This is Melissa blogging again, I have to admit something. I am super scared, at the amount of money that we owe. I am not going to lie. I feel as though the Government owns my life. With student loans and even the tax they take out of my pay cheque...its barely impossible to survive.
I wish I knew what I know now when it comes to money. University is possibly the most horrible thing that can happen to someone. LOL, it teaches you nothing about money and you are just handed thousands of dollars at once...and expected not to blow it...yeah as if that would ever happen. Its money for free! Or so I thought...now reality is biting my ass. (pardon my french). Rick and I were working on a debt repayment calculator. Do you know how long it is saying its going to take us to repay back everything at the min payments? 137 months...that is 11.5 years... wow thats a long time...considering I am going to be 28 years old next week.
In all of this, there has to be something good come of it. I never thought in a million years that I would get excited over watching tomatoes grow...or waiting for my herbs to grow in my kitchen...and who would have thought I could even think about going near a real live turkey...but these are the sacrifises I must make to try and become more self sufficiant. Which will save us LOADS of money...which is a good thing right?? My husband just thrives on this, and I get excited watching him get excited over the simple things in life...like planting our garden. (even though its going to take LOADS of work on both our ends..but I will end up with a great tan I think!) I hope there is just atleast one person out there that feels the same way as I do. As hopeless as it may seem, and as much sacrificing it is going to take, it is VERY possible to get our debt paid off in exaclty 38 months!!
That means no more shopping trips, no more car looking, no more trips, but its all worth it to make 137 months of agony shrink down to 38 months...of agony..lol...
Monday, March 30, 2009
Monday, March 23, 2009
The results of a trip to PEI
My husband wants me to write a blog. So I decided what better time to write one when I am writing about a trip to PEI...to get stuff for our garden....AND to see my best friend and her family.
We left Friday evening....and got to PEI, Sat morning...not really...but it seemed that way. It may have been b/c we got lost a few times, drove down one way streets the wrong way and ended up seeing most of Charlottetown in one evening, which truly was NOT not the plan. Who knew that such a small island could be so friggin' confusing! All I wanted to do was end up and Ryan and Brandy's at a decent hour...but that would have been too easy!
Anyways, on to our adventure. We got up on Sat (well Rick woke up at like 5:00am so excited that we were gonna be getting stuff for our garden and not to mention that Veseys is Ricks most favorite store) BUT I woke up at around 7:30 to a little voice coming from Brandy and Ryans room yelling... Good Morning Guys! It was Hailey their little girl...shes so sweet:)
ANYWAYS, when we got to Veseys...I knew I was going to be in for a treat (haha). Ricks eyes lit up like you wouldn't believe and he was ready to start seed shopping. Our seed shopping lasted well over an hour (or so it seemed). Rick loved it...I on the other hand could have handled it if Veseys had a little clothing section or something with a lot of pink....like they should have had pink gardening gloves or something...apparently they did, but I was more or less trying to get out of there at a good time so I was busy helping Rick.
We finally got everything picked out that was on the list, and we were out of there. The women at the cash were surprised by how much we got...and to be honest so was I. But apparently if we are going to become self sufficient, and try and sell our produce, we have to spend a little money. Which is ok I can be good at that. So we have pictures of what we bought...and some pictures of the bridge that everyone has seen already. OH and by the way...our pepper plants are growing! I am so excited:) AND...I bought a few herbs that I am going to plant and keep in my kitchen its going to be my own little thing.
We left Friday evening....and got to PEI, Sat morning...not really...but it seemed that way. It may have been b/c we got lost a few times, drove down one way streets the wrong way and ended up seeing most of Charlottetown in one evening, which truly was NOT not the plan. Who knew that such a small island could be so friggin' confusing! All I wanted to do was end up and Ryan and Brandy's at a decent hour...but that would have been too easy!
Anyways, on to our adventure. We got up on Sat (well Rick woke up at like 5:00am so excited that we were gonna be getting stuff for our garden and not to mention that Veseys is Ricks most favorite store) BUT I woke up at around 7:30 to a little voice coming from Brandy and Ryans room yelling... Good Morning Guys! It was Hailey their little girl...shes so sweet:)
ANYWAYS, when we got to Veseys...I knew I was going to be in for a treat (haha). Ricks eyes lit up like you wouldn't believe and he was ready to start seed shopping. Our seed shopping lasted well over an hour (or so it seemed). Rick loved it...I on the other hand could have handled it if Veseys had a little clothing section or something with a lot of pink....like they should have had pink gardening gloves or something...apparently they did, but I was more or less trying to get out of there at a good time so I was busy helping Rick.
