My First Year at the Harn

Tags

DIY, Freedom, sustainability, Time

I’ve just had an anniversary – well, a couple, come to think of it.  On the 13^th, I celebrated my 24^th anniversary of becoming a mom.  Can’t believe our boy is all grown up now…  I’m also celebrating my first anniversary of moving to the Harn.  It’s been a year since I made the transition and I still think moving to the woods in November 2016 was a fantastic idea.  While I initially made the move on my own, it’s been nice for the last seven months to have Dan here with me on this adventure.  [Oh, he got me a lovely foot massage unit for the anniversary and we’re now enjoying relaxing with that after a long day of work outside.  I think he’s wanting to keep his “frontier woman” happy.]

I’ve told people that we’re giving it 3-5 years to see what we think and so far, it’s good.  There were several things I wondered if I could handle in making the transition to the woods but all the things I had concerns about have ended up being either non-issues,  aren’t as bad as I’d expected them to be, or are things I’ve really come to enjoy.  I still say it’s lovely, even in below zero weather, to sit on the porch and have a poo while a woodpecker sits not 5 feet from me, pecking on the suet.  Even if there is no woodpecker, to sit in the middle of the woods is far superior to the sterile porcelain environment that many of us find to be commonplace.

So… what have we learned?

Water

We’ve learned (again) this year that we need to be careful with the water system.  The first flush diverter on the East downspout came apart last week in the frigid cold, in part because we didn’t pull the caps to allow all the water to drain… again, and the result was a huge PVC icicle that fell to the ground. The issue this winter was that we got a first snow and thought it would melt off in a day or two but… it didn’t.  It just kept snowing and staying frigid cold.  So we didn’t get to removing the caps before things got really frozen.  But at least we DID drain the garden cistern and rain barrel system on the south side of the house so they should be OK.  [If you recall, last year our previous garden cistern cracked down the side mid-winter after becoming too full of ice.  Last year it was having such a mild early winter that we kept getting more water accumulation every time we drained the cistern and we should have just emptied it completely every time – like we did this year.]

Gardening and Food

We’ve learned that our forested acreage is REALLY wet.  And that slugs LOVE it.  We built hugle beds (wood and soil piles where the wood acts like 1) a sponge, keeping the garden bed moist, and 2) a compost pile, breaking down over time to provide nutrition to the soil) but found that we really need to build them about three times bigger.  Our beds should be almost like raised beds – 3-4’ high is not too high.  So that will be a project this coming spring.  We have lots of old wood and should be able to build up on the hugle mounds we’ve already got in place.  Though we may have to reconfigure the bee yard a bit for the bigger mounds…

We’ve also worked for friends on their farms and learned a lot about raising veggies and animals.  I will say veggies are easier to wrangle than goats.  We did have a heck of a time with our goat sitting this year but I can now recognize, and cull from the pack, a horny male goat amidst a herd of females.  I also am learning more and more vegetables, though I still struggle with knowing some.  I’ve cooked lots of new dishes as I harvested at the farms and we have an abundance of food in the form of potatoes and squash.

We also did some foraging this year and learned a bit about edible (and non-edible) mushrooms and berries.  We gathered choke cherries and made jelly, and also crabapples (thanks, Diana!) to make preserves and syrup.  The syrup is SO GOOD on pancakes – which we’ve been eating of late with the cold and Dan’s hunting schedule.

Oh, another skill in development!  Dan started hunting on Deer Opener (November 4^th – it’s like a national holiday up here) with a buddy who can carve up a deer leaving almost nothing in the way of meat on the bones.  He’s borrowed a gun and tree stand and is getting a feel for what he thinks.  Last year deer hunting time was unseasonably warm – so warm that hunters worried about their meat spoiling before they could get it into a cooler.  This year, not so much of a problem.  It’s been in the single digits for some of the time he’s spent out there with most days staying under freezing, and often with nasty winds.  No worries about the meat getting too warm, more worries about your fingers and toes staying warm enough to avoid frostbite!  I’m guessing it’s kind of like having a baby though… once you get the deer, all that misery is forgotten.  We’ll see.

I’ve learned a bit more about bees this year too; mostly that they know what they are doing and man should pretty much just leave them alone for best results.  I had one colony die after never really getting started and a second die due to a lost queen that was not replaced in time for winter.  It was a devastating blow to not be able to winter over a colony, but we had quite a harvest of honey. Nonetheless, I still grieve my bees.

And we have a bounty of other stored food in the form of canned green beans, tomatoes, tomato soup, and applesauce.  I’ve got some marinara from Sylvia, some grape jelly from Char, some beet pickles from Jill, and some squash from Connie.  Lots to keep me busy cooking this winter.  I think canning may be one of the best things I’ve learned and I only wish I’d been able to do more.  We have invested in a propane burner and massive pressure canner/cooker for outdoor canning on the porch next year. And we have a few canning jars ready to fill.

Heating: aka Adding Cob to the Rocket Mass Heater

Having the proper mass on your stove is crucial for creating a “mass” heater that radiates to warm the home.  We still have much mass to add to our stove and continue to lose heat through the chimney.  But we added several buckets of cob to the stove this fall  and we’re getting closer to enclosing the final run of exhaust tubing.  Once that is complete, it should allow us to pull more of the heat from the exhaust before it leaves the building.  The goal is to have an exit temperature on our chimney of about 100°F.  This would mean the heat is flowing into our mass where it is stored to radiate out later.  The Rocket Stove is typically burned for just a couple hours a day meaning much of your heating is a result of the mass releasing its heat into your house while you are not burning.

We also realized that having the windows all the way closed and locked down is pretty important too.  Yes, we found the kitchen window was slightly cracked letting in loads of cold air the last few weeks.  Gzeesh!  House is staying much warmer since we remedied that!

With attendance at the Rocket Mass Heater Innovator Jamboree last month (Yes, I’m going to blog about it soon…) I learned much about making cob and earthen plasters from Erica Wisner and Chris “Uncle Mud” McClellan.  I confirmed that cob making is an art, and a pretty forgiving one at that… thus much of what I’ve done to date has been okay.  But I did find that I’m using lots more clay in my mix than needed.  Since clay is the hardest component to secure, the buckets I’ve mixed will be extended with additions of more sand and straw.  I also found that I can add as many rocks as I like to take up space.  We added 4 buckets of cob earlier this fall and, with the new tricks, I’ve added almost as much mass in the last week or two with about one bucket of cob as I did with those four buckets.  That’s a big savings!

Speaking of Savings… Money and Stuff

It’s kind of strange to live without an income – well, I make a bit here and there with Hostel work or writing for the Farmers Independent (the local paper).  This was the aspect I feared most in the whole “retire early, live simply, and be sustainable” plan.  But to not have a steady income and still be able to get groceries, buy gifts for people, eat out occasionally with friends – it’s kind of surreal. The Dogma in this country is all about making money, as much as you can, or you’ll be homeless, destitute, impoverished.  I guess we did a lot of that making as much money as you can for some time but we didn’t buy into the second part of the capitalistic method – spend what you get.  Saving all those years means we have some funds to live on now.

And we make the funds we have go far.  I shop at thrift stores but you wouldn’t believe the deals you can find.  I spent $8 a couple weeks back and got a like-new Hippie top (adorbs), a Columbia fleece jacket (super warm) in great condition, and a new (tag still on them) pair of yoga pants.  My friend Angie got a pair of winter boots (Sorels no less!), two shirts and a pair of pants for her $8.  Can’t beat that.  Plus I have way too many clothes anyway.  I have t-shirts to last me until I die and probably some jeans that need to be donated as they are too big now.

