we've been invited to have a stall at the local craft exhibition in July. It's invitation only and I'm told it's quite difficult to get in. I think Cathy pulled a few strings. ;) Nevertheless, it represents a great opportunity for us. BUT! we have to get a heap of samples ready in time for the show. That means not only stitching the patterns but making things from them too. We'll be sewing tote bags, cushions, quilts, little calico bags, wall hangings etc.

Far out - ME sewing! I can't believe. I wish my mother was here to see this, I think she'd wet her pants laughing. ;)

Life's good.

Good news about the craft exhibition!

:cheergrl: Go, Rhonda!! :cheergrl:

That's wonderful Rhonda! I wish you the best on getting everything accomplished! You can do it!!!:D

good for you guys! you could do it!
another thing is you can set up a really simple even one page website- very cheaply, and you can even sell emu oil from there. Have a link on ebay that links to your website and you'll get orders that way as well. just a thought.

thanks diane, that's a really good idea.

We came back from Sydney last night. I'm really tired but also excited and hopeful that things will continue to work out well for us.

As usual, there are good results and bad from the Sydney trip. The bad result is that I think DH is sicker than I thought he was. He was confused at times while we were away and my sister said he had aged 10 years since she saw him last (6 months ago). There's not a lot we can do about his illness as he's doing everything the doctor told him to do and he's eating a very healthy diet. I am looking around for a good naturaopath though - one who specialises in cardio-vascular problems. I hope he can get off the Warfarin he's on. I don't like what it's doing to him. It's very frustrating and sad watching someone you love deteriorate when he's been so healthy and strong all his life. Anyhow, the upside of all this is that I talked to him about his health this morning, told him what my sister said, and we've decided to sell the shop around June. June 30 is the end of our financial year so we hope to have a buyer before then. We have to tidy up the shop and get our new stock in that we bought at the gift fair in Sydney and then we'll call in the real estate agent for an evaluation. We need to get around $100,000 for it.:wand:

Now the good bits. The craft fair I went to with my sister was horrible! but there were some good bits and overall it showed me that our embroideries and craft items are equal to what is on the market. I was unsure about that but seeing the craft show exhibitions made me realise that we could have had a stall beside anyone there and been successful at it. So that was a big boost for my confidence.

I've never been to a craft fair before and I thought it would be a hive of busy people showing things I'd never seen. WRONG! Everything there I had seen before in some shape or form and there was nothing new.:idea: I did get a few ideas for items to be made up though and I did meet Debbie Mumm.

When we all went to the gift fair I was surprised that it was so good. I've been going to gift fairs for 5 years now and this one was the best. Well organised, new products and much bigger. We bought quite a few new things for our shop that I hope will appeal to our customers and hopefully a new owner.

Also our friend Diane came with us so we could all get some new ideas for selling on Ebay. What we decided to do was to concentrate on clothing, soft furnighings and bags. They are easy to design, pack and post and there's an excellent markup. We'll do dresses, tops, night wear and kids clothes and maybe things like duvet covers. We also might do some handbags up - real leather ones, as the markup on those is incredible too. I'm starting up our ebay store again later this week.

I actually have three projects on the go but the third one I can't tell you about yet.

Diane told me that I could go on a pension now if we didn't have the shop, DH can go on one in September, when he turns 65. I'm sure when we have that financial backup, along with our ebaying, craft etc, that we'll make a real success of this.

On the home front we're buying our seed potatoes this week and we'll plant them as soon as they sprout. Our pumpkins are doing okay and when I buy the potatoes, I'll also get seeds for our other vegetables. We've decided on tomatoes, lettuce, carrots, radishes, beans, cucumbers, sugar snap peas, corn, spinach, swiss chard and zuchinnis. We've already got fruit trees in - lemons, oranges, bananas, macadamias and mandarins, but we're going to boost them along with some extra TLC and hope they start fruiting next year.

We had a frugal moment on the way back from Sydney when we saw lots of apple and peach trees along the highway. They were growing outside the fenceline, on the part of the ground owned by the local council, so we stopped and pick two bags of apples and three bags of peaches. The apples aren't wonderful but they'll be excellent when they're made into apple sauce and the peaches are delicious. I'm using them for jam as I've already canned some peaches this year. Is there anything better than getting food for free?

So as you can see, we're still moving along in the same direction and hope to be as self-sufficient as we can be by the middle of this year. One thing is for sure, I know that my DH will benefit from us selling our store so that is my main priority at the moment. I'll keep you posted on that one.

I promised a pic of the vegetable patch before planting. I'll still take it but I've been too busy to doing anything about it yet.

I want to encourage anyone who reads this to work hard on your dreams of living a simple life. I firmly believe that we'll live a happy, authentic life when we've got our financial affairs squared away and when we're working in our own home reaping the benefits of our hard work. Of course you must be prepared to work hard and thoughtfully but it will pay off for you in ways you won't expect. So, if you've got thoughts about heading this way, dive right in, the water's fine. :)

Good luck! :angel:

Thanks Jennifer.

I just came back from a meeting with Diane and Rick, her ex. Rick lives in Bali and he operates a thriving business exporting to Australia. He wants in on the ebay deal so I told him that I'll set up a store for him and charge him a percentage. He's also going to send various items to us that we can list. He said he can get amazing deals on gold jewellery, designer clothes, surf gear, wedding dresses and shoes so I guess that's what we'll be listing.

I started listing on ebay again this morning and still have quite a few things to do. I've made up an Excel spreadsheet that I register each item on and that helps enormously when I'm ready to add up my lists for the month.

We are still moving towards one income living (our store) to living off ebay and the embroidery kits and although it scares me a little to thing that we're going to do it, it also excites me to do something new. I also love the idea of earning a living from my home.