We finally got everything picked out that was on the list, and we were out of there. The women at the cash were surprised by how much we got...and to be honest so was I. But apparently if we are going to become self sufficient, and try and sell our produce, we have to spend a little money. Which is ok I can be good at that. So we have pictures of what we bought...and some pictures of the bridge that everyone has seen already. OH and by the way...our pepper plants are growing! I am so excited:) AND...I bought a few herbs that I am going to plant and keep in my kitchen its going to be my own little thing.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
The Beginning
Today, I built a small greenhouse for our seed trays. I built it out of recycled lumber. Keeping the cost low...that is the challenge...this greenhouse is going to cost us under $10.00. Tonight, Melissa and I started planting cold weather crops in seed trays. In other words this means we started lettuce, spinach and swiss chard. After the weekend we will be starting more. Can not wait until we can actually plant these in the ground.
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
The Realization
My wife and I started this blog to chronicle our new life together and our new life "on" the farm. Its taken me a while to convince her that we should do this farming 'together'. I think in the end it was the healthiness of this lifestyle also seeing how happy it makes me that did her in. I do think deep down Melissa is getting excited herself, which is amazing to me.
My wife and I came up with the plan to begin a semi-new lifestyle which will see us become debt free in less than three years! Also we will begin to produce as much of our own food as possible..."becoming self sufficient". We will become involved in farm markets or at least sell our excess produce elsewhere.
We realized shortly after our marriage that a husband and wife should not bear the burden of two large student loans for very long, if they would like their lives to be somewhat pleasant. The problem of course is paying is back.
We both racked our brains for weeks then months trying to figure out how to take us from being over 50,000 in debt to positive figures in THREE years. We both concluded that nothing short of selling our spare organs would accomplish this in that short of time. Neither of us liked that prospect so we went back to the drawing board. We understood that this is really going to take a lot of sacrifice and commitment to get rid of such a debt load.
We need to cut costs in every area. Not only is it our combined student loans (which got us NO WHERE) there is the normal every day bills such as rent, car payments, etc.
Our next biggest expense is food. I LOVE to eat. In fact I eat almost ALL day. Luckily, with our new plan...this is one way we can really cut costs! I love to garden and I dream to be mostly self sufficient someday so it was the perfect time for me to convince Melissa that planting gardens and raising animals would greatly decrease our bills while at the same time ensuring BETTER food, exercise and entertainment all resulting in a healthier lifestyle. Truly a "Win Win" situation. So this begins our adventure...one that does not have any options but to go forward...now I just gotta figure out how to get Melissa to like goats and chickens.....
My wife and I came up with the plan to begin a semi-new lifestyle which will see us become debt free in less than three years! Also we will begin to produce as much of our own food as possible..."becoming self sufficient". We will become involved in farm markets or at least sell our excess produce elsewhere.
We realized shortly after our marriage that a husband and wife should not bear the burden of two large student loans for very long, if they would like their lives to be somewhat pleasant. The problem of course is paying is back.
We both racked our brains for weeks then months trying to figure out how to take us from being over 50,000 in debt to positive figures in THREE years. We both concluded that nothing short of selling our spare organs would accomplish this in that short of time. Neither of us liked that prospect so we went back to the drawing board. We understood that this is really going to take a lot of sacrifice and commitment to get rid of such a debt load.
We need to cut costs in every area. Not only is it our combined student loans (which got us NO WHERE) there is the normal every day bills such as rent, car payments, etc.
Our next biggest expense is food. I LOVE to eat. In fact I eat almost ALL day. Luckily, with our new plan...this is one way we can really cut costs! I love to garden and I dream to be mostly self sufficient someday so it was the perfect time for me to convince Melissa that planting gardens and raising animals would greatly decrease our bills while at the same time ensuring BETTER food, exercise and entertainment all resulting in a healthier lifestyle. Truly a "Win Win" situation. So this begins our adventure...one that does not have any options but to go forward...now I just gotta figure out how to get Melissa to like goats and chickens.....
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