I find up here in the North Woods I pretty much can wear the same clothes all the time.  I mean, there are weeks when I wear the same clothes for days in a row.  Or I’ll wear an outfit and then hang it on my wall rack – that place where clothes go when they aren’t dirty enough for the hamper yet – and wear it again a few days later.  And another key is having lounging clothes and work clothes – that way the work stuff keeps getting dirtier while your indoor stuff stays clean longer.  I do SO MUCH LESS laundry these days – another savings and sustainability factor.  I figure as long as the clothes are not muddy or stinky, they can take another wearing.  [I do change the underwear and socks a bit more frequently than the other clothes…]  Oh, and I’ve discovered the joy of bralessness.  What a freedom.  And I don’t think anyone has even noticed!  [Oh, Danny says he has…]

And we’re finding that you use things to completion as best you can.  As such, I’m tanning the deer hide from the deer shot by our friend Jeff.  I’m also going to tan the smaller hide from the road kill deer we salvaged from the ditch this past weekend for his wife since I find I like the process of de-fleshing so much.  And we’re taking the deer carcasses and using them to feed birds in the yard – have two this year, up from the one last year, and way ahead of last year, getting this one in place a good month before the one I put up last year.  Here’s a video of the process.

Going with the Flow

I think one of the most fun things about being at the Harn is that we own our time much more than when we were in the rat race.  When committed to a job, it’s hard to stay up until midnight finishing a movie you decided to start at 10 PM.  It’s not an option to sleep in when you have to be at work by a certain time.  It’s hard to join a neighbor on an adventure if you have to factor it into a workday.  Take last Sunday, for instance.  I was working on the blog and writing some letters, taking a call from Mom, when a neighbor texted and asked if we could help him move a wood stove to his basement.  Sure.  We headed over and then came back to get ready to go to the Symphony (using a neighbor’s ticket that otherwise would have gone unused) to see another neighbor play violin.   I know, everyone is free on Sunday, right?  Well, what about the Friday before that when I was able to just head out to visit the neighbors on a whim.  I chatted with Connie and Bill, stopped by to see Ada and chat with her (the 89 year old “Queen of Alida” who lives with her cat Molly in our closest “town”), introduced myself again – it’s been years since we first met – to another neighbor Sandy and met her dog Molly, and then headed down to Char’s for some eggs and a quick visit.  It was a fun couple hours just sharing and laughing with friends.

This past week we were able to take a day to hang with our friends at Split Oak Farms tanning my deer hide, watching a deer get processed for pig feed, cooking a couple meals to share, roasting peppers for a Thanksgiving dish, and watching a movie.  The cat didn’t even seem too peeved that we were gone all day.

And when I get going, like I did on a little sewing project the other day, I can work until I finish it or find something else to distract me and then go back to it later.  I love this going with the flow and enjoying the opportunities as they arise.  Of course, it’s not always like this – sometimes we have to pick between sleeping in and going hunting… And sometimes we commit to one thing and then can’t do another.  And sometimes we have to wash the dishes!  But it is nice not having to give a bunch of hours, drive-time, and energy to a J-O-B.  We’re working for us now.  It may be harder work physically than we ever did in the Rat Race but WE are getting the benefits of all our efforts whether it’s harvesting food, making something for a friend, or chopping wood.  Speaking of which, I better get on that!  And that reminds me of a great Dillon Bustin song about cutting more wood…

Realizing our Genius

Sometimes we see the brilliance of our decisions (mostly the result of happenstance or dumb luck).

For example, this spring we pulled the deadwood that had fallen in the area around the Harn.  We cleared small and large trees and branches in the 50’ area surrounding the Harn and piled them in the east end of the clearing south of the Harn, hoping to process them into firewood during the summer/fall.  [We would rob this pile when burning summer bonfires in our outdoor fire pit – benefit #1.]  Well, with everything else we did, we didn’t get that wood processed.  However, it’s been a nice benefit this winter to be able to go to the pile and gather as much kindling as we need to supplement the larger wood we have prepped in the garage.

We’ve also been happy to find that the pile of trees we made back in 2009 is still usable!  It’s worn wood but very seasoned and good for burning hot fires – and very easy to process compared with the more green / larger stuff we have.  And also full of kindling since it’s all sizes of trees.

In the sequence of events that is our life, we’ve been lucky to meet people who could use our services on their farms.  As such, we’ve been able to secure access to good, wholesome food in exchange for our help.  Good and healthy farms always have an abundance of food to what can be used or sold and lucky for us, we get part of the harvest when we’re willing to be part of the labor in making it happen.

And sometimes it’s little things.  When we run water for washing dishes – it takes a minute for the hot water tank water to get across the Harn to our kitchen sink – rather than letting the water go down the drain, we fill a gallon jug with this water.  This also helps lessen the emptying of the bucket under the kitchen sink drain…  We then use that water to fill the Berkey system we use to filter our drinking water.  No Waste!

I guess the good news is that we are learning.  We are discovering new ways to live here at the Harn that hopefully result in less waste and a more sustainable life.  Since we are a long way from true sustainability and zero waste,  we will keep on with the experiment!  At least for a couple more years…

Gratitude in Leisure

Tags

Freedom

Well, it’s been another productive week at the Harn and I feel HUGE Gratitude for being here.

Though we’re working harder than we have in a long time, I am happier than I ever was in Corporate World.  I can’t explain the overwhelming joy I have whenever Dan asks, “So, how are you liking this retirement thing?”  I am overjoyed by the ability to take my day at my own pace, decide what I want to do when, not feel the pressure of an inflexible agenda.  Of course, there are still some things I must adhere to – the Knitting and Garden Clubs meet at specified times, stores are only open certain hours so I sometimes have to wait to make a purchase, especially since I often shop thrift where the hours can be more restricted.  But hey, those people probably enjoy their free-time too!

I‘ve recently been turned on to an article on the concept of NOT working for a living.

http://www.filmsforaction.org/articles/bertrand-russell-and-buckminster-fuller-on-why-we-should-work-less-and-live-and-learn-more/  The premise is that if we spend all our useful time at a job, or we work so many hours so as not to be able to appreciate any leisure, we lose a great ability to create in our off-time.  We make a living but don’t fully create a life.  In leisure, we can more fully develop and thus, find ourselves happier.  We can also contribute more to our communities.

There are links to the works of others along these lines in the above article.  But here are a few snippets I particularly liked from the Bertrand Russell link (he was writing in 1932):

“In the West… We have no attempt at economic justice, so that a large proportion of the total produce goes to a small minority of the population, many of whom do no work at all. Owing to the absence of any central control over production, we produce hosts of things that are not wanted. We keep a large percentage of the working population idle, because we can dispense with their labor by making the others overwork. When all these methods prove inadequate, we have a war: we cause a number of people to manufacture high explosives, and a number of others to explode them, as if we were children who had just discovered fireworks. By a combination of all these devices we manage, though with difficulty, to keep alive the notion that a great deal of severe manual work must be the lot of the average man….

In a world where no one is compelled to work more than four hours a day, every person possessed of scientific curiosity will be able to indulge it, and every painter will be able to paint without starving, however excellent his pictures may be. Young writers will not be obliged to draw attention to themselves by sensational pot-boilers, with a view to acquiring the economic independence needed for monumental works, for which, when the time at last comes, they will have lost the taste and capacity. … Medical men will have the time to learn about the progress of medicine, teachers will not be exasperatedly struggling to teach by routine methods things which they learnt in their youth, which may, in the interval, have been proved to be untrue.

Above all, there will be happiness and joy of life, instead of frayed nerves, weariness, and dyspepsia. The work exacted will be enough to make leisure delightful, but not enough to produce exhaustion. Since men will not be tired in their spare time, they will not demand only such amusements as are passive and vapid. At least one per cent will probably devote the time not spent in professional work to pursuits of some public importance, and, since they will not depend upon these pursuits for their livelihood, their originality will be unhampered, and there will be no need to conform to the standards set by elderly pundits. But it is not only in these exceptional cases that the advantages of leisure will appear. Ordinary men and women, having the opportunity of a happy life, will become more kindly and less persecuting and less inclined to view others with suspicion. The taste for war will die out, partly for this reason, and partly because it will involve long and severe work for all. Good nature is, of all moral qualities, the one that the world needs most, and good nature is the result of ease and security, not of a life of arduous struggle. Modern methods of production have given us the possibility of ease and security for all; we have chosen, instead, to have overwork for some and starvation for others. Hitherto we have continued to be as energetic as we were before there were machines; in this we have been foolish, but there is no reason to go on being foolish forever.”

