the daydream fund challenge thread

COOLTRIKERCHICK

Davesnave wrote: »

Hello, I'm up early this morning, though not for any practical reason.

Becoming debt-free was just impossible when we had a mortgage. We'd get to a point when everything was going well, and then an unexpected expense would happen and the old CC would come out....I'm lucky that my pension lump sum cleared the mortgage just when I wanted to retire, or at least wind-down into self employment. The pension isn't quite enough to live on, hence we need to do something extra. We have a few plant sales coming up in May which will stop us dipping into the house fund for a while.

The car, which had a couple more trouble-free years left in it, has been valued at £1500, but I can buy it as scrap for £150 and keep the change! I shall then put my local garage man onto bending the rear door (it's an estate) back so we can open & close it etc etc and we may be able to carry on using it. The surplus money will be added to some insurance policy money I had, & we'll buy a newer van, because vans are dead useful when you are moving. Ours is on its last legs (wheels!)

There's very little new coming onto the market, post Easter. I'm not too concerned, as we have the plant sales to think about for the next month or two & we'll also start looking for a new rental, in Wales. It would help to be a bit closer!

that sounds like a good idea, to rent in wales, then you can get to see properties, plus find out where all the markets are etc....

i know you have mentioned it ( well i think you have) what type of plants do you sell? i am hoping to take some broad beans and poss some cabbage etc to the farm auction on saturday.

i might even see if i can get garden plant cuttings this year, and start taking cuttings from my honeysuckle again, ready to sell for next year

got to go as i am in work early this week sooooooooooooooooooooooo

much work to sort through....

COOLTRIKERCHICK

hoping to aim to break the 1K barrier at the weekend, only another 219 of them to go:rotfl: doesnt sound so bad like that...lol...

really tired this week, as work is sooooooooo busy and going in at 7am every moring is now taking its toll...

but this means i WILL have wages at the end of April..hurrayyyyyyy

how much yet i will have to see how much it can afford this month. but it is a start..

better go as i will be late ( work is only 2 mins up the road)

MRSMCAWBER

Morning all

Well after 8 days of scorching hot weather -we have managed to mow and tidy up the lawn :j-so here are a few pics of the space I will be using this year -I am planning on using it in a much different way to last year -so hope it works well

On this one you can see where I have my arches running along the soak away -and in the right corner I have stuck a red/white/black currant a raspberry cane and red guzgog... I wasn't expecting much to happen -but the curants are in bud :T
each fence post has a hanging bag on with 2 strawberry plants in -I have set 6 bags and will get some more tomorrow for the other 3 bags and then I have 2 collapsible benches that don't get used so 2 compost bags are going on there so I can have a strawberry table-guess who loves strawberries? ..and the plants are 50c -so a bargain and really healthy too .


I will be putting the indeterminate tomatoes in the pots sunk into the troughs here and the determinate ones in the front of them.
the buckets have strings running over the tent and to other buckets so I will be planting my 6 cucumbers in there and "something" will fill the troughs in between... I have the same tom/cumber set up on the other side of the patio -

And here is my home made brassica tent -I have plenty of seedling on the go in there and room for more. Then the troughs and pots at the end of the patio will be for peppers and aubergines, and just peeping out at the top of the pic is my coldframe where the lettuces are at the moment..

So there it is... my space -so far...can't wait until its all covered in fruit n veg :eek:

On the money front when I get my housekeeping this month -oohh only 8 days -it will be going straight into the savings account ..and then I will have €3258.79 out here and £179.66 in the UK :T.... and then as of next month I have asked hubby to give me less housekeeping here and to transfer the rest straight into my uk account so I can get some savings built up there -so we are on our way ....just keep your pinkies crossed that nothing occurs that will mean dipping into the fund
Right off out to see if anything needs a drink before the full heat kicks in..
have a great day everyone

Davesnave

COOLTRIKERCHICK;20709217]that sounds like a good idea, to rent in wales, then you can get to see properties, plus find out where all the markets are etc....

i know you have mentioned it ( well i think you have) what type of plants do you sell? i am hoping to take some broad beans and poss some cabbage etc to the farm auction on saturday.

We sold mainly perennial plants & shrubs. Realising that the garden centres were a bit pants back in the mid-90s, we decided to get hold of the better, newer varieties and then sell them cheaper than the big outlets. As we gained skill & contacts, we started adding things that were pretty hard to obtain, as by then we had special places to get plants, seeds and so on. We tried to do a lot of things in small quantities and to make our stall a bit of a treasure trove by putting new things in every week through the season.

We were in the very first Farmers' Market and, although they had to let us join because our stall pre-dated them, we also went with the idea of selling some edible stuff, like chillis, tomatoes, herbs etc.

So, a bit of a mixture, really! TBH we will not be selling at markets in Wales though, partly because DW can't do the heavy lifting involved any more, and also rural Farmers' Markets are small and wouldn't have room for us. Our stall was roughly half the size of the entire Farmers' Market in Lampeter last time we saw that! I don't say that as any kind of boast; we needed 6 tables worth of stuff, plus floor space, just to earn a living in a city of 80 000. That's 2 markets a week, plus one or two shows/plant fairs at weekends in the surrounding area.

The sad fact is,there are too many nurseries out there chasing a dwindling amount of sales. People buying in cheap from the continent and selling stuff they've not grown themselves at big outdoor events, plus the DIY sheds doing the same, is making plant nurseries a dodgy thing to base your living on.

My advice is keep your overheads low and seek out places where you can shift things cheaply, in the weather you choose, like car boot sales etc.

FrankieM

I've been reading this great thread with interest. I too, would like a smallholding but still have a fair whack of mortgage to get paid off.
So thats my plan for the moment, get the house sellable and overpay on the motgage....I would love to be in the position where I could buy mortgage free but wonder if that's just too big a dream.
DH and I are 37 & 36 so maybe by our 40's.....

COOLTRIKERCHICK

FrankieM wrote: »

I've been reading this great thread with interest. I too, would like a smallholding but still have a fair whack of mortgage to get paid off.
So thats my plan for the moment, get the house sellable and overpay on the motgage....I would love to be in the position where I could buy mortgage free but wonder if that's just too big a dream.
DH and I are 37 & 36 so maybe by our 40's.....

i allways said i wanted a smallholding by the time i was 40, nearly ???? years passed that, and i am still wanting...lol..


i will never give up trying to get my dream a reality, even if i get the keys when i am on my zimmer frame..lol..





put some more change in my tin today....in the middle of having a cuppa, and then i am gong to sort out and label and box the things for the farm auction tomorrow, and put them in the van ready...so no faffing round in the morning....:rolleyes:

Rummer

I have the feeling I will be too old to look after my smallholding by the time I can finally afford it!

COOLTRIKERCHICK

Rummer wrote: »

I have the feeling I will be too old to look after my smallholding by the time I can finally afford it!

thats what i feel, but if you dont try you never know.....plus never give up hope or the dream....of whatever you want to achieve or have in life...

Davesnave

Rummer wrote: »

I have the feeling I will be too old to look after my smallholding by the time I can finally afford it!

You might be pleasantly surprised. Two of my chums open their gardens to the public and have about 5 acres each. Both started with green field sites back in the 1960s, so they're now in their 80s.

It isn't clear what keeps these people going, but looking at their rather un-modern houses, it isn't spending on luxuries or sitting in front of the telly!

FrankieM

Here I was thinking you were all younger than me...I often feel like I started being wise with money a little too late in the game. That I'll never quite manage to reach my dreams while I'm still young enough to enjoy them.....it's lovely to know that I'm not the only one who has these thoughts and encourages me to keep plodding on!