City to Gritty

We are three months into the epic bread winner – house spouse role swap and it is awesome! Did we deplete a uncomfortable amount of our savings in the transition? Yes. Would we go back to the way it was before? No.

Our savings can be rebuilt, we are working really hard to try and keep money from restricting our growth and be willing to take a step back to leap forward. Work hard. Pay cash. Don’t fall for debt.

Steve is killing it as a house husband and homeschool teacher. He and the kids are closer than ever, Greyson and I cry less, we are a family unit more hours of the week than ever before, and I have successfully replaced Steve’s income as a remote contract bookkeeper. We are feeling so comfortable we decided to add crazy to our life in January and adopt a new puppy, her name is Honey Bear and she is a Belgian Malinois and German Shepherd mix. Her and her litter mates were found New Years Eve and we adopted her and are fostering her sister. I think her sister is going to end up being adopted by my mom because she got attached while she was here. How can you not? They are the sweetest puppies! I think we are going to explore training Honey Bear in search and rescue.

Now, to recap. Something we should have thought about was making this transition during the holiday/winter months. We tend to spend more money in the winter because indoor activities cost money more often than not, the holidays are always more expensive than we expect them to be, and there was definitely a touch of hubris. Going on trips we had no business going on kind of hubris… We had a great savings so we have not gotten ourselves in any major debt over the past four months since we updated last. November and December were slow income months with Steve stepping down his working in November so I could ramp up. Steve was fully done with work in December and I was still ramping up. It was split, two months not making his income and these last two months I have. We are going to play a bit of catch up, but I have done a budget and we are really tightening the screws to get ourselves back to our savings goals before summer. I need to keep this client momentum up for a few more months and then I will feel confident we are past the worst of it. I love my clients and am really enjoying the work I am doing for the small businesses in my community.

Steve has a routine after a couple hair pulling months, but now he is getting into a groove. Greyson regressed in not only his reading, but his motivation. When they started he insisted he forgot all number recognition and sight words, now he does basic fractions and can read an early reader book on his own. Boom! Steve was able to continue working on the kitchen with more time, and has taken the sourdough game in this house to the next level, and I swear I eat like royalty every dang night. The kids get to help him cook all the time and his recipes are really intricate and fascinating to them. They are going to know how to make a four course meal before they will know how to make a PowerPoint presentation. Win! We ate the last of his turkey he killed spring 2022 for Thanksgiving and the last meal of it was in Schnitzel form and…. Oh. My. Goodness. DEVINE! Add fresh baked sourdough bread and a bacon cauliflower mash and I was done… Chef’s kiss my love, you nailed it!

No regrets about this shake up – it is going to slingshot our homesteading for sure! That being said, it was, and continues to be, a bit of a scary change.

Now, about the homestead… One year ago February 24th, we closed on our property and this dream started to materialize. What started as a purely recreational space this time last year has now become a die hard goal to redefine the rest of our adult lives and what my kids to grow up to value. What did we get done in 2022? Purchased the property, established a driveway, installed a picnic table and fire pit, found and developed a spring, installed a water tank, purchased a four wheeler for hunting and property development, met some of our lovely neighbors, and made a ton of priceless memories. Steve upped his food game by harvesting his first wild turkey and feeding us several amazing meals from it.

Looking forward at 2023 we are so excited to get started on our list of goals! This year we are going to establish an internet connection up at the property so I can work remotely and we can spend one to two weeks up working and developing each month this spring/summer/fall. We are going to build on our water collection system that we established in August last year and add another tank that we can eventually gravity feed to the future homesite. We are going to get the septic system installed, pick a cabin plan (yes, cabin, not yurt) apply for a building permit, and build the exterior of the cabin before the passes closes for the winter. To do this I am going to have to work full time to afford all these things in cash plus maybe withdraw a bit from our retirement accounts to close the cash gap. The plans we are looking at are about 600sq feet with two bedrooms, one bathroom, and a kitchen/living area with wood stove.

We spent so many months this winter batting the yurt vs cabin discussion around like a cat toy… When it comes down to it, Steve is our project manager due to his extensive construction experience, so his comfort level in the project is a priority. He has never built a yurt and that is where most of his apprehension lies. His arguments for a stick built house are: longevity, pay as you go, ability to use upcycled materials to save cost, weather durability, options to build on to the structure in the future. We still plan to get a yurt so my dreams are totally smashed, but his arguments are realistic. To avoid having to get a cement truck up to this remote area Steve wants to pour pillars. We will need generators and will rely on fuel more than I’d like, but Steve is still researching using some tools with solar power in lieu of generator power. The internet has told us that you can get as low as $40/sq ft if you build with as many recycled materials as possible without compromising the quality of the structure. I guess we will put that to the test!

Our first trip to the property is planned for the end of March, but it has been a snowy tundra over there since November so it all depends on the weather at this point. We have a hefty list and a slim budget, but I feel we do our best work when our feet are to put to the fire. Let’s do this!