Budgeting

  To save enough money to be able to buy a few acres debt free will of course require a lot of determination, and self control -  Self control not to spend on wants and determination to try and reduce our needs. A budget helps. We usually have a fortnightly budget because Andrew gets paid fortnightly.

Andrews scrapbooking

  I make a list of all our weekly, fortnightly and monthly expenses, and break it down into fortnightly payments. I always pay bills first and put money away for quarterly and annual bills. What is left over after putting savings away is our 'slush fund' so to speak. Money we can use for luxuries, in our case usually craft supplies. By having a few dollars left over, and it doesn't have to be a lot,  it helps with the saving process.

Kate and Emily

 Instead of feeling like every single spare dollar needs to get put away, we know that we can still do our hobbies, still create beautiful things which is very important to us. We have always been a creative family, and to lose that over a block of land would not be right.

Benji

  We live fairly simply already, so our expenditures are not too huge, but having a large family means that bills like water and electricity are high and seem to be getting higher! and of course feeding a large family also takes a lot of money.

 As hard as I try, I don't seem to be able to reduce our water or electricity consumption. We don't have  tank water, nor do we have solar power, so we are totally reliant on town supplies of both.  But groceries I can manipulate. By shopping differently, cooking more simple meals, buying in bulk and directly from farmers I can save money and often the quality of our food is better.

Jake and Nick

  But all this takes more time on my part, and that is something I have noticed over the last little while, trying to live a more simple lifestyle, trying to save money all requires a lot more work. It is so easy to buy what we need, making it is more time consuming and difficult.

Beth and Jess

But isn't that part of the adventure of life,  working hard and making life beautiful.

  Jenny

Saving while renting?

Is it possible to save for a place of our own while still paying rent?

  We have been renting for about 8 years now and although I am grateful that we have a roof over our heads ( and 2 bathrooms), it would be lovely to have our own place! A place where we don't have to ask permission to do anything, where I can hang pictures, or paint if I want to. Where I can have our dog inside and a cow outside. And more room for the children to run around in.

  So Andrew and I have decided that for the next 18 months we are going to try and save enough for some land.

 We are a one income family. When we had our children we decided that I would stop working and become a permanent homemaker. While this works for the family and the children and Andrew like having me at home, financially it can be difficult especially with debt.

 Debt can be the killer of savings.  With debt there is often no option for saving because all our money is already earmarked.

  When we married we had a mortgage,  credit card debts and a personal loan. Financially we were drowning, so we made some tough choices. We sold the house, payed off all our loans and cut up our credit cards. We now have a "cash on the barrel" philosophy as Pa Ingalls would say.  As hard as it has been it has also been wonderful. We don't owe anyone, but if we want to buy something, especially big ticket items, we have to wait or go without.

 So when it comes to saving for land, while it is a possibility it is also going to take much sacrifice from all of us. We are going to have to set a strict budget and stick to it. I am going to try and save money on the groceries by cooking more from scratch and making more cleaning products. Christmas may be a little simpler and we won't have as much discretionary income for our craft supplies. But the end result will be wonderful. We will have our own piece of land and will be able to start homesteading in earnest.


 Jenny