Saturday 3 March 2012

My story, part 2..


Thank you for reading yesterday and for all your nice comments.

I bought my first home with my, then, partner and it was an ex council house that I picked up for a song (£77,000 in the South East with was a real bargain at the time) and was in need of an awful lot of work. I love to get my hands dirty, so I did 100% of the work myself and sold it after 2 years for £110,000. I tried everything and learnt any new skill that I needed by reading books and just giving it a go with patience. Making some money was just a lucky circumstance. Unfortunately we had got into debt because we had had to take a loan out to make up the deposit and our relationship just couldn’t stand the stress, so all in all, I came out of that experience £13,000 richer, but life poorer and more stressed than ever. Shortly after this I bought my flat in London and that was an expense I could, fortunately, at the time afford, although only just. I was comfortable but very discontent in a city I hated. The thing it allowed me to do was to sell up and move here with a small mortgage of only £46,000. Which makes me a very lucky man indeed.

As I have hinted, I had become increasingly sick of people wasting money and began to look back with shame at some of the ways in which I had wasted money in the past. It is so much easier to just do what everyone else does, but I think in this way it is easy to lose perspective on who you really are and what you really need.

I bought some pots and started planting my own veg and to be honest, I think my real journey began when those first green shoots appeared in my tomato plants. It was a revelation to me that I could grow something from a tiny seed that could eventually feed me. I bought a guide to self-sufficiency by Dick Strawbridge and devoured it, borrowed gardening books and read them from cover to cover and a plan took seed, just like those first green shoots of the tomato plants. I had become increasingly depressed and stopped going out much, not just because of the money but because of my hatred for where I lived. I saw that I had to make a long term plan. Being immobile was not an option.

Stage one of my plan happened about 3 years ago, when I started taking driving lessons, I knew that if I was going to live in the country, I had to be able to drive and until then, it had not been necessary. I did this, passed and bought a car.
Stage two was saving, saving and saving some more. I knew that I would have about £37,000 once I had sold my flat, so knew this would buy me nothing in the South East without a wopping mortgage and anyway, deep down I wanted the county I was born in. It was a slow realization. I was born in Lancashire and I am a Northerner at heart and was never meant to live in a Southen city. So lucky for me that house prices are very different in the North than in the South, I could have never done it the other way around. Having said that, I can honestly say that I would move anywhere to have improved my lot. 

And that would be my first piece of advice to anyone wanting to do something similar. Don’t be afraid of moving or trying something new if it could improve your life. Move to a modest home and look at your serious priorities. I think a garden was a top priority for me because it gives me the means to grow my own food, to get my hands in the earth and to build that connection up again with mother nature.There is nothing quite so calming as spending an afternoon working in the garden. My wish list had a sunny aspect garden at the top of the list – I felt it to be more important than the house actually – which made estate agents roll their eyes at me! Next I wanted a fixer upper, learn to do whatever can be done by yourself. Don’t pay someone if you can do something yourself, however busy you are, you can find time, think of all the time you save by not going shopping!

Anyway, back to the story. After passing my driving test, I gave myself 2 years more (was stuck in a fixed rate mortgage) and decided to make myself save another £10,000 in that time – no mean feat on a fairly low income with a mortgage to pay. I literally reduced my spending down to the bare minimum, I learnt how to cook everything from scratch and experimented with learning how to make just about any product that could be bought, from scratch. I tried making baked beans, tomato ketchup, shampoo, washing up liquid (not successful) etc etc, you get the picture. When you begin to break things down to the basics, you realise that most things can be done yourself, for a fraction of the cost – not always cheaper, but mostly.

So second piece of advice, learn to cook! Go to the library and get cookery books, or beg borrow and steal them. Buy a freezer and make large amounts of everything and get it frozen. Never throw a single piece of good food away and if it looks like it might go off, do something with it and freeze it! If you don't need it, don't buy it.

That is the end of part 2 and tomorrow I will post the final part of my short journal.

20 comments:

  1. So sad about your relationship, but it is in times like that that one sees the true colours of others.

    And - life has a way of helping you along. If you had remained in that relationship, then you probably wouldn't be on the path that you are now on. Sometimes heartaches are blessings in disguise... :)

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  2. That was very interesting! You`ve certainly come a long way to fulfill your hearts desire. Well done and hopefully happy days ahead for you in your new home.

