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A Homestead How To Story

How Jenny & Jake moved from the city to living a homestead life.

Phase one was agreeing that they wanted to, and were willing to do this together. A plan formed up that would get them saving money immediately and begin them developing skills that would serve them for homesteading efforts.
They began by getting jobs that would be 10 hours a day, 3 days a week. That way Jenny could work Sunday thru Tuesday while Jake remained home to take care of household chores and any project that would help them for future needs. Jake clean, repaired and added baskets to a bike so that they could use it for in town errands then selling their cars and buying a pickup. When Jake worked Thursday thru Saturday, Jenny caught up on house chores, cooked 'double' to make meals that they could reheat on her working days. As time allowed, they both did research on how to save money by doing tasks as directly as possible/by their own hands and brains instead of paying more for convenience items.

After looking at Craig's List and checking out locations, they moved into a cheaper rental that also had a yard and laundry hook up which the apartment didn't have. The $10+ each week for washing and drying clothes would be soon paid back by using the $100 washing used machine that they bought from the guy who rebuilt them and guaranteed them for the first few months. A clothes dryer would follow as money allowed and the old clothes line in the back yard of the house would serve until them.

The house was improving so nicely that in 6 months the landlord felt an increase in rent was in order! This could have angered Jake & Jenny, but they were a step ahead, they had been thinking and looking ahead and saving while they lived there.

The older residents of the neighborhood had began approaching Jake to help them with some of the things they needed doing but couldn't manage themselves. The meager amounts that they were willing to pay didn't entice Jake, but when he asked if they were willing to trade for some of the things they no longer used, that worked! Jenny got kitchen items she couldn't buy before and they gathered useable tools that would be needed too. The biggest bonus of expanding out in the neighborhood was discovering an even better place to live and save more too. An old widow who needed help with yard work had an 'apartment' over an old garage that she never used either. When Jake asked her what she would want for rent for the apartment, she said it couldn't be much because it needed cleaning and probably some fixing too. Jake brought Jenny over and after they looked at it, agreed to pay a bit less rent, but that they would do the work if the widow could supply what was needed. Jake & Jenny invited her to their current place to show her what they could do with the widow being very glad to have them move to her place next. Seeing the chickens the widow almost cried as it reminded her of her own past when she had these too. It was a relief o Jenny & Jake that the widow was aggreable to them bringing the chickens too. The apartment was livable in a few weeks and just in time to move out of the other house as the rent was becoming increased!

The garden had been harvested and the back yard of the widow already offered for their use as long as the widow got some shared with her. That winter Jake & Jenny put together a list of what they were dreaming of in way of property of their own and means by which they could make that happen. They used their day off together to drive to potential locations and check out places and jobs there too.

Both Jenny & Jake's parents had been watching the positive changes Jenny & Jake had been doing by and for themselves. Jenny & Jake were greatly surprised when they found that their Christmas gifts were checks for them to add to their savings for a down payment on a place of their own.

It turned out that the little house that Jenny & Jake saw was very cheap compared to what they would have to pay where they were now. What they thought would be a down payment almost paid for nearly half the asking price! Instead they decided to offer less, offering this purchase plan - 1) rent to own for 3 months, 1/2 the rent monies to be applied towards a 40% down with the owner keeping all the money if Jenny & Jake discovered they couldn't make a go of the area. 2) the owner would carry a note for 10 years based on a 20 year loan schedule. Transfer of that note only on approval of Jenny & Jake OR no a no prepayment buy out by them. The sale was also be contingent on Jake & Jenny being able to check out function of well, septic and house conditions. In 10 years they felt they could pay the rest off and net a return too. The owner having no other offers agreed to all.

When they had decided to go for living in the little town, Jenny began posting ads for house cleaning jobs on Craig's list, placed an ad on the post office window and community hall/kitchen bulletin board too. As she up up the flyer at the community hall, she noticed a help wanted ad for the kitchen there. Minimum wage for sure and only a few hours 5 days a week, but Jenny figured she could work around that. The old cook looked at her a bit doubtful, but said she would check out the references Jenny handed her. Not living in the area was a big negative until Jenny told the cook that they were in the process of buying and moving here very soon. The cook's lifted eye brow told Jenny that she had heard this before and would be anticipating a 'reverse' of action on Jenny's part. 'Little does she know me thought Jenny to herself.

Jenny presented the expanded idea to a few of the people who had voiced interest and it sparked a lot of discussion for 'how to' thoughts. Nailing down proposed menu items, start up and ongoing overhead costs plus doing the math for # of meals needed to be sold each day for break even/profits all had to be penciled out before any real answer could be made. What everyone liked was that such a business wouldn't be an 'eight day a week' effort for any one, plus being able to trade off time for vacations etc. would be lovely too. Jenny proposed that the % of start up costs each member would pay in could determine the % of 'ownership' each member could claim. This would reflect in deduction write offs at tax time and what an owner could sell their share for to a replacement if they wanted to stop participating. The replacement of course be agreeable to the remaining members who would have to work with them.

It took plenty of research and figures played about with, but once the potential for profit was known, the items necessary to operate AND each member showing that they could do each of the efforts required - including cooking a tasty meal - The Partner's Grill went out and made offers with a few of the empty store fronts that languished in town. It didn't take long for it to be operating and drawing customers from beyond the sleepy little town. One of the people that had expressed interest but didn't join in with Jenny took over Jenny's job at the community kitchen. Cook as unhappy to see her go, but wished her luck with the Grill too.