Prosperous soul in the making

savingholmes

Honeysucklelou2 wrote: »

Re the land issue, I second making sure that you have water. The allotment land we have was bought 10 years ago but has no water. Water butts at the side of the shed will provide so much, but in a hot summer, I end up filling 6 pint milk cartons to water plants!

Do you have any preferences for types of animals that you would prefer to keep?

That's really useful - I would be grateful if people could keep the tips coming - some of this you don't know you need until you are in the situation. I like the permaculture idea - or animal tractor some people talk about - where you use chickens and pigs to clear your land for you, use electric fencing and keep moving them on and then plant behind them. Other than that not given it too much thought yet. We already have a cat and a dog and our cat is regularly bringing in her trophies to show us...

We want to plant trees - and it looks like you can get grants of between 75% and 85% for some of the smallest saplings I've ever seen. I would like an orchard and fruit bushes and no-dig vegetable plots. I like some of the stuff you can do to grow things vertically as well - and some of the you tube I've watched on kind of edible forest ideas.

One property that I would want to buy tomorrow if it was near here instead of 3 hours away - has 18 acres of land - 14 of which are trees. The house is part renovated and needs finishing off - it is a tad on the small side - but a garden office or something would fix that. 18 acres sounds really appealing to me and OH - although I would need to understand more about landowner risks, insurance, public right of access etc. OH would like the hermit life - I would like to run a business from home - with holiday cottages / lodges or some sort of retreat as part of that. I think OH is a bit on the lazy side to be an ideal farmer but I think he would be happier doing that than his day job - so depending on the cost of the property that could be something we could explore in future.

Assuming life settles down - I would like to have a go at running some local retreat type workshops using other people's facilities on my weekends or annual leave days - so that I could show the bank we had experience and knew our target market. Similarly, I would like OH to use some of this waiting time to learn more about managing woodland, arboriculture, farming etc. He already has a chain saw.

You can tell I have a sweet tooth - as we have 3 apple trees, a plum tree and a cherry tree and various fruit bushes... Not a vegetable in sight in the garden. I suppose I have some herbs - lavender, sage, rosemary and we have chives.. I was challenged by some of what I 've been watching as I could grow salad, carrots, radishes etc on the kitchen windowsill and have in the past but kind of gave up. Need to restart from where we are.

We also want to use our two year [STRIKE]purgatory[/STRIKE] waiting period to get fitter and healthier so that some form of grow your own is more within our capabilities. I also still need to sort someone to design a cover for my first book and publish it to incentivise me to work harder on book 2.

savingholmes

Well it was lovely seeing DS last night. Sadly he's already talking about all the world travelling he intends to do after uni and I'm already struggling not to miss him in advance! Great for him - fantastic opportunities - but sad for us as parents.

He was going to go in a flat share with some uni friends at £110 each per week - for which we would have had to be guarantor. DH looked at the online Ts and Cs and said no! He is now looking at rooms in the £70-90 range which sound a lot more sensible. DS has asked DH to take him to look at some today so he can get sorted. He has seen some jobs he plans to apply for so we may only have this week with him at home before he flies the nest again. I hope he gets somewhere sorted soon but had only been expecting him to leave home again mid to end September.

As predicted he is over £3K in debt - including £1K to us. He's just realised he is paying 61% :eek::eek::eek:on his Ll0yds overdraft!!!!!! Luckily it has a £250 limit but what was he thinking!!! Doh - he wasn't. :wall::wall::wall: He hadn't got the £250 for his deposit (again as predicted) but had spent money on trousers and a jumper etc the previous day... I know he is 21 but seriously!! He will therefore potentially need to borrow the deposit from us - despite having known about it for about 4 months now. Luckily, I had allowed for that in our budget.

He has come home with a wish list of food he wants to eat and therefore us to buy - but has offered to cook it. He is a fantastic cook so that would be awesome and a great contribution to the household. I've said we either need to pick some food out online and order it (to control costs) or I would need to give him a list with help from MySup.... and send him in with the £ so that I'm not tempted to overspend myself.

Still trying to sort out the balance in my head between mothering him and loving him and budgeting and teaching him to budget.

glass_half_full

Hi savingholmes,
Read this post and it made me smile and resonated. We too have a 21 year old son who is going back to his final year at Uni and have similar challenges balancing the support vs getting him to stand on his own feet. Yours sounds really resourceful and hard working if he spent a year abroad. And he’s offering to cook too! We have our moments of tearing our hair out with our own.

savingholmes

Thank GHF - I needed that. We are really proud of everything he's achieved. He had spendy first half of his year abroad and messed up big style - but then got himself a job and did manage to earn 60% of his living expenses himself for the last 6 months he was there. Before he came home bless him, he had sat down with one of his aunts and redone his budget - using Excel as I prefer it but he uses YNAB - apparently you can get a year free as a student after your 1 month free trial...