And Buckminster Fuller wrote in 1970:

“We should do away with the absolutely specious notion that everybody has to earn a living. It is a fact today that one in ten thousand of us can make a technological breakthrough capable of supporting all the rest. The youth of today are absolutely right in recognizing this nonsense of earning a living. We keep inventing jobs because of this false idea that everybody has to be employed at some kind of drudgery because, according to Malthusian Darwinian theory he must justify his right to exist. So we have inspectors of inspectors and people making instruments for inspectors to inspect inspectors. The true business of people should be to go back to school and think about whatever it was they were thinking about before somebody came along and told them they had to earn a living.”

I have realized the insanity in this idea of working your whole life away for “the man” and instead, am finding a way of life that is more satisfying and fulfilling by working for myself.  Yes, I’ve planted a bunch of trees and garden beds and have a couple hives of bees that require my attention.  Yes, there are days when I am utterly exhausted at bed time.  But it is a good feeling to be working outside with the land, enjoying the natural world around me, getting help from neighbors and assisting them with their work.

It has been a real joy for me to help my neighbor Connie in preparing plants for the Shevlin Garden Club plant sale. I am learning so many new plant names and uses! We are, at the same time, ridding her garden of a lot of extra plants that have cropped up ~ Nature’s abundance can be overwhelming!  And she has given me loads of these plants to put in at our homestead.   I said to her yesterday, “I told Dan I’m not sure who feels like their getting the better deal out of this arrangement!” But we both agreed that we were pleased with the time spent together and we both feel satisfied with the results.  That’s a win-win.  And there are lots of other folks here where it seems we are blessings to each other.  We share our excess (sometimes even our unwanted excess) and others find it to be a bounty…  like trading pallets for old alfalfa bales.  One man’s excess can meet another man’s need.

It’s like that out here in rural Minnesota.  A couple weeks back the neighbor with overproducing chickens came by to unload a couple dozen fresh eggs. It was perfect timing as we were low on eggs.  We bought a couple more this past week from her so I’m feeling like I’m giving a bit back there.

And then there are the times when I feel truly blessed for not having done anything at all.

We just met Okie, brother to neighbor Carol, and friend to many here.  He and Carol were checking our next door neighbor’s place and ended up coming over to our driveway where we checked out the bees and chatted.  We were putting up the greenhouse and, when I shared that I was probably behind on seed starting, Okie offered us a couple tomato plants.  He even offered to deliver them.  When he came back with the tomatoes (an abundance of plants), he also brought us some prizes from his pantry – pickled beets and salsa from their garden.  And the biggest treat? A bag of fresh-caught Walleye!  We were ecstatic.  We ate good that night!  I seasoned the fish in three different ways and Dan grilled them up.  On tasting the various styles, we came to the conclusion you just can’t go wrong with cooking that fish of Okie’s – it’s delicious every way!  Okie didn’t know it but pickled beets are one of my favorite things.  I fretted that his would be too unlike those I’d grown up on to be “good”.  You know how your mama’s way of cooking is the “right” way?  Well, I was pleasantly surprised to find the beets different from those I grew up with but REALLY GOOD!  They accompanied our meal and have been a welcome addition on salads this past week.

Which brings me to the challenge I feel in this new way of life.  I don’t often feel that I have much to offer.  I can give a smile or a hug but I don’t have garden plenty or loads of plants I’ve nurtured to overproduction.  I feel like I’m getting so much more than I can repay.  And I know the gifts aren’t given with an expectation of return. But it sure feels good when I can give something in return; to show my appreciation for what has been shared by also sharing something.  As an artist, it’s sometimes hard to know what things people will like so I find it hard to offer art but that is sometimes the way I give back.  I did have some great compliments on my boots and so maybe I can offer to paint boots for people!  We’ll see how things mature.  I’m sure I’ll find my niche for sharing.  I’m hopeful that it’s in honey.  I have so much to learn with the bees but I’m thinking they might be my key to bringing abundance to the neighborhood.

While I often feel like there is an overwhelming amount of things to do, I know much of that is because we are just getting started.  When I compare our homestead to those of friends and neighbors, I have to remember that many of them have years or even decades of time invested in their places.  The Harn was not built in a day and the Homestead too will take time.  I remind myself that there are only so many hours in a day and almost everything can wait for another day.  But we do stay productive and busy.

We give a talk this week for the Leech Lake Tribal College on our sustainable life for a session called “Earth, Water, and Connection to Others”.  It’s part of a week-long seminar of Open Community Discussions (maawanji’idiwag) on everything from Child Welfare and Foster Care to Nutrition, Exercise, and Addiction – all focused on how we can make the world a better place for our children.  I am hopeful this is a way I can give back to my community.  At least until the honey can be harvested…

Grieving

Tags

books, fun, local, sustainability, Time, Volunteering

Already I am grieving the town, the job, the daily activities in Alexandria.  Weeks away from my move, I feel the pull to the Harn more each day.  I stand at the counter in Cherry Street Books and think how much I’ll miss the books, the people, the quiet moments, the conversations with co-workers and book buyers, and the many books to add to my To Read pile as people share their favorites.

People say I won’t have enough social interaction at the Harn and, while I will have less, it may surprise many that I can be quite the homebody.  I can entertain myself for hours moving things, reading, organizing, cooking, sleeping.  I’ll have the cats to keep me company along with the critters of the woods.  And there will be plenty to do, at least initially.  There is much to organize and arrange and learn as we embark on this homestead adventure.  But I also enjoy the times chatting with customers in the bookstore and I will miss not having as much of that.  Though I am hopeful to be able to occasionally fill in so I can get little pieces of bookstore time in the coming months. 🙂

I remember leaving Indiana not so long ago.  The goodbyes were really just “so longs” as I have been able to make a few trips back south over the last couple years.  I realized Wednesday that it had been two years to the day since I’d moved to Alexandria.  Time sneaks up on you, I guess.  It doesn’t seem that long at all. The Harn progress was not as quick as we’d thought, with the addition of my part-time (sometimes lots of hours) job and all the extra-curricular activities I’ve added.  I was immersed in the Bernie Revolution until it fizzled, which ate up many hours, though was exciting and full of interesting conversations.  I worked the DFL office’s GOTV program, volunteered at the schools, shared crafting ideas, taught Community Ed classes and ESL, started a Non-Fiction Book Club, joined several others, and met loads of fun people.  It’s been a lot of fun stuff.  And I was cheered at the most recent Non-Fiction Book Club to have people excited about continuing it after I have gone.  I have gotten so much from the books and the discussion and it seems others have as well.  I’ll have to come back and join them as I can!  But I also think I’m ready for this move.  I’m feeling a strong pull to begin to live a more sustainable life.  It’s been a much longer time getting to this point than we originally planned so it’s time to make the leap.

The Harn work has really moved into
overdrive this summer and we’ve spent a ton of money investing (thanks for that word, Vonnie!) in our place.  We’ve added cisterns, expanded the Harn with a water room, contracted for a graywater pit, spray foamed the external rooms, wired it all, cleared trees for garden areas, dug a river, had gutters put up and installed a water catchment system, added more mass to our Rocket Mass Heater, cut more wood for our heating, and also had lots of fun.  We work our butts off when we’re at the Harn but we also take time to enjoy the quiet of nature and eat good food.  We come home most weekends with some aches and pains but we feel quite calmed by the time in the woods.

And we have laughs.  We added a gable wall in the garage to close off the larger portion of the attic and Dan joked that we’d “built a wall”, we’re “Making America Great Again!” Hopefully we’ll keep out those mice and chipmunks. There is a big window in our wall that we’ll cut out for a foam door to access that area should we have need.  But so far, it doesn’t look like we have had anyone intruding through the foamed area… though we did find some mouse turds inside. We’re guessing someone is getting in though we haven’t yet seen them.  Still, the poop is not a good sign.  It’s getting cold enough that the mice will be looking for a warm winter home.  Guess that may give something for Shirley and Lucky to do when they arrive.  Outdoors is cold for us too.  The porch is still great but eventually will be too cold for much more than a quick poop!