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  3. I'm glad a sunny aspect was top of your priorities. When we bought our first home, we bought it because it had a cedar greenhouse and most importantly of all - a big rhubarb plant! Our estate agent I think, thought we were mad too! Very interesting story.

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  4. Well done. Your story should be required reading. I love the fact you had a plan and worked hard to achieve it. So many just complain and let life throw them around. You said, "no way, I have a path."

    ps: Your cottage is wonderful.

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  5. I am enthralled, it's a great story. Will we be able to hear you sing, youtube or something similar?

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  6. If you are very good I may give you a link Ilona......lol

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  7. When someone learns to grow food, prepare meals from scratch, save harvests, make cleaning and hygiene products, and take on (even the simplest) household and garden projects, the feeling of accomplishment takes root, grows, and empowers the doer. And the more you do, the more you find you can (even WANT) to do!

    Your story is a perfect illustration of that! Look how far you've come to self-sufficiency. What most non-frugal folks don't really 'get' is that doing for yourself (and not following the consumer herd) is fun, challenging and truly fulfilling. At the end of the day when others quake when economic markets fluctuate, our stock in ourselves only grows.

    Looking forward to part III. Cheers. :-D

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  8. Looking forward to the next thrilling instalment - same time same place tomorrow ?
    I hope you are giving yourself the praise you truly deserve for coming this far ..........
    You have the right attitude.

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  9. You've come a really long way. You should be so proud of yourself. I am as enthralled as Iona. Would love to hear you sing. We'll be very good.
    Love from Mum
    xx
    PS Don't feel obliged but it would be wonderful if you could sing at our Virtual Spring Fair.

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  10. Your life story that brought you to where you are now is truly amazing as is the way you write it. Don't ever think of it as boring. You have sacrificed alot to pursue your dream by scrimping and saving to achieve what you truly wanted. You are an inspiration and I know that you will find another relationship with someone who shares your dream. Keep writing and I too would love to hear you sing.

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  11. Oh, yes...we would LOVE to hear you sing :)

    Great journey (you've learned a lot in a very short time!!) and I'm looking forward to reading more :) Very good advice, too :)

    My DH and I are retired and I'm more aware of the areas in our lives that we need to cut down (or out) on. I'm not doing too well in the grocery department, but I'm trying to use more or what's in the freezer and the pantry and not running to the store whenever I see a recipe I'd like to try. I love to cook and bake so it's actually been fun "making up" my own concoctions (which have been delicious, if I say so myself).

    I love these blogs about being frugal because they really inspire me to cut expenses wherever I can :)

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  12. Very interesting story - thank you for sharing it. Your story is a great encouragement to all who feel the need to make the changes to enable them to live a truly fulfilling life.

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  13. Every journey is a series of steps. Sometimes we don't see it at the time but the steps are moving us in the right direction. Your path, though filled with ups and downs, has brought you to this moment where you are. It sounds like you are exactly where you need to be for happiness and peace. I know we don't "know" each other but I still feel like saying I'm so happy for you and wishing you good thoughts from "across the pond"!

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  14. I love hearing your story. If you love where you live you can make it work. If you hate where you live your entire life looks terrible.

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  15. I totally agree with you about not being afraid to move somewhere new - we moved from the south coast to Derbyshire nearly 20 years ago and we've never looked back. The quality of life away from large cities in the south east is so much better.

    Tawney x

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  16. I toatlly agree with you about not being afraid to move to something new. We moved from Southampton to Derbyshire 20 years ago and we've never looked back. The quality of life outside the south east is so much better. Despite being a born southerner, I would never go back.

    Tawney x

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  17. Enjoyed part 2! Looking forward to further instalments.

    Oh and you're a Taurus....you're *made* to have your hands in the earth. :-)

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  18. What is exactly "washing up liquid?" I am in the US. my blog is Practical Parsimony.

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  19. Hi, just found your blog and its excellent! To many of these blogs are about families or couples, yours ticks my boxes I.e age group, single home owner, wanting to be mortgage/debt free, wanting to be more self sufficient, a less stressful and more happy/rewarding lifestyle, I could go on! Love it!!

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    1. Glad you like it and happy to have you on board!

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