He's got such radical plans but they shift like the sand. He was going to tie himself into a year's accommodation at uni - but is now wondering about only tying himself down for about a term as 85% of his course is in the first term. He is then considering moving to a large city - getting a full time job and doing the other 15% largely from there.... He's a bright spark so could probably pull it off but the rapid switches leave me feeling dizzy.

He and DH are now going out for a free walk with the dog and not to uni town as he was unable to set up viewings for today. I have a largely free day to myself although DD is currently in town with her new boyfriend - and I'll get to meet him for the first time later. Perhaps I could do some more work on one of my books or try and find a cover illustrator. I could do some work in the garden but last time I did that I got covered in bites... I could finish painting the shed... the choices!!

Considering a Chinese for later... apparently the English takeaway version is nothing like you can get in Oz or elsewhere. I may cook some cajun chicken for lunch. DD likely to be out. I might see if there are any courses I could do from September perhaps one evening a week - give me different people to talk to and some focus instead of drifting. I am still interested in the gym too so that could be a good alternative.

Reviewed the budget - still doing ok. DD doesn't seem to be expecting us to pay anything more towards motorbike but would like a tutor for her trial course so thinking of redirecting the £ to that or an online A level course with classes you can watch, unlimited tutor support and mock papers etc. May let her try the face-to-face version first - but if that doesn't work out - invest in an online one. The school said some of their teachers offer tutoring so that could be a safe way forward. Paying for a tutor could easily cost £25 a week - so would need to factor that into the budget which could delay our DFD but if it boosted her confidence and abilities would be worth it.

clearmydebts

Sounds like a lovely evening SavingH and your DS sounds like a smashing chap. I remember being that age with so many potential directions to head off in. It's a really exciting time!

Honeysucklelou2

Enjoy the time with your DS and hope the meeting of DD's boyfriend goes well.


Using livestock to clear the land is something I think I'm going to have to do. There are some tough perennial weeds at the allotment that I battle every year...and lose, so am now thinking that pigs may well be the best way forward. Is it worth looking around at some weekend / day courses in animal husbandry/ smallholding while you are in this waiting period? I've seen day courses run as a side business on farms or River Cottage ( Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall) has quite a course selection.

savingholmes

Hi CMD and Honeysuckle

Had a Chinese takeaway tonight. Lots left over but spendy day as DH and DS also ate out at lunch. Still within budget. New boyfriend for DD seems nice. DS has found a load of part time jobs to apply for and has cancelled the arrangement for the expensive flat share. He is now looking at alternatives. He is also looking into how to get his tax and ni back from Oz - he reckons he is due around £800.

I have looked into introductory courses - and would like DH / us to do them at some point. I think they need to be closer to the time though or he/we risk forgetting stuff if we don't practice quickly. DS is encouraging us to get out and about more - I don't disagree - however there are legitimate reasons for our rut getting this deep! There is a place about 20 miles from here that does one off day craft courses. I may book 1 or 2 of them as it would give me something to look forward to. We also need to arrange to catch up with friends more and re-connect with people.

My leg seems to have got worse again the last few days - unsure why. It's about 1.5 times the size of the other leg. I have alternated between elevating it and getting some short walks in but whatever is going on - my leg is unhappy. I still have dark purple bruising there too. I saw the doctor Tuesday with it though and she wasn't worried. I am using ibuprofen but am considering trying other medicine too. I need to go and pick up some prescriptions so could perhaps ask the pharmacist what they think...

clearmydebts

The takeaway sounds lovely SavingH. Your son seems to be injecting a new lease of life into yourself and your H too, which is lovely! I reconnected with a lot of friends over the summer, which was lovely. I found it very hard to do anything when I was working full time. I was too exhausted.

Keep an eye on your leg. Can you ring an out of hours doctor and see what they say.

jwil

I think it would be worth getting your leg checked again - particularly if it's got worse again.

savingholmes

Thanks CMD and Jwil - I took some cocodomol last night at bed time and that seems to have made it less painful. Will keep it under review. I can use it - it doesn't restrict movement - its just painful and swollen.

I bought a 20+ audio book last month - out of personal spends - so now on the £ or your life. It also has fascinating thoughts where you look at what you spend each month and work out whether it aligned with your values and whether it boosted your energy or reduced it. It also suggests that you work out your true hourly rate for working including travel time, transport, lunch, clothes etc to then help you think about your purchases eg that item cost 2 hours of time I will never get back do I still want it. Interesting so far - and lots of food for thought. It's one of the original F1r3 books.

DS has agreed to look after DD overnight so DH and I want to go away 1 night this week. We may even go and look at some of the properties we've been drooling over. If we were to buy one (unlikely) we would need to sell this one and move into temporary accommodation of some kind like a flat or small house during the week to keep our jobs for a transition period and go to the other place at the end of the week and all holidays. We would love that and see the sacrifice as worth it - DD would hate it. She hates all change and even going on cottage holidays so a remote farm house is unlikely to appeal. I want to go and look to. I am really confused about what you are allowed to do on land you own as there seem to be a lot of contradictory messages out there. Any help gratefully received.