This weekend we had our first snow – little sprinkle showers – and we added Snow Bars (to keep the snow on the roof preventing it from sliding off and ripping off the new gutters).  We got some more mass on the stove too, though this is slow going on the vertical work.  You have to let the cob set before adding the next course.  Plus I’m working on finishing in some places while still building mass in other areas.  It’s a giant art project!  We’re also preparing for a final (?) concrete slab in the garage.  This will give a concrete floor space for our freezer, dryer, entry door, and utility room addition.  I’m hopeful to have that poured soon so we can build the room for our water heater.  We’ve got most of the spending done with just the plumbing work and concrete pour pending for this year.  Hopefully next year will be a less expensive year though we will be looking at the chicken coop (hopefully a pallet building) and garden additions.

Now we’re just awaiting the election year to finalize.  That should be interesting.  I’m just glad it’s almost over.  I don’t know what everyone will do without their HRC/Trump daily fix!  I guess it will be the daily fix of how terrible things are now that “whoever” is in the White House.  I’ll be glad to avoid most of it as I enjoy the peace and quiet of the Harn.

 

A Life of Simplicity?

Tags

conservation, Finding Fulfillment, Freedom, How to Retire Early, living local, simplicity, sustainability

I am at the Harn for a week of solitude.  Dan is heading back to work after our weekend of major projects and I’m staying until he returns next weekend.  It should be an interesting experience and a chance for me to get a taste of what Harn Life will be.  As we make progress on final systems for our place and draw closer to being at the Harn full-time, some are asking what this will mean.  And I’m still trying to figure that out myself.

I know it seems sometimes to me, and I’m sure to many, that I’m expecting Utopia. While I am hopeful for a lot of good to come (otherwise, why would I be doing it!), I do have some realistic ideas of what this will mean… working to grow food and living more lightly on the land is going to take some adjustment.  It won’t be an easy transition but it’s one I want to try to make.  If it is completely unworkable, I can always go back to the rat race!  But we have some basic goals: using less fossil fuel, spending more time being cognizant of our use of resources, working to live more sustainably, having less impact on Mother Earth, and living more simply than we have been most of our lives.

Before I left for this week at the Harn, I watched a documentary sent by Keith Johnson, a Permaculture friend from Indiana.  It’s called A Simpler Way: Crisis as Opportunity and you can watch it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=4&v=XUwLAvfBCzw

This film is set Down Under but it remains pertinent to the U.S. as we all share one globe and there are many similarities between their culture and ours. I found it to be inspiring and was excited by the project these people undertook.  I was not surprised that there was struggle.  I believe any worthy endeavor will have its share of struggle.  And though I am ignorant today of all the struggle we will face as we make our own transition, I am ready for the challenge.  I think it will come in unexpected ways, as it usually does!  But some of the things I expect I believe will turn out better than I hoped.  For example, we recently cleaned out some humi-buckets (buckets full of poop for the uninitiated) and it was MUCH easier than I expected it to be.  Very easy cleanup and truly a vast improvement on the current system most people use today of pooping in potable water and flushing it away.  One of the worst jobs in housekeeping is cleaning the toilet.  With a humanure system it’s actually much easier to clean and maintain, not to mention a HUGE savings on potable water usage!!  So simplicity has its advantages.

There are sure to be disadvantages or at least what appear to be disadvantages from my current perspective.

• We will not be eating out at restaurants like we do these days.  We won’t be in town for one thing and we will want to live on a much smaller budget for another.  But will this be a downside? I am hoping it will mean a more healthy diet, a more sustainable diet and one that may even result in becoming more fit!  That is one expectation I hope is fulfilled… becoming more fit.
• We will have less social interactions and opportunities for entertainment.  While we can head to Bemidji for some culture, we plan to not head to town at every whim which will mean more limited access to people and amusement.  But, will this be a downside?  I am hoping to find more time to play the flute I made at Rec Lab last year and to entertain myself making crafts and upcycling.  I’m wondering if this will be an even more fulfilling life than buying or observing entertainment has been to date.  And I’m wondering if the social things might just come to us.  We have friends a couple miles down the road and I’m hopeful we will cultivate visitors that will bring serendipity and whimsy to our days as we settle in the new neighborhood.
• We will have less income.  The goal eventually is for neither of us to be working full-time jobs outside the home and so, this will mean less monetary resources.  But perhaps the time we have will allow us to create income or barter opportunities that are preferable to giving the lion’s share of our weeks to an employer.  And surely living more simply will require much less income.  It seems to be a rule of salary that, as it grows, so do your expenditures.  And as it shrinks, so should our expenditures!  But I believe we will have everything that’s important and one of the goals of living a more simple life is to determine what those things are.

As you can see, I’m optimistic.  Those of you who know me expect no less than this!  I am always trying to see the bright side and find the positive.  I am hopeful that will help as I look to making this transition.  From the film I watched, I found a wonderful resource on ideas about this new way of life.  I plan to spend some time reading what they have to share. [And yes, Dan and I are hopeful for plenty of time for reading in this new way of life.]  http://simplicityinstitute.org/  This is a terrific article explaining The Simpler Way http://theconversation.com/the-simple-life-manifesto-and-how-it-could-save-us-33081

I encourage you to consider whether some simpler ways of life could bring not deprivation or hardship but real enjoyment, peace and happiness.  I’ll keep you posted on my journey!!

Finding Balance

Tags

Finding Fulfillment, Freedom

This past week was full of fun again!  This “retirement” thing is amazingly busy & full of excitement and entertainment.  My level of “busyness” came up in conversation several times this week and what I am finding is that, since leaving the rat race, I have enthusiastically jumped into so many new things because I’m delighting in finding new friends and learning new things.  I’ve involved myself in a variety of passions and have found myself to be quite useful in some activities and not as aligned in others.  At this point, I am figuring out where to continue to give of my time and energy and how to keep in check my desire to “do it all”.  There is an abundance of fun things to do and interesting people to get to know and as I meet new people or hear about a fun idea, sometimes I just need to remember that I can’t fit it all into every week!

Some of the things I always told myself I wanted to incorporate after I quit full-time work have not yet made their way into my schedule.  I am working to bring in formal yoga practice again, though at present it’s just some stretching at waking, a bit of Mountain Pose at the Post Office, and some Forward Fall in the afternoon or evening.  I long for a more rich meditation practice but so far it’s more a sporadic grabbing of quiet moments and taking time to BE.  And while the new group of crafting ladies that has formed here in Alexandria is wonderful, I’m still not getting quite as much time in creating as I’d hoped.  On the upside, I’m working on implementing new things on a once a month basis which seems to help bring in the new without overwhelming the calendar.  But I see that I will have to let some things go or just not give as much time and energy to them as I have in order to find a happy balance.  And perhaps I need to block out time on the calendar for just sitting!

One of my early commitments to District 206, the local public school system, was to judge the Science Fair and this past week Woodland Elementary hosted their Fair and I judged the work of four young ladies.  All four experiments involved food in one way or another, from orange juice to popcorn, Jolly Rancher candies to cheese. All were interesting.  All but one were well presented with charts and detailed paragraphs of information.  Half were well-prepared to answer my questions though I’m not sure what part nervousness played.  As I toured the fair to see the remaining exhibits, it was typical with some level of low-energy, unoriginal work and some stand-out presentations and ideas that caught my eye.  There were a couple kids who were obviously re-presenting overdone Googled ideas and a few who really wanted to learn something new with their work.  One kid had made his own fishing lures, evaluating the level of dye needed for opaqueness and he did a great job at explaining his work.  I’m hopeful he will take my idea of determining which level of dye catches the most bass to heart this spring as I think that would make an interesting project, and may well take him into a business venture.  It reminded me of an old friend as I thought of Greg who created his own business making bass lures from his garage… and did quite well as I understand.  The young man who welcomed me at the entry table was a real joy and each time the kids raced to their poster as I approached, it just tickled me.  I would be sure to let them know I was on an unofficial visit if that was the case.  But they still worked hard to explain, even when I was just a Visitor and not a Judge.  There was some evidence of parental assistance, but nothing overly done from what I could see.  Next week will be round two and I will feel fulfilled at having been a small part of the lives of our youth and getting a brief chance to recall all the fun times had with my son during his school adventures.

That is just one of the many fun things pending for this week but today is a day off with little planned so I’m making dinner tonight – chicken alfredo lasagna!  Having time for cooking is lovely so I’m going to enjoy this day to the fullest, as I will with every moment I can this week.

What’s it Like to be Retired?