There's still a lot of work to do in the garden. I bought the potatoes today and will sprout them before we plant. I've planted the vegetable seeds and the seedlings should be ready to plant in a week or two.

Life's good. :)

Well, today's the day. DH phoned the real estate agent yesterday and today he's coming to the store to give us a valuation. From there we put it on the market, if we think the price is right. I'm so happy to be selling that store so we can move on to the next phase of our lives - a working retirement.

Here's is an update on what we've been doing lately. The best news is that we've finished about 25 stitcheries. One lot of 5 has been made into a quilt that looks fabulous, a couple of the others have been made into bags and cushions, the rest haven't been machine sewn yet. My sister is coming up in June to help me sew mine up. I'm hopeless at machine sewing and although I thought I'd master it, and maybe I will eventually, I can't afford to practise on these stitcheries. One mistake means redoing 2 or 3 days of work :( Currently I'm working on a series for another quilt called "back to basics" - it features vegie gardening, preserves, bread, baking and sewing.

DIL Cathy has had a number of the stitcheries in her craft studio when she has classes and many women are asking to buy them. It's a good sign! :cool: Our aim now is to finish getting ready for the craft exhibition in late July. We will sell our kits there and I've decided I'll also publish a book of patterns for sale too. I've been in the publishing business for many years so it won't be a big deal. and I'll only print a small amount, maybe 20, to gauge the response. If they are popular, I'll expand the book and print off some more.

Ebay isn't going very well for us at the moment. Every time I start, something happens and I stop again. We've narrowed our range down to 9 ct gold men's jewellery and men's and women's designer clothing - we have a heap of Sean John things at the moment. Our main problem is waiting for our supplies to start coming through.

The vegie garden is coming along well and in the coming months will produce a lot of vegies for our table. My camera broke the other night after I took a pic of my kids so it's in the repair shop at the moment. When I get it back I'll take some photos of the garden for you. We have planted the following: potatoes, tomatoes, carrots, silver beet, beans, peas, celery, lettuce, zuchinni, strawberries, onions, parsley, chili and chives. It gives me a good feeling seeing them grow and knowing we are working towards growing our own food. The chcikens are not laying at the moment as they are losing their feathers. I bought a dozen eggs last week for the first time in over a year. But they'll be laying again soon and when they do we're getting two more chickens to build up our flock to 5 ;) . Not exactly big business but enough for our meagre needs and to give away.

So as you can see we are still moving towards our goals. Life intervenes at times to make us question our goals but we are determined to succeed so it's just a matter of refocusing and continuing to work.

I want to encourage anyone who reads this to work hard on your dreams of living a simple life. I firmly believe that we'll live a happy, authentic life when we've got our financial affairs squared away and when we're working in our own home reaping the benefits of our hard work. Of course you must be prepared to work hard and thoughtfully but it will pay off for you in ways you won't expect. So, if you've got thoughts about heading this way, dive right in, the water's fine.


This is so true Rhonda. You should never give up on your dreams. We are more content than we've ever been and it was because of hard work, lots of planning and learning to live simply and self-sufficiently. You won't ever regret it Rhonda and I wish you well.

I pray your dh gets better and that he lives a good long life.

Wishing you a very quick sale on your store..

Thanks CJ. I'm really looking forward to not having a job. It will be the first time in our lives that we've both been unemployed. I'm sure many would think that is a strange statement but I know you understand.

The real estate bloke phoned yesterday and said he couldn't get there until today or tomorrow. :eek: I hope DH doesn't lose the urge to sell before he arrives.

I'm thinking of you Rhonda and sending you good wishes in your new "simple life". There are so many changes in store for you and your dh and I know that you will do great at it all!

Rhonda, did the realestate "bloke" finally make it. I sure hope so and that its a work in process now.

I've just now stumbled on to this thread of information Rhonda.

I hope you and your husband are able to simplify simplify simplify your lives and that the realtor has a positive attitude about your store's potential sale.

It will be wonderful to be "free" of the world of employment and to just be concerned with day to day affairs.

Best of luck and all my positive thoughts are with you!

Thank you so much, CJ, Cornelia and Jean. I really does mean a lot when villagers wish me well on this journey we are taking. It's scary sometimes, and there is a lot of work involved, but it feels good every day knowing we are heading towards a sort of self-sufficiency that will reward us for our efforts.

The real estate agent (Roger) came to the store and was surprised we are selling. He sold us the store alomst 5 years ago. He said there are a number of stores already on the market in the town but there are a lot of good points with our store that should make it very marketable. Number one being that we've had it for a number of years. It's also in a very good position, we have a lot of repeat customers and we have our own bathroom. All the other store in our complex use a communal bathroom. He's asked DH to print out a summary of our business records and then he'll be able to give us a price. DH and I have already got a figure in mind and we are happy to hold on until we get that price.

We had a new neighbour move in to the store next door during the week, he opens today. He's been in the town for 11 years selling shoes, bags and other leather goods. He's got an excellent reputation so it's another good thing going for our store that he's there.

It will be interesting to see what happens next. One good thing is that I've talked DH into going on a holiday when we sell the store. We're tossing up between New Zealand and the bottom half of Australia during the spring - I'd love to see all the big flower gardens and flowers shows then. We'll probably end up deciding on the toss of a coin.

Life's good. :)

Originally posted by forestdale
Lif'e's good. :)

I'm glad!

Another update. They seem to be coming thick and fast lately.

