| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| happymama58 |
Posted - Mar 20 2006 : 11:54:53 AM
When our house sells and we are ready to move to the land we think we're getting (waiting on the bank), we will have no house. I would really like to live in a wall tent while we build, and take our time & build ourselves for the most part. We'd have someone dig out the basement, we'd put up the forms with some help, then have the basement poured, and go from there. I was thinking we could by the large wall tent (17 x 20); living in it would be my husband & I and our daughter (17 this Wednesday).
I really want to get in this house with as little debt as possible, and I'm willing to rough it to achieve that. Am I crazy? Is this doable? Has anyone here done it?
DH said this weekend that as soon as the land is ours, he'd like to go ahead and buy the wall tent as soon as possible. We could get the platform built and the tent up and stay out there quite a bit, clearing the land on his days off and coming back to town to stay when he has to work. I'm a teacher, so this summer I could easily do that. What do you ladies think?
Some people search for happiness; others create it.
http://happymama58.typepad.com/my_weblog/ |
| 25 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Eileen |
Posted - May 24 2006 : 7:00:20 PM
Hi Happy MOMMa,
When my husband and I bought our property we lived in a fifth wheel for a while and built our selves a yurt to live in while we got our place ready to build. My daughter and husband did the same in Wisconsin and are loving it. They have a 2 year old son now and still are in the yurt with 2 wall tents for workshops and storage. You can go to their webb page and click on Owner built yurt to see the process from start to finish of building their yurt.
www. foursongs.com.
You are not nuts but I must tell you it is not easy if you are used to all the luxuries of electricity and a dishwasher. Want to know more about our experiences just send an e-mail to me through the site and I will reply to your questions. If you decide to go for it just be prepared for what you will experience and it will be a good experience. If you go into it with this dreamy notion that it will be a romantic romp you will be disappointed.
Eileen
Songbird; singing joy to the earth |
| serenity1652 |
Posted - May 24 2006 : 12:38:08 PM
I say go for it. When we bought our 93 acres...we were blessed because it already had a house on it but I would have lived in a cardboard box just to be on the land. If you really want it and you can see spending the rest of your life there...then do it. God bless you on your journey to living your dream.
Fawn
"shallow creek farm"
"May all of your farm girl dreams come true...as mine has"
http://shallowcreekfarm.blogspot.com/ |
| teripittman |
Posted - May 23 2006 : 08:17:07 AM
quote:
Originally posted by happymama58
I really want to get in this house with as little debt as possible, and I'm willing to rough it to achieve that. Am I crazy? Is this doable? Has anyone here done it?
Some people search for happiness; others create it.
http://happymama58.typepad.com/my_weblog/
No, you're not nuts. Sometimes, things like this are the only way to get to where you really want to go. We're going the trailer route, although our friend's trailer is in such bad shape that I'm not sure what we'll gain by using it. We've got some buildings to scrap out to build an extension and think we can come up with enough to build a small cabin this summer. Most of our stuff is already moved and stored at our friend's old goat barn. All we are waiting on is to sell our current place (which should be June 20th, unless we have a problem with this buyer). We've already got the poultry and I'm buying cashmere goats.
Sometimes you have to throw your heart over the fence and hope that the rest follows ;) |
| sonflowergurl |
Posted - Apr 14 2006 : 06:57:43 AM
Lynn, that's funny. Because we're here in WC because it's where God wants us. LOL Hubby is a youth pastor. We left for a position that didn't work out, came back to this area because it was familiar and found a brand new church plant to help start (and now hubby is PT on staff). It doesn't help our financial situation of being in somewhat limbo the past couple of years though, so sometimes we think we'd like to move someplace less expensive. He grew up in WV and me in KS, LOTS less expensive in both places...but God hasn't led us there yet and maybe never will. We go back and forth about what we want to do, but ultimately it's not "our" decision. LOL
If we could find a way to balance our calling with our dreams, that would be a great place to be!
Boy, sounds like we could get along if you were still in the area!!! Bummer. lol
Katee
The end will justify the pain it took to get us here.