Tags

Authority, Finding Fulfillment, Freedom, Working for the Man

What’s it like to be “Retired”?

Well, it’s kind of weird really.  And even if I was 62, I feel like it would be weird.  All the sudden, I am in charge of my time, not my employer.  Because really, when we’re working, isn’t our employer in charge of ALL our time?

I mean, if we work a day job, we can’t stay out late with friends if we expect to be able to wake up and be functional at work in the morning.  And if we work nights, then everyone else is out having fun while we’re at work.  And, salaried or hourly, we could be required to stay later than planned on a work day.

We often are giving up the best portion of the day to our employer.  In winter, when days are short, many of us drive to work in the dark and drive home in the dark, missing all the beautiful sunny day!  And is it just me? Or does it often seem that the work week is full of lovely days and then it rains all day Saturday and Sunday?  But we usually don’t have a choice in the days we went to work.  It’s Monday through Friday or Sunday through Thursday or a rotating 4-day shift that switches to nights one week and days the next.  How does one’s body ever hope to adjust to that?

Speaking of our bodies, we have to take time off to schedule health care appointments.  Or if we’re sick ~ though some of us don’t even have this luxury!  So many people have no sick leave at all, short of taking FMLA.  And I was amazed to find out when I retired how many women don’t have access to maternity leave.  Crazy!

And what if we want to help out at our kid’s school or volunteer for a local charity?  We can only do these things when we are not at work, and then only if we have enough energy left to give to these outside endeavors.

But if we run out of work, we can’t just go home.  We have to be there 8 hours or 10 or 12, whatever our allotment is.  This is the worst!  Being held captive with no real purpose for a couple hours of our life.  What a waste!  And we can’t leave town for a day or two, unless it’s the weekend and we’re off work.  We often have to earn our vacation or personal time.  We only get a small bit and some of us are even on call during those days.  It’s sad when I think about how much time I spent on vacations with calls for customers or simply thinking about work issues.  The last day of vacation was usually spent worrying about digging out once I returned to work.  Sometimes, looking at the inbox with hundreds of e-mails and the stack of papers on my desk when I returned, it felt like the vacation time was hardly worth it.

And it’s not just our time that employers control.  Many of us have to wear certain clothes to work. Or we can’t wear our hair certain ways.  Most of us are limited on when we can eat ~ only during lunch hour. Some are even limited on when they can go to the bathroom!  We are restricted from wearing jewelry or other attire that is a part of who we are. There are often restrictions on tattoos and smoking.  And no one can do drugs ~ you’ll fail the random drug test.  (While there is an argument that we shouldn’t be doing drugs in any event, it’s hard to argue against it being one more way an employer impinges on personal freedom.) Being an employee often changes one into a persona that is not truly representative of oneself.

I think that was one of the big drivers for me.  I felt I was no longer ME.  Yes, I was a control freak, so I was perfect for the Quality World.  Yes, I enjoyed customer interactions and problem resolution, so it’s not that I hated my job.  I was quite good at it and enjoyed a lot of it.  I had a lot of great customers and co-workers who could really made my day.  But there were just too many days when I would rather be crafting.  Or sleeping in.  Or not having to be at work until 9 o’clock at night.

As soon as I left the Rat Race, I immediately began being more ME.  What freedom!!!

It was weird at first.  There was still some paranoia and looking over my shoulder.  And being employed part-time, I still have to think about how I’m dressed a few times a week! 🙂 But the more I practice, the better I am at just being ME and deciding how to spend MY time.

• I’m no longer worried about what someone thinks about my chewed up blue-checkered Vans and whether they match the outfit I’m wearing.  BTW, I just bought a new pair that are super cool.  Not sure yet whether I will try to paint them… [I know I’m big on anti-consumerism, but I figure a pair of Vans every dozen years is reasonable.  I pretty much wore the originals out!  I also bought a pair of suede clogs and Mom bought me a pair of Birkenstock-like sandals in the last year, so it’s been a big year for shoes!  But I pretty much wear these same three pairs of shoes week in and week out.]

• I went to live in an Ecovillage for three (3) weeks and lived like the true Hippie I want to be.  I Heart Dancing Rabbit.  http://www.dancingrabbit.org/
• I no longer worry so much about what someone thinks of my politics. (Boy, could I share a doozy of a story about politics and SDI.  Maybe another time.)  My FB posts definitely got more  open and true to the real me once I retired.  The fear created when you are beholden to someone for your livelihood is quite powerful.
• I’m able to available to volunteer at lots of places: the DFL office GOTV program, Discovery Middle School Career Day presentations, Voyager Book Room, AAHS STEAM Program assistance for the Technology demos, Co-leader for the Alexandria Chapter of CCL, Theatre L’Homme Dieu ushering and concessions and most recently, Friends of the Library!
• I have had time to make quilts for babies born earlier this year.  Congratulations Steve & Steph, Kyle & Kelly and Greg & Lesley!
• I’m able to stay up late into the night reading if I want and I can take a nap in the afternoon.
• I love relaxing in bed until 9AM if I feel like it.  (This is a weird one as I’ve always been a morning person but I’m finding myself being up late reading, so not always able to pop right up at 7 AM.)
• I get together with fellow Crafters and just CREATE.
• I can simply sit and BE.  I can DO NOTHING.
• I am able to silently contemplate the meaning of life and what that means for today.
• I have time to write.

This brings us to the Question:  Is there really anything to do?

Oh, Lord!  I will NEVER AGAIN ask someone who’s retiring “How on earth are you going to keep busy?”  It’s EASY!  There are a million things to fill your days.  (I hear this from Retirees all the time now!)

And I’ve gotten some feedback from the poll on the July 27^th blog that people would like to hear about Finding Fulfillment after leaving the Rat Race.  Over the next couple posts, I’ll share a bit on what I’m doing of late to find fulfillment.  And, since some of you are still working full-time, I’ll make the first one about weekend stuff so you can try to incorporate some of these ideas into your busy weeks.  I found that one of the best things to help me stay in the Rat Race with some level of sanity, was to keep finding time for fun and being the real me.  So I look forward to sharing a little slice of my life and how I find fulfillment when we get together next week.  And if you haven’t taken the poll yet, scroll down and Get ‘R Done!!  (You can vote for more than one thing too! Or add something unique in the Other box that I hadn’t thought to include.  Be as creative as you’d like! 🙂 )

Belief + Work = Freedom

Tags

being nice, dreaming, giving kudos, Karma, Rat Race, Rule of 3

Please take a moment to do the Poll at the bottom of this post.           I would love your input. 🙂

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5. We believed. We worked toward our goals. We got me Retired at 45.

No matter what your dream, if you really want it, you can achieve it.  It might take longer than you thought it would… mine did.  It might be harder than you thought, but maybe not.  It might take more sacrifice than you think you can give.  But if this goal is truly important to you, believing and working can get you there.

When Dan and I first came up with this plan to get out of the Rat Race, I hoped to be retired by 2008.  That didn’t work out.  When I took my last job in the Rat Race in 2006, I figured I could make it out by 2011, when I’d be fully vested in my 401k plan at Steel Dynamics (SDI).  In the end, it took a bit longer than I had initially hoped.  But it was much quicker than if we’d not dreamed, not planned, and not worked at all!

People at SDI thought I was crazy, talking about retiring in a few years.  Going on about my “5-Year Plan”.  I’m pretty sure they all thought I was blowing smoke up their butts.  Just talking out of mine.  There were a few people who knew I was serious.  But I think everyone was still shocked when I finally gave them a date.  I think they expected I’d wait until my kid was out of college.  I had a few confidants at work who knew early.  I wanted this to be a smooth transition, not a leaving-them-in-the-lurch scenario, so I worked closely with one of my employees and encouraged another who seemed willing to fill my position to assure SDI would be able to have all the bases covered once I left.

Which brings me to Point #1 in leaving the Rat Race.  I recommend NOT going out in a blaze of glory.  You’ve all seen the YouTube video of the guy who brought the marching band to quit his job, or heard stories of people dropping the bomb and leaving in a big cloud of drama, mistletoe on the back of their pants, all that fun stuff.  But I believe in Karma and, as much as there are always a few people I would love to see get their comeuppance, I don’t really think I can play God and determine when and how they will.  And I believe in the Three-Fold Law:

Ever mind the rule of three,
What ye send out comes back to thee.