Yesterday I phoned the government department that deals with pensions to ask about DH's pension. He turns 65 in September and will receive $400 a fortnight from then on. I get a pension when I turn 64 1/2!. It used to be 60 for women but they're scaling it upward to be the same as the men's When I get mine we'll get $800 a fortnight for the both of us. We also get the following free or for a discounted price: : phone line rental, public transport- one free long distance train trip per year + 50% off all public transport, ambulance, medical, optical, dental, pharmacy, land tax and rates, dog registration, electricity, gas, water and a few others. Quite a few businesses give discounts to pensioners too.

I've done a few calculations and worked out that we can easily live on what we'll earn from our embroidery patterns and ebay + DH's $400/fortnight. DS leaves for the US or Canada next month and from then on it will just be the two of us. I figure we can live on $80 per week for groceries. I think I could save some of that $80 each week so, that will be my aim and the leftover grocery money will go to the emergency account.

I went to Aldi yesterday and stocked up on items for our stockpile. I want to keep doing this while we are still earning money so our stockpile is healthy and can sustain us through any lean times. Everything I bought can be stored for a long time. I'm going to start a grocery book for items we buy often so that when we sell the store, DH can do the shopping too and will know what price I expect to pay for each item.

I was sitting here thinking about FV last night and I'm amazed how much I've been able to learn from you ladies in the 16 months I've been here. I've gone from being a wasteful woman who did 10 things at once and never slowed down to a mindful woman who thinks about how I impact on my environment and those around me. I used to work 7 days a week, often 10 hours a day, now I work two days a week. I've slowed down my thinking, my heartrate, my cooking and the general pace I live my life. I got rid of my housekeeper and discovered the joys of making my house a home. My home is a haven now, I love being here and when people visit they comment on how comfortable and warm everything is.

My aim has always been to live a simple life, I didn't know how to go about it though and it has only been by reading the forums here and understanding and learning about inner simplicity from this site and books that I've truly discovered how rich and rewarding life can be.

I urge everyone who reads this to go beyond frugal living to embrace a simple life. Being frugal is just a part of simplicity; it's like the practical bit that makes the richness of simple living possible.

I urge everyone who reads this to go beyond frugal living to embrace a simple life. Being frugal is just a part of simplicity; it's like the practical bit that makes the richness of simple living possible.


AMEN!!

Rhonda I have really enjoyed reading this thread and I must just say how right you are about embracing simple living.

Scott and I have got rid of so much stuff both physical and mental, it is such a relief to not have so many people and things around to make demands. we spent such a long time worrying about collecting enough stuff and having enough people around that we didn't have time to see what we really wanted.

I too love being at home now as it's our home, not one that is straight out of a magazine, I also think about everything that comes in and goes out of the home and how my actions affect things. By coming here and reading about everyone elses life I've been able to look at myself and be true to my vision of life and not anyone elses.

DH has a long time to go before he can retire, but he has reached a stage where work isn't his main focus and us living the best we can has become the most important thing, stress isn't a word that gets used anymore.

I wish you and everyone else the best of luck in whatever their goals are. :)

Rhonda, I am so happy that your dream is coming true! I am thinking many good thoughts for your DH's health! I hope he is feeling better soon! I love reading all about how you are planning, growing, building and selling! You are a true inspiration! :hugz:

I'm just catching myself up on this thread again and I want to send you a huge :hug2: ! This is very inspiring! :cool:

I too am catching up on your journey Rhonda. I love love love what you you are doing for yourselves. Indeed, life is good.:)

Rhonda you and your husband are inspiring me to quietly oh so quietly urge my own husband to simplify his life. He teaches high school and is totally stressed all the time -- so much so that he is a different person from the one he is during breaks/vacations. He has begun thinking seriously about retirement as he is only a couple of years away from a point where it would be considered and given anything close to full benefits.

He has been stewing about how to bring in money after he retires and has even considered teaching in another state (neighboring) because they pay lots of money. But then you add a long drive on top of the stress that is inherent to a public school system. I would like to see him quit teaching altogether and if he thinks he needs to earn money concentrate on an area that is actually enjoyable to him. And this is where I must gently encourage --- helping him find that enjoyable hobby that might make some money.

So your own journey into this realm is very encouraging and inspiring to me. I am eager to hear more about it as it goes along.

The great deals and discounts you describe that you will get after retirement are tremendous, Rhonda!

Time for another update. :)

The most momentous thing that has happened is that our youngest son left home to live in Canada for a year. He's got an excellent job :chef: I've spoken to him a few times on the phone since he left and he's happy and looking forward to learning everything he can in his new job.

We are now living in an empty nest. I cried my eyes out the morning our son left home. I walked inside after he drove off to the airport with DH and I thought my world had collapsed. Now, almost three weeks after, I'm loving it I cleaned the fridge out a couple of days after he left - throwing out Coke, salami and a whole lot of food DH and I don't eat. THE FRIDGE IS STILL LOOKING THE SAME A WEEK LATER! When I tidy the house, it stays tidy!! :cool: I can use the washing machine whenever I like - I don't have to ask "someone" to hang their clothes out on the line. Life sure is a lot less complicated AND there are no more girls phoning up. ;) I do miss him a lot though. :(

Our financial year ended a few days ago so now we are concentrating on selling the store. As I said before, there are quite a few stores for sale in the town but we feel we have a good chance of a sale and even if it doesn't sell quickly, we're willing to hold on until we get a good price.

Our ebay sales have fallen flat on their faces. I can't be bothered doing it. I have some stuff here to sell that's been sitting on my shelf for a couple of months and I can't bring myself to list any of it. Maybe that will change when I'm not so busy with the stitcheries.