"Looking Toward the Son"---- http://sonflowergirl731.blogspot.com
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| greyghost |
Posted - Apr 14 2006 : 06:45:02 AM
Funny how sometimes we're put someplace, and we don't know why.
Like for DH, why we moved to Summerville. What's our next move? I know why Summerville attracted us, but it still is a small town with its share of problems. It solved a lot of financial problems for us, moving here, and now he is quitting his job (special ed teacher burnout - but he lasted more than twice as long as the average special ed teacher does) and looking for a new occupation, on the self-employed side.
We have yet to find a church we like, which bothers us. And we haven't been able to make a decision, for the first time in our married lives, on what to invest in next. We think we'll go ahead and buy land. But that's this week. What we start discussing next week might be rental properties! Either that, or one of us says "we should do this" and the other says "I don't think so, because XYZ.." For the past YEAR, we just felt like we were lacking guidance, like God didn't want us to do anything yet. If I liked a property, he didn't, and vice versa. And we don't do anything unless we are in agreement.
Right now we're talking land... and for the first time in months, we're in agreement as to the size, how much to spend, and what we should do with it, and what kind of land it should be. So I'm crossing my fingers and hoping if this is what God wants us to do, to show us a good piece of land at the price we're willing to pay. ;) |
| sonflowergurl |
Posted - Apr 13 2006 : 10:38:35 PM
Yeah, we love it here otherwise, but land is way too expensive!
I'd buy an old farmhouse in a heartbeat if I had the money to! We talk about moving somewhere else, but this is where we're supposed to be at this point in life, so we're here. LOL
Katee
The end will justify the pain it took to get us here.
"Looking Toward the Son"---- http://sonflowergirl731.blogspot.com
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| greyghost |
Posted - Apr 13 2006 : 6:59:30 PM
Yep, we left Florida about a year ago - too darn expensive for us! At least here we have a chance at finding an old farmhouse to remodel... or we can at least afford some acreage! Florida was crazy.
There used to be some old farmhouses out toward Odessa, and there were some near Dade City too, but they got scooped up pretty fast in the whole real estate madness. If you were able to move further north in Florida, you might still find some near Magnolia - I know of one there that an older friend has yet to finish removing her mother's belongings in and sell. She hates old farmhouses (I don't understand that) and doesn't want to keep it. :(
Sorry I missed meeting you! We do still have family in Florida - my folks are in Wildwood and DH's family is in Brandon and Sarasota. |
| sonflowergurl |
Posted - Apr 13 2006 : 11:18:24 AM
Yep, I know Dade City! LOL Darn, I could've had a local farmgirl here! LOL Yeah, everything here is sooo expensive, that's why we're renting these days.
We've roughed it some the past couple of years due to job and location changes (we were in this area, left for a new position we hated and moved back)...it's hard, but everything works itself out eventually.
I would love to have an older place to work on and fix up if it meant I could be in my own place! Unfortunately, there aren't very many older places in Wesley Chapel, it's all "new construction".
Katee
The end will justify the pain it took to get us here.
"Looking Toward the Son"---- http://sonflowergirl731.blogspot.com
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| greyghost |
Posted - Apr 13 2006 : 06:42:02 AM
I decided to pull this up so it goes with the post about having bought your land - congrats!!!
DH and I have been living rough this past year after selling everything in Florida (in Dade City, which Sonflowergurl should know pretty well, being in Wesley Chapel!). We bought a mess of a house and had to "camp" in the one decent room in it for 7 months - it had a gross bathroom and we routinely found slugs & mold - while we remodeled the in-law suite. In October we moved into the in-law suite, all glorious 400 sq. ft. of it, and while we are crowded (did I mention we have 2 big dogs?) it's kind of like living in a vacation cottage.
I won't tell you what you're planning to do isn't tough. It's tough. It seems forever since I saw some of my favorite things, all wrapped up and sitting in an uninsulated storage unit. We are crowded and there are days when we look at this house we bought and ask ourselves why we're so nuts. We haven't fought or anything, but DH has his battles with depression and I sometimes get pulled down for a few days too.