So I definitely wanted to do things right.  When I knew I was getting close, I so wanted to give more notice.  But with things not finalizing until the end of July with Dan getting health care benefits at his new job, and my plan for heading to Dancing Rabbit, I couldn’t give much more notice than I did.

Side Story: When I quit my penultimate job, I gave a full month’s notice.  Of course, at that time, I didn’t have another job lined up…  It was that bad.  I was DONE.  Maybe someday I’ll tell that story here.

But I did give SDI 2 weeks notice.  Actually, it turned out to be three weeks, but I took a week of vacation in that last three weeks as well.  And I recommend doing the same if you’re leaving any gig.  I mean the giving-2-weeks-notice thing.  It’s just common decency.  Though the vacation-before-you-head-to-the-next thing is great too, if you can swing it.   There is a chance they will walk you out immediately, and that was a factor in my decision for giving notice when I did.  Our family would be fine if SDI decided to do that, but my boss was super awesome in taking my notice.  He let me decide how the separation would work best for me and, in the end, it worked best for SDI too.  I think he’d learned to trust that I would make sure of that.  And I don’t think he was as surprised as most.  I’d been dropping stronger and stronger hints that they might want to prepare for my departure, without actually saying I was leaving or giving a time frame.  But he is a pretty sharp guy.

The employee I’d taken into my confidence has been able to fully transition them in the time since I left and I have always been willing to answer any calls or e-mails with questions on where things are, how to do tasks or what the heck we’d been thinking when we set up the system the way we did.  It took a bit of my time and, no, they were no longer paying me, but as you might have gathered, in my world, it’s not always about money.  It’s about doing the right thing.  Being happy and helping others to be happy means trying to help where I can.  This keeps other people from losing it when they are trying to figure out all the things you used to do when you were there.  There are so many little things we each do in our jobs that no one really sees until we’re gone.

When I knew it was getting close, I asked Danny, “What am I gonna tell them?”  I hadn’t really been looking for a new job in MN.  I was getting out.  So I wasn’t going to a new company.  I was just leaving my current company.  Danny said, “Tell them you’re retiring… again.”  Yes, actually, I was a retiree once before.  When I left my first job out of college at Inland Steel (at that point they had become ArcelorMittal Steel), they offered me a lump sum pension.  And then I got a letter from the Retirees Club welcoming me to Retirement.  I was 30 years old.  So, in essence, I was “retiring again”.  Once I realized this was really happening, I got giggly about it.  I’m sure it wasn’t as funny to those I was leaving behind but I started to get tickled every time I’d say it.  I kept pinching myself to be sure this wasn’t a real dream, that this was truly real life!

Leaving to nowhere was maybe easier than going to a new job, in which case, my company might have been a bit more cautious and let me go immediately.  Though I have never understood this practice.  I mean, if I’m leaving and I know I’m leaving, then I know I better get all the stuff I want to steal (information, data, contacts, staplers) BEFORE I actually give my notice.  Duh.

Point #2: Be sure you are taking care of you.  I recommend taking care in how much you share as you prepare to leave the Rat Race.  I know I wrote above how I was always going on and on about leaving, and that is a fine tactic.  At least, it worked out okay for me.  But when you get serious and close, don’t ruin yourself by thinking you can share your detailed plans with just anyone.  It probably isn’t a good idea to trust your HR person, even if you are BFFs.  This person has their own ass to cover and, if it ever comes out that they knew beforehand, their job could easily be on the line.  So sharing with them puts them in a difficult position.  Not sharing is really about protecting them.  This is one reason so very few people at my place knew details as I got close to leaving.

Side Concern: What about the employee that worked for me?  Am I not outing her now?  Well, they REALLY need her, so I’m not too worried about spilling the beans.  And as she likes to say, “They need me more than I need them!”  It’s so true. (Yeah, you’re seeing why we got along so well, right?  She’s the Queen of Sarcasm, a Jersey Girl and she knows the ins and outs of ISO system requirements better than anyone there, and better than many outside that plant for that matter.)

Be sure that you have all your ducks in a row, find someone OUTSIDE your work environment to bounce ideas with, and definitely think about what backup plans you might need.  I still have in my mind that, if things get really crazy, I can always go back to work full-time.  I don’t WANT to, but I am willing to, if that is what my family needs.   Most companies these days are not worried about their people as there are lots of other cogs to fill your place if you leave.  So be sure to have what you need in place for the separation and think through to assure that you’ve planned for contingencies moving forward.

And a part of the above includes Point #3: Keep your bridges intact.  Be sure that you maintain your integrity and your relationships throughout the process of moving on.  One of the things I always do when leaving a job is reach out to co-workers, clients and suppliers to let them know how much I appreciated their support, friendship, mentoring, etc.  None of us gets here on our own.  We all have help along the way and it’s good to recognize that.  Usually we only tend to let people know when they have let us down, but I have found great happiness in letting people know when they have impressed me or helped me in a way that was above and beyond the normal call of duty.   I was always one to send a note to someone’s boss when they did a job quickly, very well or with great enthusiasm.  I appreciated people and I think it has helped me get lots more done, especially when I was in a pinch.  And I always did what I could to help other people when I could.  It’s just good Karma.

I had a fellow practitioner of this way of life visit me at the bookstore recently.  We have just re-started Storytime for kids Saturday mornings and she happened to be there at that time.  She noted how pleased she was that we do this and that I had such a great voice.  I explained that I was not reading the story and she said, “Yes, but you made a great announcement at the end and you have a terrific voice.”  Awww!  I was really touched.  It’s not every day that people take the time to tell you something positive but it sure feels good when they do.

Well, I’ve shared in the first few posts the route I took to get to here, Retired at 45.  As I move forward, I’d like to hear from you as well.  Do you like what you’re reading?  What kinds of things would you like to hear about next?  Where are we going to go on this journey together?  Let me know in the poll below.  Or tell me on FB comments.  Or send me an e-mail.  I want to hear from you too. 🙂

If you Plan, you can. If you don’t, you won’t.

Tags

dreaming, planning, Rat Race

OK, we…

1. Focused on reducing our materialistic consumption.
2. Eliminated debt so we didn’t have to keep working for more and more money.
3. Figured out what really mattered to us.

Then…  4.  We made a plan to achieve our dreams.

As Dan says, “If you plan, you can.  If you don’t, you won’t.”

This is probably an over-simplification but in the end, it’s true.  Like the quote from Henry Ford, “Whether you think you can, or think you can’t… you’re right.”

In our early discussions, Dan and I thought we wanted to go to Sedona.  We honeymooned there and had friends who’d moved to the area (Cottonwood) and we thought life would be nice there.  Then we realized there was no water.  Even back in 2003 the water wars were already in the news in the Southwest.  Since water was probably a key in maintaining happiness (being a basic requirement for life), we started to look elsewhere.  Eventually, we realized Minnesota was a better location, Land of 10,000 Lakes and all.

How did this happen?

In 2001, my mom and her husband (also Tom, one of the three after whom my son was named) had moved to his hometown, Alexandria, MN.  We visited for Thanksgiving that year and told ourselves Minnesota was WAY too cold for living.  But our son spent a couple summers up with Gramma Ruth and mentioned that he wanted to live in Minnesota when he grew up.  I know, it’s crazy to think a kid will have any idea what he’ll want as a grown man but I’m still hoping he ends up here someday.

Dan & I had also visited Minnesota in the summer too, and on a trip to Itasca State Park over 4^th of July a few years later, fell in love with the place.  This was in no small part due to the song “Ghost” on the Indigo Girls’ album “Rites of Passage”, which I must say is an altogether amazing album, one of my favorites.  “Galileo” is probably my favorite track… but I digress. The lyric I love is this:

The Mississippi’s mighty but it starts in Minnesota at a place where you could walk across with five steps down. And I guess that’s how you started, like a pinprick to my heart, but at this point you rush right through me and I start to drown.

When we reached the Headwaters of the Mississippi, I felt at peace.  Maybe this was the Universe giving me a sign, maybe it was a confidence in knowing I’d found and was on vacation with my true love, maybe it was just my sentimentality, maybe none of the above. Maybe for Dan it was the amazing hail storm that struck dropping golf balls of frozen slush that covered the ground in the heat of the day. But, for both of us, something stuck that day.