Speaking of which, the quilting exhibition is on over the last weekend of July - three weeks away. This is where we'll start selling the patterns to the general public and consequently find out if they will be a viable business option or not. The signs look good but we won't really know unless we sell a lot of them. If they don't sell, we'll just stop doing it. If they do, I've devised a marketing strategy to promote them, first in our state, and then further afield. :deal: At the moment, I'm still stitching away and drawing new patterns. I also published a book of patterns that we'll sell as well (i hope ;).

Our vegetable garden is starting to produce a few vegies now. We've been eating new potatoes, carrots, bell peppers, beans, herbs and swiss chard. The tomato bushes are full of flowers and I've just planted a peach tree and an orange tree. Often we eat a meal almost totally from our backyard. Three times this week we've had those meals. One day we had herb omlettes - the fresh organic eggs were from our own girls. Another day we had frittata, made from our potatoes, eggs and vegetables. Last night we had bell peppers stuffed with our vegetables and basmati rice. We followed that with our homeghrown strawberries and local cream from the dairy close by. All these meals were delicious, nutritious and almost free from our backyard bounty. Our grocery bill is now down to $80 a week. When I worked fulltime it used to be over $400. :eek:

In Australia our society is geared toward more and more consumption. We are told that it's healthy to live that way - both for ourselves and our nation. I know now that's a lie and that if we are to live healthy lives, we need to reverse the trend towards over-consumption and greed and teach ourselves how to live more simply. Don't be fooled by the big lie. You can simplfy and still live a wonderful life.

PS. I thank you all for your support, both here and in PMs. :heartsm:

In America we also are inadvertantly "told" that more and more, bigger and bigger are better. What a lie! I have just started to really read your thread and I already admire you greatly! I am sending good thoughts and wishes for your patterns and book to sell well! Please keep updating this thread!

Just a quick update.

DH is coming more and more atuned to my way of thinking about our future. Last night he told me about a story on self sufficiency that was on TV (I don't watch a lot of telly so I never know what's on at night). It was about a couple who live near here who decided to experiement with self sufficiency for six months, it was so successful - for their health, their bank account and their happiness - they are living like that permanently now. Here a link to the story: http://seven.com.au/todaytonight/story/?id=21806

Also, this morning when I came out of the bathroom after my shower, DH was listening to a radio program about natural household cleaners. Over breakfast he said he wanted to enlarge our garden :cool: and maybe it was time to get our two new chickens. He said he's going to find out the cost of installing solar power to our house. Then we'd be off the grid!! :yippee:

For the past year or so he's been interested to listen to my ideas about our simple life after retirement but he's never actively sought out information about it either. I haven't said anything to him about his change of mindset - he's a very conservative 64 year old German man. But as I cleaned up the kitchen this morning I smiled, knowing that our move towards sustainably living is getting closer and closer.

Well that just goes to show that slow and steady wins the race! I'm so pleased to read that you're getting closer to your goals, and that there are success stories out there. :)

WTG! Just keep moving forward, one foot in front of the other. Pretty soon, your DH will be giving you tips and ideas!!

Hi all, I'm new here and don't understand about these brownie points. Can someone inform me? Thanks.:angel2:

Hi Linda, welcome to the village. Here is a link to Sara's explanation of brownie points. http://www.frugalvillage.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=3624

I hope you have fun here.

Originally posted by britbunny
Well that just goes to show that slow and steady wins the race! I'm so pleased to read that you're getting closer to your goals, and that there are success stories out there. :)

:yippee:

The quilt exhibition is over and we sold enough patterns to make us continue with that enterprise. They were quite popular actually and three of the other exhibitors, who all have patchwork/craft store, asked if they could sell them. We were also told that they'll probably sell well in America so we've got email addresses of stores who sell Australian goods and we'll be contacting them soon.

We are both having a break from stitcheries at the moment. Cathy is finishing off a quilt she's making for her sister's wedding and I've just been vegging out and researching the book I'm writing. Soon we'll have a meeting about which ones we'll keep and what type we need more of and then we'll start marketing them.

My DH turns 65 next month. :eek: He'll need to go register for his pension which will give us $200 a week plus many concessions and discounts on lots of things I mentioned previously. Neither of us has really thought about getting old before so it's a bit confronting to apply for an old age penison.:( We'll survive, I'm sure.

Our store has been on the market for 2 weeks. We've had one couple look at it and said they weren't interested and one lady who might be. She is a friend of the real estate agent who phoned her to tell her about our store. She has an exchange student staying with her at the moment and when she goes, the lady will look at the store. I'm really looking forward to selling it, DH is getting cold feet. He said he'll miss the interaction with the public so I suggested that he ask if he could work part time for the person who buys the store. I hope that solves the problem.

Our vegetables are starting to produce fairly well and we eat from the garden and the stockpile most days. We still haven't bought our two new chickens but I'm hoping that will happen next week. I'm going to Aldi next week to restock the stockpile, I've been saving the money that I'd normally go shopping with so I have just over $400. I doubt I'll spend it all though so the rest will go into the emergency fund.

We've had two visitors stay with us this month and that gave me a lot of pleasure. My good friend Susan is coming for a couple of days the week after next. We plan to cruise the plant nurseries and go sit at a cafe right on the beach near here and catch up with each others lives. It doesn't cost a lot to enjoy time spent with good friends.

I still haven't gone back to ebay selling although I do have a lot of things to sell. I'll do it soon, I guess, when the motivation hits me. lol :)

As you can see our journey along the one income living highway is progressing smoothly and we've haven't been hit by a bus, yet. ;) I hope the next time I update it will be with the news that the store is sold. :cheergrl: :cheergrl: :cheergrl: Wish us luck

oh I'm praying that the store sells quickly, and for a good price. Also I think your idea to nudge dh to go to work for the new owner would likely be a blessing for both of them.

Congrats on the quilting endeavors.