But we are doing all of this for the same reasons you are: no debt. This house, in all its glorious hideousness & dilapidated condition, is ours - paid for. In Florida we could never have afforded a 3br/2ba home with a separate in-law suite! And our next step is to go into a little debt and buy our land. We still will have enough money (barely) for a down payment on some acreage, and we'll pay on that for a while, start our tree farm & nursery there... and 10 years from now we'll be building our home - hopefully also with no debt.
So good luck, and be forewarned that it is tough... we didn't think we'd be living rough in the one room with no door for 7 months, we thought three & we'd be in the suite. And now we've been in the suite for 5 months and are only just getting started on the house. I still hope to be moved in by Christmas & have some relatives up here to help us celebrate!
The one piece of advice I have - if you can find it, get air-controlled storage for your stuff. I have lost some clothes to mildew, and the antique furniture in storage isn't so thrilled either - I noticed some drawers were sticking pretty badly where they hadn't before.
Good luck, and keep us posted!!! |
| sonflowergurl |
Posted - Apr 02 2006 : 9:53:59 PM
Sounds like such a cool summer, not temp-wise, of course! Basically frontier-ing it! When I was in Girl Scouts (growing up in KS, so similar weather to you...maybe even hotter), they taught us to make an a/c by soaking a sheet and hanging it upwind of our area. The shade with the breeze blowing through the wet fabric made for some great relief! If you plan to have fans, you could easily do that, even on those stifling hot wind-less days.
You could also consider trying to find a pop-up tent/camper to live in for the summer. You could keep the windows zipped closed and get a window a/c unit to use to help with the heat, just a thought. (Then sell it when you've got a house.)
The end will justify the pain it took to get us here. |
| kathryn |
Posted - Apr 02 2006 : 5:21:35 PM
This is a wonderful idea and great opportunity!! It seems in today's world, people don't even know how a house is built. You have a rare chance to learn yourselves and teach your child how to build and love and care for a home built on the land you love. What could be better? More sane? More inspiring?
You should relish, thrive in fact, that you are different, that you care, that there are things worth the time and effort that may not come easy in the beginning. Remember, there are those of us you think you brave and romantic. I wish you only the best and thank you for the inspiration that it's okay to go against the norm in pursuit of dreams..dreams to remember and make real.
Do it !!
-Kathryn |
| knittingmomma |
Posted - Apr 02 2006 : 5:05:25 PM
I think it will be worth it!
We had considered buying raw land and doing something similar but came to the realization that with five children and needing the computer for our business, it didn't make sense for us. But we truly thought lots about it.
Hope you share your journey!
Warm wishes,
Tonya
Natural Earth Farm - A Village Homestead making handcrafted goods of natural fibers - http://www.naturalearthfarm.com |
| bboopster |
Posted - Apr 02 2006 : 12:42:55 PM
We've spent alot of time in the summers "Camping out" on our land that we are building on. Chemical toilet and the nearby park with swimming hole were life savers. Cooking over the campfire was great and my kids enjoyed it. My sons laughed at guys in boot camp when it came to survival skills, mountian climbing ect... Called them all city boys. Funny my kids for the most part are city kids with just old fashion camping experence. 
Pray for our troops to come home safe and soon.
Enjoying the road to the simple life :>) |
| happymama58 |
Posted - Apr 02 2006 : 11:49:04 AM
Nicole, both my mom and dh's parents probably think we're nuts, but they're both really supportive. The one thing both mom's seem most concerned about is not having a regular toilet. I told them we'd either rent a port-a-potty, buy a composting toilet, or build an outhouse. Of course, both of them grew up with outhouses, so they aren't shocked by that idea. 
What I can't get over is the number of people who say, "You're going to CAMP OUT?" Like that's unheard of!
Some people search for happiness; others create it.
http://happymama58.typepad.com/my_weblog/ |
| NicoleG |
Posted - Apr 02 2006 : 11:18:40 AM
I was just talking to my boyfriend while reading this. I was saying "Oh cool! They have the land and are going to live in a tent while building the house! I want to do that!" My boyfriend wasn't as enthused. He said he would need a BIG tent and "what would your parents say if they came to visit and we were living in a tent." I wouldn't care! |
| NancyM |
Posted - Apr 02 2006 : 11:08:16 AM
My sister did something similar-they lived in a trailer with 2 kids while they built their house. Lucky for her her husband has great carpentry skills! It's been a slow road but their place is gorgeous, and paid for! I say go for it!