So thin threads… that is the substance of which a life paths seem to be built.  Little things that lead to bigger and bigger things, in a new or continued direction, depending on which strands you decide to pick up and follow.

We made a dream page together with photos of land filled with trees, outdoor showers, windmills, cottage rooms, flowers.  We put to paper what we hoped would become a reality in the next few years.  We searched for land, finally finding a piece that we could afford, we started building and planning for how we’d make a transition to a life outside the Rat Race.

We downsized our stuff, paid down the house, got our son Tom through high school and started into college and then Dan said he thought it was time for him to search for a job in Minnesota so I could leave the Rat Race.  I didn’t think I had ever heard more beautiful words.  I didn’t believe it could happen at first, and even as we got closer, it was hard to have full faith and confidence that everything would fall into place.  But it did.

He’d spent 12 weeks in 2013 at the Harn creating a space where we could live full-time.  (We quickly realized we still had quite a ways to go when we got to serious thinking about moving and living there full-time.  We still needed water and a heat source.)  We started working on getting the Indiana house ready for sale.  I started packing as if we’d be moving by fall.  Dan took a trip in May 2014 to Minnesota to look for work but nothing striking happened.  Meanwhile, I made plans for a 3-week trip to Missouri in September to visit an EcoVillage called Dancing Rabbit, hoping I’d be able to leave my job by July or August. Surely by the end of August I could find a way out?  While I felt this would happen, I saved enough vacation to make that trip without quitting… just in case.

We listed the house on June 18^th , our son Tom left for a six-week trip to China on the 20th and Dan headed back to Minnesota the next day.  We figured, if Dan could get a job by July, then when Tom returned in early August, he and I could pack a truck and move everything to Minnesota.  Dan called June 26th to tell me he’d gotten a couple offers and was coming home that weekend.  We were moving over the 4^th of July.

Whoa, boy!  I had to slam the packing into full gear to make this happen.  Knowing we were getting closer to making a reality of my dream to leave the Rat Race was a definite energizer!

If you’ve read closely or the section called “What I Believe…”, then you know I’m a big believer in Dream Pages.  While I don’t have handy the Dream Page we made together early in our relationship, in 2012 we each made a Dream Page to reflect our goals. Here are shots of one side of each of these pages.

These are only a few years old but they are coming true, sometimes in ways we couldn’t have imagined back then.  We kept them in our bedroom where we’d see them every day.  When I selected the photo of the family on the porch, I had no idea we’d be living with two generations in one house by 2014.  Or that photo of his and her feet… How could I have known that a Reflexology class for couples we took in 2014 would have me pretty much curing a sciatic issue Dan had been suffering from since 2000?  And, yes, I will tell you! We did get to a “Wait, Wait… Don’t Tell Me!” show in Indy.  What a blast that was.  I totally groupied Carl Castle!!  He’s a doll, by the way.

I encourage you to put your own Dreams to paper and watch as they start to materialize in ways big and small.  Dream Big, and then start Planning.

And in case you want to check out “Galileo”… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RiU2T4Psyc    http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/indigogirls/galileo.html

Reducing Consumption

Tags

anti-consumerism, de-cluttering, Rat Race, simplicity, sustainability

Today Danny & I celebrated our 13th/14th Anniversary. It is truly a joy to have come this far together and to have such high hopes for our future together, even though we’re in the midst of some uncertainty. Life is a bit “lacey” at present, a bit full of holes but still beautiful. Dan was working temporary contract work and the company for which he worked has not seen the order book they anticipated so his temp services were “no longer required”. While this is a bit of a bump in the road, I am walking in faith that life is unfolding for our best and highest good. I will continue to believe that the Universe is constantly conspiring for our good.

As I mentioned previously, Lace is the traditional 13th anniversary gift and I had some ideas for my gift to Dan, hoping to avoid consumerism as much as possible. And I did have some ideas for incorporating lace into our celebrations. (I’ll leave that to your imaginations.) However, since Books are our kryptonite… It turns out that the perfect thing I found was a book about life that I thought would be perfect for this “lacey” time. (Working part-time in a book store really is heaven to me but I do joke that I don’t bring home a pay check, I just get paid in books. Could be worse though, I could work at Dairy Queen!!) Wait. WHAT!?!?!

OK, I know, someone is jumping up saying, “Working Part-Time? I thought you were RETIRED!?!” Yes, I did Retire. I no longer work 40-80 hours a week, driving loads of miles in a commute and spending time in a job where I no longer have passion. I left the Rat Race.

However, after 8 months of Retirement, the local independent bookstore, Cherry Street Books, noted that they needed help as two of their original employees had moved on to other projects (the store just celebrated 8 years on June 23rd). So, I am working part-time in a place where I am amazed they pay ME (don’t tell Kathleen!). I love every minute of it and I enjoy lots of perks with this job in addition to pay. So, I don’t see it as work at all, really. As I told Danny, it is an inexpensive way for me to play bookstore owner so he never has to endure me being an actual bookstore owner.

But, back to my original message.

1. We are not focused on materialistic consumption.

I think a better way of putting this is that we are focused on NOT buying into the typical American ideal of consumerism. Our entire US economy seems to be based on spending. We often hear about the need for a higher GDP. Even when we were attacked back in 2001, the message from the President was to “Go Shopping”. So we do our parts as loyal consumers. Why?

Most Americans, and we’re exporting this trend as quickly as we can, are programmed to purchase more and more things. We are encouraged to fill up our lives with STUFF. Ads are everywhere and appear to be unavoidable: billboards on the roadways; purchased ads on the radio; and most prolific of all, commercials on the television. I remember my son Tom calling me into the living room when he was just a toddler. “Mom, you have to come here, you NEED this!” A TV commercial was telling him of the latest “must-have” for every family and he was listening. This was the day I explained to him that the TV lies. And that lesson stuck. To this day, he’s a man of his own mind and doesn’t buy into the ideas of fashion and trendiness. His generation in fact may be the ones who break this cycle of programming. They watch shows on Netflix and they avoid the ads in other ways, like never looking up on a trip in the car as they are plugged into their phones thus seeing zero billboards. They shop online where they can compare the best options, cheapest prices. They have much better tools than my generation did.

As I was growing up, the alcohol industry told me how cool I’d be if only I drank X. “Guys will think you’re beautiful.” (I do have to admit, alcohol does something to the senses making everyone look a little more attractive…) Then there are the fashion magazines showing what I must wear to be “in fashion” and which designer is the most important to carry now, all showcased by ultra-thin and air-brushed models, which leads to the diet books I need to buy to be thinner and the makeup and hair care products I need to make me more beautiful. I can’t be awesome cool unless I have the latest gadgets and apps. And if I’m feeling a bit off, there’s a pill to fix that. (Never mind those pesky side effects.)

The alcoholic beverage industry accounted for over $400 billion of our 2010 economy. And the way things are going, I’m guessing that only goes up every year.
The U.S. apparel market accounts for over a quarter of the global market at $331B. (Should it concern any of us that we spend more on beer than t-shirts?)
We spend about $54B on cosmetics and over $80B on hair care.
And even though we spend so much on beautification, we still have cultural standards of ideal body size so there is a $20B weight loss industry.
We spent over $211B on electronics in 2014. And that doesn’t include the monthly cost of your Vonage plan.
Pharmaceutical sales have been over $300B for the last 5 years.
(As long as the internet doesn’t always lie, you can check out stats here: http://www.statista.com/)

Well, I’m not buying their story. I wear clothes that feel comfortable, haven’t worn makeup since high school (except for maybe the office Christmas party or Halloween), quit dying my hair a decade ago and I am happy with the big bod I own. And while my phone has the capability of texting, I can count on one hand the number of texts I have sent. (The last one was the night of the recent Stanley Cup Final when the Blackhawks beat the Lightening to win the Cup while Danny was at work. It was a historical moment, and worth the $0.46 addition to our bill this month.) And if you want a wake-up call on meds, read Overdosed America by John Abramson. Wanna know how they came up with the proper cholesterol number we should be hitting? As I recall, it was figured in a conference room based on needed sales. This is more recent from him on this topic: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/14/opinion/dont-give-more-patients-statins.html

Dan and I realized that buying into the latest trends and gadgets only kept us working longer and harder. We still struggle with this and buy more STUFF than we need. But we’re much more cognizant than we used to be. For a long time we have minimized buying clothes and, as needed, we now buy second-hand from places like the Klothes Kloset here in Alexandria. (Love this place so I’m happy to plug them. In fact, I love their dollar item days. A while back I was able to get a box full of clothes to send to some friends in Missouri. This is the helping-make-other-people-happy part of life.) We get our hair cut a few times a year (because Danny doesn’t have much hair) and don’t spend much of anything on beauty products (because I’m already adorable!). In fact, I make my own shampoo, deodorant, toothpaste and cleaning products from simple ingredients. What we realized is that the STUFF just wasn’t making us happy. In fact, it was really making us miserable, having to maintain it, store it, clean it and insure it.