Way to go!!!! :D

I'm picking up my new chickens tomorrow. I ordered them yesterday after I saw an ad in the local paper. I've never had black chooks before but I ordered two black Australops and a red "commercial". That gives us one light sussex (who rarely lays eggs), two isa reds, one commercial red and the two blackies.

I'm calling the new girls Sara, Gabby and Margery. :toothy:  They will cost $7 each and are 10 weeks old.

ROFL let me know how my namesake gets along. Probably a chatty and sociable hen. Cluck a hello for me to her.

Will do, Margery! ;) DH cleaned out the chicken coop from top to toe yesterday. All I have to do this morning is to fluff up the nests with clean shredded paper and the palace will be ready for the newcomers. DH said he's been giving the chooks a "hot dinner" at night while I've been working at the store. He said they like to go to bed with warm food in their bellies. :toothy:

oh he is so sweet!!!! So are you. Betting the ladies will feel like they died and gone to heaven!:D

Like leehouse, I am also new here and enjoy reading about people's stories. I also did not know about the brownie points. Thanks forest for the site lead. Also, how do you put in the mood? Thanks all.:smball:

Hi Rhonda! I just found this GREAT thread. I love 'watching' your journey unfold. Dh & I aren't there yet, but we are starting to talk about what we'll do when the nest is empty. We are 35 (me) and 43 (him) ;). Interestingly, we've thought about a B&B, but the current plan has been revised to a small working farm with cabins for rent to people on vacation. We would need/like to live rurally, but in an area with tourism, such as hiking/biking, fishing, golf, skiing, etc. Of course, we have 20yrs to decide! :laugh:

Retirement benefits in the US aren't near to what you have. I think the monthly check may be close, and we do get (nearly) free hospital care, but we still have to pay for our own insurance/out-of-pocket for outpatient care, prescriptions and glasses. Nor do we get discounts on utilites, as you've described.

I look forward to hearing more from you.

Life is progressing nicely here.  DH and I have both been sick with the flu, the first we've had in a number of years, but we are over it now and back on our quest for a simple life.

I'm coming to realise that no matter how carefully you plan, life happens and your plans get thrown out the window.  I'd been happily content with our finances recently, thinking that we've got it all under control when our hot water system broke down.  The long and the short of it is that we had to replace it and we installed a new solar powered hot water system. In total the unit cost $3437 which is almost twice as much as a traditional electrical hot water system but the operating costs are nil - 0 - zip - nothing.   It's guaranteed for 5 years, it should be fully operational for 23 years.  I'm also really pleased as it will cut our greenhouse gas emissions by 30%.  So the good news is that we won't have to pay for our hot water from now on but we do have to pay for the unit out of our emergency fund and from the money we got by selling a few shares.

Now my new project is to build up our emergency fund again.  We did have $2000 in it and that's what I hope to save again.  Slow and steady, we'll get there again.

I haven't retuned to my ebay selling but it's still on the back burner and I haven't forgotten about it.  The patterns are selling nicely now and we have several stores in this state and others selling them.  I'm currently working on new patterns and I've retired some of the earlier ones that weren't selling.  It's very relaxing and satisfying to do needlework when I'm at our store.  I don't feel like I'm wasting time when I work on my patterns.  The one I'm currently working on is a simple sampler that I want to hang in my sewing room.  It's a reminder to me about my values.  When I finish stitching it, I'll take a photo and show you. I really hope it's a good seller because that will tell me that other people feel the same.  Basically it's 12 squares with different shapes - house, bee, heart etc. and these reminders: Live Simply, Be Humble, Give More, Expect  Less, Show Respect, Don't Judge.  I intend to live by those ideals. :)

We haven't seen our real estate agent recently so I'm guessing that there's been no interest in the store.  I would like to sell it now but realistically I doubt we'll sell it before the end of the year. That tends to be the time when people change schools, homes and businesses here.

Our new chickens have settled in nicely and are giving the old girls a run for their money.  Gabby is the ring leader and Sara is still shy but she's not as bad as she used to be and will now happily wander about the backyard searching for a stray insect.  In the afternoons, they all gather to sit quietly under the palm trees.  They've been laying a lot lately so I've had enough eggs to barter for extra milk and cream which I've frozen.  The new sisters will proably start laying around late October.  Margery, your namesake clucks "hello".

In the vegie patch, we've dug up over 60 lbs of potatoes which are being stored in hessian bags in our brick (cool) garden shed.  We also grew an experimental crop in a cage this year.  This was really successful and we got an additional 8 - 10 lbs of potatoes from this one small cage about 3 feet across.  There's a photo of it at the end of my post.  It's really handy knowing we can grow potatoes like this as we can put these cages in small areas that would otherwise grow nothing.  I'll write how to do it in the garden threads if you're interesting in knowing more.  BTW, that's our chicken coop in the background with the over productive lemon tree next to it.

So, tomorrow is a big day for our family.  My DH turns 65. :)   Who'd have thought I'd ever be married to an old man. LOL!  He's a sweet old man though and I love him dearly.  Our older son Shane is coming over tomorrow and we're driving into the city to a new discount outlet shopping centre.  I'm going to buy DH a new sweater for his birthday.  On the way home Shane and I will stop off at Aldi to replenish my stockpile (and to give Shane a few frugal tips) and then he'll stay for dinner.  I'm cooking roast pork and vegetables and I'll make a coffee cheesecake to celebrate.  We might even open a bottle of wine for my :hero:

From tomorrow DH could offically accept his pension but we'll wait for all that until we've sold the store.  In the meanitme, we'll continue along this road to our perfect life and although it's a bumpy ride sometimes, we wouldn't have it any other way.

