Can I afford to be a downsizer

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Can I afford to be a downsizer
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Nanny

Joined: 17 Feb 2005
Posts: 4520
Location: carms in wales

Posted: Tue Jun 21, 05 12:50 pm Post subject: afford to downsize

this is a good thread as it encompasses all the things that kept us where we are, fortunate as we may be in our present location, we would like more land and more time but it all come down to how you support it.

mr nanny is quite right (damn it) when he says that further downsizing is probably out for us unless we have sufficient capital to pay off the mortgage and support our selves and the animals that we have and would want for about a year.

i threw b and b into the equation which he agreed is a good idea but of course you still have to set up and get yourself a good name in the b and b business to ensure any steady income. hay still has to be bought, taxes and bills have to be paid and even with b and b and the equi-camping we thought of you still have to have capital which is something most of us can't necessarily lay our hands on

which was another reason we decded to do what we can do now.

judith

Joined: 16 Dec 2004
Posts: 22789
Location: Montgomeryshire

Posted: Tue Jun 21, 05 1:01 pm Post subject:
I think we are also in danger of confusing downsizing with smallholding. They are not the same thing at all. My downsizing has been a gradual process - starting when I first left home, if not before. Growing tomatoes in my Manchester backyard was just as much as part of this process as our move to the back of beyond.

tahir

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45420
Location: Essex

Posted: Tue Jun 21, 05 1:03 pm Post subject:

Judith wrote:

I think we are also in danger of confusing downsizing with smallholding. They are not the same thing at all. My downsizing has been a gradual process - starting when I first left home, if not before. Growing tomatoes in my Manchester backyard was just as much as part of this process as our move to the back of beyond.

100% agree, Sean and Andy (selfsufficientish) are prime examples of other equally valid approaches

sean
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 42207
Location: North Devon

Posted: Tue Jun 21, 05 1:03 pm Post subject:
I'd agree with that. I have no enthusiasm (or aptitude) for being a smallholder. It's about doing what you can, where you can.

Blue Peter

Joined: 21 Mar 2005
Posts: 2400
Location: Milton Keynes

Posted: Tue Jun 21, 05 1:11 pm Post subject:

tahir wrote:

100% agree, Sean and Andy (selfsufficientish) are prime examples of other equally valid approaches

Can I ask what Sean and Andy do (should I know

)?

Peter.

Bugs

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 10744

Posted: Tue Jun 21, 05 1:13 pm Post subject:

Judith wrote:

Thirded. Behemoth's offered us an article along these lines, that there isn't a "this is the ultimate way of the downsizer and thou shalt all aspire to follow this path". A person living in a bedsit whose sole aspiration is a slightly bigger flat, can be just as much part of "this" as the one who has plumped for a cottage in the country, veg patch, chickens, donkeys, shotgun and fishing rod. That's what makes it interesting

sean
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 42207
Location: North Devon

Posted: Tue Jun 21, 05 1:24 pm Post subject:

Blue Peter wrote:

tahir wrote:

100% agree, Sean and Andy (selfsufficientish) are prime examples of other equally valid approaches

Can I ask what Sean and Andy do (should I know

)?

Peter.

Not telling.

Oh alright then.
We lived in SW London until two years ago. Mandy teaches, and I worked for Oddbins (which was where we met, because Mandy worked for them too at that point). For various family reasons Mandy suggested moving to North Devon. She applied for a job in Bideford and got it. I jacked in my 'career' and we moved down here. I now do freelance copy-editing, indexing and proof reading. More importantly I'm around to see my son rather than getting home at 11pm, we've got an allotment, one car (which does about 7000 miles/year), and we shop locally and daily.
It's all good, IMHO, though it's taken a bit of adjustment. And it helps that I really enjoy cooking.

Nanny

Joined: 17 Feb 2005
Posts: 4520
Location: carms in wales

Posted: Tue Jun 21, 05 1:25 pm Post subject: afford to downsize
i don't disagree with you as it is about where you find yourself and where you want to go from where you are in effect what we would end up doing would be upsizing in terms of space but downsizing in terms of employment if that makes sense. i am well aware that i am fortunate enough to be able to even think like that when there are lots more people in towns who can't

Blue Peter

Joined: 21 Mar 2005
Posts: 2400
Location: Milton Keynes

Posted: Tue Jun 21, 05 1:32 pm Post subject:

sean wrote:

I now do freelance copy-editing, indexing and proof reading.

Including the latin in the posts here

It's all beginning to make more sense,

Peter.

jema
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 28111
Location: escaped from Swindon

Posted: Tue Jun 21, 05 2:37 pm Post subject:
One thing and there are many I like about this site is the way we seem to have a respect for other peoples approaches to downsizing. A recognition that it is more about a state of mind, that about some lifefstyle check list

alison
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 29 Oct 2004
Posts: 12918
Location: North Devon

Posted: Tue Jun 21, 05 8:05 pm Post subject:
Tahir You don't get concessions for water in agriculture, but if you are on mains drainage you can have a second meter installed and any water that does not go to the house can be taken out of the sewerage charge calculation.

tawny owl

Joined: 29 Apr 2005
Posts: 563
Location: Hampshire

Posted: Tue Jun 21, 05 8:54 pm Post subject:

Judith wrote:

2) Get rid of your debt. And that includes the mortgage. If you have any spare cash - chuck it at the mortgage. It is probably your largest outgoing. Do everything in your power to get rid of it.

Definitely - should be anyone's top priority. Ignore all the financial advisors, and if you have more than a couple of thou's worth of savings, and in particular, if you're self-employed, switch over to a flexible mortgage. That way, you can put extra money in, and if you need it, take it out again (watch out for supposedly 'flexible' ones that only let you put it in!). In the meantime, you're earning money in interest, which pays off more of the mortgage, and unlike a savings account, because you're using it to pay off a debt, you pay no tax on that interest. It's particularly useful for self-employed people, as you don't have to pay tax until the January after the tax year ends (i.e. for the 2004/2005 tax year, ending April 2005, the taxman gets his cut in January 2006), so you can put all your tax money in there working, and take it out when needed. Even though the APR is generally slightly higher on these, they're still well worth having.

tahir

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45420
Location: Essex

Posted: Wed Jun 22, 05 9:27 am Post subject:

alison wrote:

You don't get concessions for water in agriculture, but if you are on mains drainage you can have a second meter installed and any water that does not go to the house can be taken out of the sewerage charge calculation.

Ta for that Alison

Behemoth

Joined: 01 Dec 2004
Posts: 19023
Location: Leeds

Posted: Wed Jun 22, 05 9:35 am Post subject:

And that's the way it should be!

You can extraxt from water courses with a license from the EA. Or even drill a borehole which I don't think needs permission (check). You can also build you own reservoir to collect over the winter. But if this involves dams or berms you get into engineering, health and safety territory.

Pouring agricultural quantities of drinking water on crops is an expensive wat to do it.

Andy B

Joined: 12 Jan 2005
Posts: 3920
Location: Brum

Posted: Wed Jun 22, 05 10:07 am Post subject:

You dont need to live in the countryside to down size, just use less. We now buy any furniture we need from auctions, amazing what you find. We will never grow all our food, but we grow some. Foreign holidays will know stop, we took the kids to Paris on a cultural visit a few weeks ago, but that will be the last for a while. We have cut back on telly use and try and spend the time with the kids playing or talking. I think downsizing can be about state of mind as much as anything.

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