Nancy |
| Destiny~ |
Posted - Mar 29 2006 : 05:41:02 AM
Take lots of pictures.
I'd do it in a heartbeat if I could convince hubby. |
| sunshine |
Posted - Mar 28 2006 : 6:06:55 PM
my husband and I slept end to end on the top bunk of my childrens bed for a year when he lost his job. If I can do that you can do this you will have more room than we did and you get to wake up to birds singing not your husbands toes in your face. Mind you I still love him and all is well.
have a lovely day
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| cajungal |
Posted - Mar 21 2006 : 4:18:14 PM
Hey Patti,
I've been thinking about you today. I have no idea what you or your family looks like, but I've had this Mom, Dad and daughter in my mind all day.....living in a wall tent and doin' just fine!!
About the a/c.....will your daughter need to go to school? will you or your hubby need to go to work in dress clothes? I can handle the heat....work in it, sleep in it, etc.... But, I don't think I could put a bunch of nice clothes on without melting. You could just shower up and then dress when you get to town.
I'm being a big wimp over this a/c thing.....I know you can do it!!
If you don't want to do the whole outhouse thing, Lehman's sells composting toilets. Some are not too expensive, either. All the descriptions say there is no odor and the compost is usable in the garden.
Blessings
Catherine
One of the best compliments from one of my daughters: "Moma, you smell good...like dirt." |
| westernhorse51 |
Posted - Mar 21 2006 : 11:12:35 AM
go for it, think of it as an adventure. You can do a/thing and for land, I'd do it in a heartbeat!
she selects wool and flax and works with eager hands Prov.31:13 |
| TejasFarmgirl |
Posted - Mar 21 2006 : 10:40:39 AM
Ohhh...go for it!! How exiciting! I agree with Laura and Melissa - what an adventure!! |
| celebrate2727 |
Posted - Mar 21 2006 : 10:24:04 AM
We spent one summer in our cabin. No running water, but on the lake. We lived there from April 15th thru August. It was tough. Here's a couple tips that worked great. We rented a portapotty, They aren't bad if you keep it clean and tidy. The company would empty it every week and I think it cost around $70.00 a month. The other thing we would do is go to the laundromat and get jugs of water. We would leave them out in the sun and by late afternoon you could have a warm shower. A bout a gallon per person, if you are frugal. I think it will be great for you. And definately journal it all and take plenty of pictures to show your grandkids some day.
blessings
beth
Dreaming of Friday Night Lights
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| thehouseminder |
Posted - Mar 21 2006 : 09:58:32 AM
I say go for it too BUT you might want to watch the PBS series "Frontier House" and also "Colonial House" to make sure you know what you are up against. Just a thought!
Lucinda
When we were young, there were moments of such perfectly crystallized happiness that we stood stock still and silently promised ourselves that we would remember them always. And we did. --Holly J. Burkhalter , "Four Midwestern Sisters' Christmas Book"
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| happymama58 |
Posted - Mar 21 2006 : 09:38:49 AM
Thanks for all the encouragement. Several of you mentioned AC and summer, and that is an issue for my area. Summer temps are routinely in the 90's with humidity in the 80% range and above. The humidity is a real problem. We would definitely have to plan for that. Fortunately, the property has both a hand-dug, brick-lined well and a "regular" well with a pump, so water is available. Electric is already run to the building site, so we could have fans, which would help. There's so much to consider and plan for, and of course, the house to get sold. That's our biggest concern right now. Other than that, I'm ready!
Some people search for happiness; others create it.
http://happymama58.typepad.com/my_weblog/ |
| sqrl |
Posted - Mar 21 2006 : 09:30:51 AM
definitely, You should do it and record the whole experience. I think it's a great idea and would be a grand adventure.
Blessed Be
www.sqrlbee.com
www.smallsqrl.blogspot.com
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