Valerie, I think the cabins sound like a wonderful idea. We live in a great tourist area, close to Steve Irwin's zoo and that's why we thought about the B & B. It would help a lot with your cabins if the area you're in already draws lots of visitors. I must admit the thing that turned me off B & Bs was having people I didn't know in my home. Cabins are a much better option. I wish you the best when you start on your venture.

I've never been a list person but with older age I find them necessary. I have two new lists. One is of all the things I need to do before we sell the store and the other is of all the things I want to do after the store is sold.

On the BEFORE sale list are:
INCREASE THE STOCKPILE - I want to have enough stockpiled goods to keep us going for at least a year.  I think this will help us during our transition to a reduced income.  Not worrying if we're going to be eating or not will allow us to focus our attentions of new ways of living and earning our dollars.  In additon to our food, the stockpile will include seeds for the garden, medications (we only have DH's blood pressure pills) but we both take emu oil and vitamins, pet supplies like flea and tick drops, cider vinegar for the chooks and dog and cat biscuits.

DECREASE OUR CABLE TV - our son signed up for cable and we still have it.  This month I decreased our subscription to the basic service + Martha, soon I'm stopping it completely.

HEALTH, EYE AND TEETH CHECKUPS - luckily we are both pretty healthy. We recently got new glasses but I want us both to go to the dentist, optician and doctor for a checkup before we sell the store.

START PROPAGATING PLANTS - we have a lot of really beautiful plants in our garden that we bought at a cost of 1000s.  I'd like to propagate many of them and sell them at garage sales or markets. 

the AFTER list:
SELL THE SECOND CAR and I want to use the money we get from it to tile the front verandah.  It'll be a DIY job with both of us doing it.

BREAD/PIZZA OVEN - I would really like a handmade clay oven in the backyard.  I've yet to tell DH about this wish. ;)

START DH ON HIS FAMILY GENEALOGY - many German records were lost during the war but I'm hoping for his sake and for my kids that we find a link to his past.

CONTINUE WITH MY PATTERNS AND BOOK - these will be ongoing over the next 6 months.

TEACH MYSELF TO SEW PROPERLY - I'd love to make some simple patched quilts for our home and for my sons.

CONTINUE EBAYING - I have a lot of things we could sell.  I've decluttered most of our rooms and there are many items sitting in our shed waiting for their time on ebay.  We'll continue with our ebay business with Diane as well.  When Casey goes back to work, we'll get back to selling again.

LEARN HOW TO FISH - I'm really keen on this.  We both eat fish but no other meat so if we could catch a few fish a month, we'd have more than enough for our needs.

I'm sure I'll think of more things, but at the moment I'm looking forward to working on my lists.

Here's the most recent embroidery that I spoke of in my last post.

Rhonda, I love reading about your life! :)

BREAD/PIZZA OVEN - I would really like a handmade clay oven in the backyard. I've yet to tell DH about this wish.

One of our dreams!!!!!! We can't wait to build our own clay oven in the backyard as well! I have been dying to make a wood fired pizza and so many breads it would make your head spin! Love it! :hugz:

Michele, I thought you'd be interested in this page of photos and links about outdoor ovens, bread and pizza.

http://mha-net.org/msb/html/bakeoven.htm :cool:

Thanks Rhonda, we already have this one linked! ;)

Some of the things on my before list are being done. We added $160 to the stockpile the other day - mainly tp, salmon, tissues, toothpaste, beans, sugar, pasta and rice.

This made me reassess my stockpile cupboard. I've never liked having the cleaning products in with the food so I cleaned out a cupboard in the second bathroom on the weekend and I divided the stockpile into "food" and "cleaning - us and the house" lol. It will be easier to manage like this, I can see at a glance what needs replacing and it gives me more room to stockpile.

I've also decided to make a list of how much we need to take us to that comfortable one year's stockpile level. I said before that I wanted to have enough in the stockpile to last a year. To do this accurately, I need to calcuate our needs, count what we have and make plans to buy what is needed. I'm going to type the lists up and hang them on a clip board inside each stockpile cupboard. Things coming in and going out can then be documented on the list and I won't have to keep counting to have an accurate idea of what is being stored. I'll also share our lists with you when I've finished them.

DH added two more things to the wants lists. He wants to put gutter guards on the roof gutters. We're in a bushfire zone and are surrounded by trees. Leaves in the gutters are a major fire hazard and with us both growing older, it's more difficult to get onto the roof to clean out the guttering. Gutter guards will cut down on this task and they won't cost a fiortune.

DH also wants another rainwater tank. I'm really pleased about this. We'll have filters attached to this one so if we need to, we can drink the water. This will give us the capacity to store 10000 litres of rainwater.

I decreased our cable TV from $75 to $48 a month. I could decrease it more, I've got the basic package + a package of three channels, mainly because I want to watch "Martha". Having watched the new show, I'm not sure I did the right thing. I don't like the new format, it's too much like a variety show and not enough how to advice. I might get rid of the extras and I might get rid of the whole thing. I'm still considering my options there.

The new chickens. Well, I'm convinced now that Sara is brain damaged. :chicken: Poor thing. Gabby and Margery are growing their combs and they are red, just like they should be. Just before a chicken starts laying for the first time their comb is big and bright red. Sara's comb is still baby chicken sized and is still a brownish colour. Margery, her black sister, is helping her out and will hurry her along if she sees the dogs close by but Sara is still slow doing just about everything. Oh well, she looks beautiful so her value will be in that alone. :tweety:

So, the plan now is to keep adding to the stockpile and work towards doing whatever we can that will make life easier for us when we sell the store. We've already adjusted to a huge reduction in salary since I closed down my writing business, more adjustments will be necessary in the future. We'll be going from an average income to $200 a week. I look at it as being a huge challenge to see if we can walk the walk after I've talked the talk. Things will be rough at times, I'm sure, but I want this simple life for us and I know we'll be better off for it. DH is really keen now as well and is even starting to read my Grass Roots magazines (similar to Mother Earth). He's been surprised that many people want to live this kind of life and that it's not just something that is forced onto you.

