it's been awhile

It's been awhile since I posted last. A long while! I fully expected to be moved and homesteading by now, busy milking cows and fretting over my garden. Instead I'm still in the same place I was the last post. It's funny how life simply doesn't like to follow your plans :)

Of course you can't fully hold a homesteader down. I've started raising some beautiful, rare breeds of chicken and also Labradoodles. I've opened a new home based business and we have entered the world of water catchment. Actually, the last one is out of pure necessity since our well collapsed almost a year ago. Well's are super expensive when you are barely making it month to month! Desperate to collect at least some water from our roof but working with a non existent budget, we purchased some large 35 gallon plastic garbage cans and placed them under the roof runoff area. For the most part we are able to secure enough water to do the basics, flush toilets, wash a little laundry by hand and wash up. We still bring in gallon jugs of water for drinking that we fill elsewhere and try to nab showers when we can at friends and family. It's an educational adventure. I have to admit I miss long baths on cold nights and the ease of throwing the laundry in to wash while doing other things but it is good to know the world doesn't stop spinning and there are ways to work with the issue :)

Where your heart is

   Recently we got some news that postponed our homesteading plans. Where we thought we would be moving to our homestead this coming spring, due to this change, we now have to wait until June of 2014. That's 20 months away! Although I realize in many ways its for the best, I am so disappointed.
   Non the less I have set aside my disappointment the best I can and will make these 20 months a time of learning and preparation. I purchased a cheap notebook that I labeled "20 months in Florida" inside I have made three list. The must do list filled mainly with repairs that need to be done, the should do list filled with things that will make our life easier but can wait a little while and the want to do list filled with things we would like to see accomplished but are not priorities. I also will take another look at our debt reduction plan, the less debt we have the easier it will be to move to our homestead in a couple years. With Gods wonderful help, we are almost there down from twelve bills to just three! I can realistically see getting rid of two more of those before our move in 2014.
    I want to take proactive measures this year by taking charge of what we eat. We plan on enlarging our garden area and learning to preserve more of what we grow. My husband has been busy fishing to hopefully supplement our meat and we are also talking about purchasing a chest freezer and buying grass fed beef in large quantities.
   I will certainly be done with my studies in natural animal health by then and perhaps it will open income producing doors for jobs I can do from home.
  So, with plans in hand, we will just do the best we can to make our homestead right where we are!

Kittens!!

Night before last, as I was driving to One of my petsitting visits, I saw some furry critters scurrying about the sidewalk. So, being the type of person who can't just turn my head, I turned my truck around and pulled over. 5 kittens sat there all huddled together, scared, abandoned and hungry. One brave kitten came up to me meowing with all it's might! I searched my truck for something to put them in, drove them to my home and got them set up before heading back out 1/2 hour late.
I will never fully understand how anyone can disregard life like that and it makes my blood boil.
Now I have someone else's responsibility as my own. 5 responsibilities to feed, clean up after and care for while we search for good homes for them. The kittens are already looking better and despite the extra work, I have been enjoying having babies in the house. These precious babies don't know they were tossed out to die for convenience reasons, all they know is they have food, shelter, toys and a human to use as a jungle gym. They are so happy :) I pray that every kitten gets an incredible home that will care for them forever!

Cool weather has arrived

We are finely getting some cooler weather here in Florida. There is nothing like cool, crisp weather to make you feel motivated and stir up the pioneer spirit!! I started moving logs and clearing branches from the trees that fell over in storm beryl. It makes me wish we had wood heat so we could use all these dead trees. In our future homestead there will definately be some wood heat! Work outside the home has been lite this month, a mixed blessing. This time of year, when the weather is cool but not too cold, walking dogs is a very enjoyable profession to be in :)

The love of Fall

Fall, it has to be my favorite time of year! The cool, crisp nights. The beautiful, invigorating days. Colorful trees, harvest, getting into your warm cozy cloths, crackling fires, lack of bugs, I could go on and on!! Unfortunately, fall doesn't want to get to our neck of the woods, sure it's cooler then it was in the dead of summer, but it's still humid and hot most days with most nights refusing to get below 70. The bugs are still biting too! I know it will come and I'll probibly be hoping for spring by the time February comes but for now I'm craving the gifts of fall :)

The joy of guest

This week we have had some guest visiting and it's been fun. There is something nice about having guest come and visit, I don't know if it's the chance to do nice little extras to bless somebody or the change of pace but I enjoy it. Being an animal person, I've especially enjoyed our guest little dog who has made herself comfortable. She is an adorable little girl who is fascinated by the chickens and our cats! The chickens are not nearly as thrilled with her although they are starting to relax a little and the cats, well, they keep an eye on her at all times!!
  It is hard to keep up with everything when you have guest. Work, supper, writing, animals, schedules, they all become a bit more chaotic. I am getting behind on quite a bit of things but that's OK :)
 There will always be tomorrow and if there is no tomorrow then I can say I prioritized the right things on the last day of my life!!

Finding freedom in debt elimination-part 4

To Save or not to save?
 Having a savings is a key part of staying out of debt after you have cut your debt down. With savings, if something happens, you don’t have to use that dreaded credit card to handle it. But the real question is whether you should save first before you start paying down debts. As with most debt reduction ideas we’ve discussed, this has a lot to do with your particular situation. If you are in so much debt you can hardly pay your bills every month, putting savings aside may not be your best first step. .
When deciding about a savings account consider your interest rates versus interest earned. Most savings accounts only earn around 1% but the average credit card charges 18% interest. By paying off a credit card you have “saved” 17% more then the same amount in a savings account and permanently freed up a payment from your monthly debt load.
  So when should you think about savings? Setting aside savings is a very important step along the way. If you can set aside a little savings while still paying on debt reduction, that can really work out to your benefit. That way you are making progress on your debt payoff plan while putting aside a little for emergencies. The key to savings is finding a balance that gives you an emergency fund while not interfering with your debt reduction plan. Setting up goals can really help, you may want to pay two or three high interest debts off first, then work on a savings.
How much should you save?
  Sometimes answering this question feels like trying to answer the question, how much money is enough? It’s been my experience that there is never “enough” It depends wholly on what your saving for. When working towards financial freedom keep in mind that every bill you don’t have is a savings. I think everyone should go into retirement debt free so they can enjoy there retirement years with far less stress and money worries. There is nothing more sad then seeing a senior lose there home or struggling to eat well. When planning for retirement, getting rid of our debt should be a huge priority!!!
But right now, while your sitting here possibly drowning in debt with the worry of not being able to ever get ahead, a small saving is all you need. When you get to a point where you can put aside a little for savings start with a small goal. Just enough that can help you through a small unexpected bill, end of the year taxes, or a minor vehicle repair. Basically enough to help you through life's unexpected cost without using that credit card or taking out a loan! Then you can get back to paying down some more debt. When you get to where you can add to your savings again try to put aside enough where you could live comfortably on it for a month, then try for 3 months, then 6 months!
  Something I would like to mention that is a huge help in a debt reduction plan is a checking account cushion. When, and only when, you get to a point where you have a few bills paid off and a little savings put aside, you should consider building a cushion for your checking account. A checking account cushion is an amount of money that is in your checking account but not considered in your budget. You know it’s there but you don’t consider it usable. It is an invaluable tool to protect your checking account, savings account and make sure bills are paid on time! We only recently started doing this again and it has proven itself over and over. It can be just $100 or $500+. It should be enough where if you get hit with a small unexpected bill or someone in the household accidentally makes a budgeting mistake your account is not overdrawn and you have time to correct it. If you do dip into your cushion, put it in your budget as a deficit and replace it ASAP just like it was a bill.