Around 2006, my dad gave me his 1981 Chevy Corvette. I had always loved the car, recalling the late nights when Dad and I would head out in the fall, T-Tops off, heat cranked and the Heavy Metal soundtrack blasting. Those were fun times. It was the first car I drove… in the parking lot of Dad’s work when I was about 13 or 14 years old. It was the coolest. So when he offered it to me, I jumped at the opportunity. But a few years later, I realized I wasn’t driving it very often, it was taking up a lot of space in the garage and insurance and maintenance for a ‘Vette is high dollar. I already had a Harley and that’s high dollar maintenance as well. These toys were rarely enjoyed and were keeping us from full implementation of the 5-Year Plan. So I called Dad and told him I was ready to let it go. I took it back to him and let go of a little cool so I could embrace a more simple and unencumbered life. I sold my Harley too, to my friend Steph. But I have first dibs on it if she ever decides to get rid of it.

When we decided to make the move from Indiana to Minnesota, we downsized considerably, letting go of about half our possessions. We gave away furniture, clothing and housewares to friends, St. Vincent’s, Salvation Army and a handful of other charitable organizations. We moved more than we needed but we definitely reduced our load making the move North cheaper and more manageable. We used a 20’ U-Haul and, because we were willing to drop the truck off in Fargo, ND, we got it for half price.

Here’s our retirement place.  Most of this furniture was moved to the Harn by my Mom – inherited possessions.  You can see the “hoarder” look we have going on here with most of the Indiana STUFF still in boxes.  We went through a bunch of boxes this weekend and found more stuff to give away.  But we’ll still end up keeping way more than we need.  (It takes time to get past all the years of programming.)

The bigger part is not buying NEW STUFF to clutter our lives.  I mean seriously, the place is cluttered enough already, eh?  It’s a process and we are still learning but our expenses are down and we think more about all the ramifications of each purchase. Can we do without it? Is it something we really love? Or is it just an impulse buy? Can we borrow it from someone else?  Can we afford to maintain, insure, store it?  Do we really love it?

This can be a tough resolution to make, avoiding consumerism. We all need some STUFF but most of us can live with a lot less than we buy. It gets easier when you have less income to spend. And deciding to Retire at 45, we realized our earning potential was reduced so our spending better be in alignment. In the end, we’ve found that it actually makes life more enjoyable and simple without a lot of excess clutter.  But we have to go back home to enjoy a less cluttered space…

The Big Question

Tags

American Dream, How to Retire Early, Rat Race

So, what most people want to know is… How on Earth did you Retire at 45???

The simple answer is, my husband went back to work so I could escape the rat race. The longer answer, of course, is more complicated. Everyone needs income, right? And most families these days need two incomes to stay afloat. But money isn’t everything. Really, there are so many factors that come into play that we need to go back a bit…

Dan and I met in 2001 and within a year, we were married, in fact, a year to the day from our first date, so we have a double anniversary. This year will be 13 years married and 14 years dating. And it’s just around the corner… good thing I have some ideas in mind for his gift already. 13th anniversary is Lace but I will put a non-consumer spin on things, as usual. Which brings me to one of the first reasons why I could Retire at 45.

1. We are not focused on materialistic consumption.

Most Americans use STUFF to fill up our lives. Billboards, magazines, high school yearbooks even, and especially TV are all there full of advertisements for things we NEED. Thus, one thing you can do to help yourself is turn off the TV. I mean, why do you think they call it your “Evening Programming”? Because it’s programming you!

Here are a couple good links to a short story that really speaks to my heart.
http://www.becomingminimalist.com/recognizing-happiness/ https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20140501101904-16911014-the-fisherman-the-businessman  ~ both these guys are inspiration to me.

Having been brought up in this programmed, consumer culture, being able to retire early involved some additional steps. I had been buying in for years and had a TON of stuff, including debt… which brings me to my second point.

2. We eliminated debt so we don’t have to keep working for more and more money.

When Dan and I met and found blissful happiness (it was a process, but it is definitely awesome), we decided we didn’t want to live the typical American Dream. We wanted freedom, happiness, serenity and joy. And we were willing to forgo some extras to enjoy this freedom. We had a “5-Year Plan” to get out of the rat race. So, we’re a little behind schedule… More on that later.

We started looking at everything we spent. Danny had been using Microsoft Money for years (we’ve since moved to Quicken as MS Money was discontinued) so he could literally tell me how much he spent on almost everything. We set budgets for how much we could spend for dining out, fuel for the cars, entertainment, clothes, etc. And we watched where our money went. We started making double house payments. We also read Your Money or Your Life by Joe Dominquez and Vicki Robin (http://vickirobin.com/books/your-money-or-your-life/). This was a life-changing read and it helped us commit to our plan to escape to a more simple life. It focuses on how much you spend on each purchase in terms of life energy, or hours at work, (literally, your freedom) and evaluating your behaviors to see if the spending is really worth it.

Now, we still spend a lot of money – maybe more than we should. But we spend it on things that matter to us, things that last, on experiences that bring us joy, and on others. We try to live simply in many ways but focus on frugality, not deprivation.

3. We figured out what really mattered to us.

It’s one thing to know that you’re not entirely happy in your current circumstance. It’s another thing altogether to figure out how to BE HAPPY. The night Dan and I first met, and this may be the point at which I fell in love with him, I asked him what he thought the meaning of life was. He said: “To be happy and to try to help others be happy too.” So, how to do that?

We knew that working our lives away was not fulfilling us. We knew that spending time with family and friends was. We knew that reducing our expenses was key to reducing the amount of Life we needed to expend in Work. We knew that we were both willing to work hard… for ourselves and our community. We knew that preserving the planet was of utmost importance (it helps to have a place to live) and that we wanted to keep our impact low and our enjoyment levels high. We decided to find a place to be where we could keep expenses low, build a sustainable future and create community around us that was in line with our goals and beliefs. I’ll share more on how we did this and where we are now in upcoming posts.

4. We made a plan to achieve our dreams.

One of the things I believe in firmly is a Dream Page. I’ve made several in the last decade and most of my dreams have already come true. (Note to Self: It’s probably time for a new Dream Page!) And Dan made his own Dream Page a few years back too. We believe that putting to paper what you desire is a magical way of making it come to fruition. So what did we put to paper?

Pictures of… Simple Homesteads. Open Land. Happy Couples. Families Living in Harmony. Outdoor Showers.
Sayings about… Protecting our Planet. Loving Nature. Clean, Clear Water. Simplicity. Love. Happiness. Togetherness. The Common Good.

In 2007, we finally set our plans in motion and bought some land.

5. We believed. We worked toward our goals. We got me Retired at 45.

We took a huge step forward in early 2014. We prepped the house in Indiana for sale, Dan went to Minnesota to search for work, I started acting as if I could retire later in the year. Dan made two trips to Minnesota and in late June he did a round of 8 interviews, getting multiple offers. He called me mid-week to let me know we were moving 4th of July. Independence Day indeed.

I’m telling you that this is doable. Yes, it takes commitment. Yes, you may have to delay gratification for a short while or eliminate some things in order to have others. But it is worth it. It is possible.

So if you have a desire to get out of the Rat Race, to enjoy your life more than you are now, then start Dreaming, get to Planning and then Believe it can happen.