Life is good at the moment. Things are tough at times, but we have a feeling of working together towards a common goal that will give us a great way of lfe as we grow older. I think we've grown closer by being united in our goals. It's a good feeling knowing that the person you married 26 years ago is still a wonderful friend as well as everything else a husband should be. It looks like a bright future ahead. :knit:

Rhonda, thank you for sharing so openly about your life. You are a wonderful example to so many of us about how to follow your dream. I also admire the respectful way you write about your dh. He is certainly fortunate to have you as a wife.

One day...sigh...good luck and keep us updated!
Graci

Thank you for saying that, Emily. I appreciate it. :)

A small update. We have someone interested in the store. They're in Sydney so they haven't seen it yet but want to come up in the next month. Their daughter lives on one of the islands closeby and they want to live in the little village our store is in. Here are some websites of Montville. The first is the restaurant in our complex. This is the view I look at all day when I'm at the store. http://www.zanasatmontville.com.au/ This is the general montville guide. http://www.montvilleguide.com.au/

We've spent over an hour on the phone with them answering their questions as best we can. She just phoned and asked me if I could find out the cost of rental accommodation for her. They want to rent until they have enough time to look around to buy a home. :D :D :D x 50 million

Sara, the chook that I thought would never lay, is laying perfect brown eggs now. We're getting a lot of eggs. :eek: We've planted up our summer vegetables - tomatoes, lettuce, chilli, bell peppers and celery. The pumpkins are starting to grow out of the compost heap and just yesterday I planted some Sweet Baby watermelon seeds and rockmelon seeds in the compost as well.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we sell the store. We've cut our expenses down to the bone and we looking forward to our new simple life. Looks like it might not be too far away.

Please send us your good thoughts and prayers.

I will be praying for you! It would be a wonderful Christmas present!!!:angel2:

Best wishes on selling the store. Sounds like the lady you spoke with was very interested. How exciting! Your town looks just lovely. Will you miss having the store? How long have you owned it?

Thanks Holly and Emily.:)

Emily, I won't miss it. When I was working on Saturday I looked around and asked myself that question. The only thing I'll miss is the view. We've owned the store for 5½ years.

Rhonda,

That is one gorgeous view! I'll keep my fingers crossed that you sell the store. I just finished reading all your posts in this thread. Have you found another income stream yet? I can relate with the whole ebay thing. Unless you can get something practically free, very rare, or at least 75% off retail, its very difficult to make big money on ebay. I've had successes with some things, but it sure is a lot of work.

Shannon, I'm glad you said that about ebay. I wasn't sure if it was just me or not. :( My friend Diane is still keen on making it a business. We'll probably focus on men's gold jewellery which we can get fairly cheaply. We'll have to try it out of course, and I know now that nothing is a certainty on ebay.

We are lucky that we don't have any debts to pay back and if we can grow our fruit and vegetables, we have low food costs as well. We don't eat meat and that's a huge saving.

I have a back up job if I need it. I'm a technical writer in a state that has few of them. I specialise in mining and that industry is booming right now. So if the worst came to the worst, I could get a job as a technical writer near here. However, I would see that as a great disappointment and a failure on my part to organise ourselves better. I'd be very sad to start writing manuals again.

I'm writing a book at the moment. That won't bring a lot of money in but it will be some and as our needs are few, I'm hoping we get by on a bit of ebaying, selling our organic produce from home - eggs, vegies and fruit when we have excess, DH's $200 a week pension and whatever else we think of.

All I know with certainty is that I feel very positive about our future and I know that if DH and I can't make it, no one can. We both thrive on hard work and look forward to this exciting stage of our lives.

Shannon, I forgot to add that we make money from stitchery patterns I draw and sell to craft stores. I have a few store owners emailing me now asking when I'm going to create new patterns for them. Again, it's not a lot of money, but we don't need a lot, and it looks like being a long term income. :)

Rhonda,
What a privledge to have had the blessing of reading your post, your family, devotion, faith and love and much more.

May all your dreams come true.

Thanks for making me a better person, at this moment. as I'm being filled with gratitude for all I have.

Praying for you and your dh.


thank you, hm

GOOD LUCK........:D

Just wanted you to know I came here again to reread your thread. I feel a bit out of control at the moment. Trying to find some peace and make some serious changes. Sharing your story is so helpful. :reindeer:

Thank you all for your kinds words and good wishes. They mean a lot to me.

We still haven't sold the store. We have one family thinking about it and another lady who came to the store yesterday. I haven't spoken to the real estate agent about her as I'm just letting it take its own time without any interference from me.

I have big plans for next year. I'm going to really get myself organised with meals and gardening. As we have no debt, food is one of our our biggest expenses and I want to get it as low as I can without compromising flavour and our health. I'm going to work out a plan soon to allow me to plant ongoing crops thoughout the growing season - which is 10 months in my next of the wood. If I do it carefully and with a bit of cunning, I'll be able to produce all the fresh vegetables we eat. I'm still working on building up my fruit crops. I have oranges, lemons, strawberries, peach, passionfruit and bananas. I got a nectarine tree for Christmas and my step son is sharing some of his raspberries with me. They'll both go in soon. The important thing is the plan and no gaps in the production.

