Have been a reader of this forum and many others of the same mind for years.
I have been called extreme many times in my life. I don't believe I think the way people have been conditioned from the masses and media and constantly ask 'why' on many things. This has caused a ton of unpopularity. And I am way okay with that.
I am starting over, yet again, again. I got debt free the first time in '07, and it was GREAT!! Was well on the way to start saving up for my freedom. As the saying goes, life happened. In the ensuing years, my hubby got cancer, fought 2 years, passed away, daughter grown and married and gone. I tried, I really tried to make sense of life after this, drank too much, didn't help. Got jobs, lost jobs, appeared like I was 'making it' according to others along the way. Yet, always knew that type of trying to fit in with the norm just was NOT for me.
Fast forward to now. Have been sober over a year now, recently became a grandma, and just remarried. The new hubby is new to this type of thinking, of the not being a slave just to have 'stuff', of aiming for freedom. The thought of early retirement and being financially independent is a whole new outlook and he is warming up to it very well. After raising his son for the past 10 years alone and living paycheck to paycheck, he is realizing there is a better way out there. So very thankful for this.
What I am hoping to accomplish in the next 5 years is a combination of both drastically reducing living expenses, and looking at different avenues to produce passive incomes along with hobbies that might bring in occasional income.
The reducing expenses avenue I'm looking in to is extreme: moving an older paid trailer onto paid for land, we have both between the two of us. This will reduce rent/mortgage expenses, and property taxes are cheap in my state. The land should be able to get a well dug, reducing another ongoing expense. Aiming to get a propane tank for heat and hook up to electric, which should be our only utility expenses, but will couple this with placing the trailer to the benefit of passive solar heating/cooling along with eventually adding solar when-if prices go down.
Will also want to garden for some of our food to save on groceries. The soil there I hear is really good. Going the homestead and permaculture if my black thumb will allow.
That is all for now. Look forward to reading on this forum and hear ideas and hopefully contribute some, as well.