We're still building our stockpile but I haven't added to it for about 4 weeks now. I did a small amount of Christmas shopping - mainly a ham and pork, the rest of our Christmas lunch (lobster tails and prawns) was given by the friends we shared lunch with.

Over most of December we've eaten from the stockpile and as I've been very busy around the neighbourhood and working, it's been great not to have to go grocery shopping. I want to get it to a one year level before we sell the store - that will help us when we have a less money, as well as save a lot of time at the supermarket.

I want to visit my sister in Sydney in January. She's turning 60 and I need to be with her. Her DH died 2 years ago and she's had a hard time since then. I think she's suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome (she watched him die after trying vainly to resuscitate him before the paramedics arrived). She has insomnia, panic attacks and general anxiety. She phones me a lot - just like she used to talk to mum before she died - and I think it would mean a lot to her for me to be there for her birthday. It will cost me $300 to go there so I might sell some things on Ebay to cover the cost.

I'm still writing my book and have submitted the proposal to the publisher. They take 12 - 16 weeks to review it so I hope to hear back in the new year. If they don't take it, I'll try someone else.

It's very important in this frugal life we live to always check the small things. I constantly remind myself of this and work on it every day. Things like turning off the tap when brushing my teeth, not flushing the toilet all the time and cooling off cooking water to use on the vegetable garden saves us a lot of water, and therefore a lot of money. Little things always add up to a lot. Small savings on grocery items is another good example of this. Cutting out the dining out has also saved us a lot of money this year. I made myself get out of the convenient habit of saying I "deserved" to eat out (just this once ;) ). What I deserve is what I work for, and that is living well on a low income and I can't do that if I keep spending money. I also got out of pampering myself. I do little things at home that I love - like having friends around for afternoon tea, sleeping in, or going to the beach. Things that pamper me that cost money are a badly disguised way of draining money from other things. Pampering doesn't have to cost anything. But it's never easy and I work on this all the time so I don't let myself down.

I'm still optimistic about a bright future ahead. I have so much to be grateful for, it staggers me. I'm healthy, happy and surrounded by family and friends who love me. What more could anyone hope for?

Rhonda,
You are so fortunate to have a 10 month growing season.

What kind of book did you write?

Shannon, it's a guide to living simply in Australia. :) It's not completely written yet. I just sent a synopsis and 60 pages to the publisher. I've done about 25% of it so far. Publishers here operate that way. You send them your idea with a sample 60 pages and if you sign a contract, they assign an editor to you to help while you write. I have my fingers crossed. ;)

OH, that is awesome! I'll be sending positive thoughts your way.

Thanks for the update Rhonda. We've both been so busy this month - it's good to hear what's been going on.

Oh, and I too am drooling over your growing season. I made dh promise me that when he retires, we can leave this climate. Just 20 years to go. :laugh: (He has a very good job situation that's unlikely to be replicated elsewhere.)

Living on a low income is never easy. Often you just know you're doing the right thing but sometimes it's just plain hard.

DH and I are still cutting back wherever we can. Yesterday he phoned around for quotes for our car insurance for this year. He got a $500 reduction - from $750 to $250 for the same coverage. That was one of our wins and it shows how important it is to shop around.

On the other hand we are getting rid of our cable TV because it will save us $75 a month. I phoned them this morning to tell them we are cancelling. That was a bittersweet moment for me. Bitter because there are some programs I really enjoy and sweet because I know I've done the right thing and it will make a big difference to our outgoing expenses. It will save us $900 a year.

We talked about cancelling the TV for a while before we did it. In the end it came down to keeping the TV or the broadband. Broadband won. :) We still have our free to air TV but I'll miss Martha and a couple of gardening shows. :(

On the homefront, my soap making ventures have been very successful. I'm making a very nice olive oil and coconut oil soap that is wonderful on the skin. It's very nourishing on my sometimes dry skin and DH likes it too.

I've also learned to make quark cheese and yesterday I made 6 jars of peach jam for the stockpile. This is one of the things that I really enjoy about this life. Teaching myself new skills and learning these old and. I think, better ways of doing things. I love going to bed at night knowing I've learnt something new. I also love being very tired at night from my work during the day. I think modern life has made us pretty soft. I know I was before I started living this simple life. But in the past two years I've rebuilt strength and muscle, I've become a bit fitter, and I feel much healthier and happier. And I feel satisfied. That is a nice feeling.

It's great working alongside someone who shares your values and commitment. There are times when I wonder if we need to do certain things, but then I look at our life now compared to what it was before and even with much less money, we are very happy and content, with each other and our lives.

I forgot to add, we haven't sold the store. Retailing is going through a rough time lately and no one seems to be interested in buying. We'll just keep it until someone comes along. It's a good little business that can be run successfully by a couple so I know it is right for someone.

Just one small update. I got my first big order for my stitchery patterns during the week. The parcel will be sent off this morning. It's not a lot - $160, but it's a start and it kick started me to get all my systems set up so that now I can easily fill orders when they arrive.

I have enquiries for two more orders pending.

It feels really good to make money from something you've created. I wish all you home crafters the best with your sales.

Rhonda, congratulations! You have a lovely talent. This is a well-deserved success.

Originally posted by forestdale
It feels really good to make money from something you've created.

Congratulations! :)

Rhonda, I've loved reading these few pages. Best of luck to you and DH. Do you have a recent update for us? I'd love to hear what you've been working on since you last updated.

Sara Ali and Valerie I'm not sure if you are aware or not but Rhonda isn't posting at FV anymore. Just didn't want you to wonder why your post didn't get a response.....;)

Oh no! Thanks for letting us know about that. What happened? I hope she's OK.

I think she's fine.... .Things like this happen in the cyberworld, things change and people move on.