I've been wondering, in the past fifteen years or so I've spent time in some places that are out of the way, let's say, and met some really great folks who were artists and homesteader type folks etc. and a lot of them had preveiously been professionals. Like one I met had a masters in business admin. and was waiting tables down on the Mexican border and one had been chief herpatologist at a major city zoo and was working as a chashier at a cafe in the desert and one had been a college professor and was now working as a river guide. I met a man and woman who had, separately, gone to Terlingua in the Big Bend area of Texas on vacation and just stayed and became artists. I was wondering if any of you folks had left life in the fast lane and became homesteaders. If so, how hard is it? Ane what were the major adjustments you had to make? Got any advice for someone considering doing that? See, I'm a computer professional now and make real good money (I sure ain't rich or anything) but I have a background in the arts and I'm considering dumping it all and dissapearing from society. Any advice?

-- Joe Cole (jcole@apha.com), October 06, 2000

Answers

Joe, my dad told me when I was young that the most important thing was to enjoy your work because thats what you spend the most time doing. When what you are doing starts to feel like selling your soul for pieces of paper that you turn around and give to someone else to do the things you can't do for yourself, and the whole mess feels empty, then It's time to make a change. My advise is low overhead number one. Get rid of "stuff" you thought you needed and concentrate on what you need to be happy. Good luck to you and keep us posted!

-- Tina (clia88@newmexico.com), October 06, 2000.

Thanks. I do have an escape plan I'm working on, and I've also heard the number one thing was to keep the overhead low. I don't have any family so that makes it easier. My cats will be happy wherever we are. It just takes a lot of guts I've found out. Some people just do it. I think that's what I'm going to have to do. Just do it, like that TV ad says.

-- Joe Cole (jcole@apha.com), October 06, 2000.

I left a professional college-induced job, went to trade school, now have my own home-based business. I don't have an office in town, even though that would increase my clientele. I keep my overhead very low, so have to work as I wish. Sometimes people will say, "you can't afford to quit" Try thinking "I can't afford not to", this in reference to your mental and physical well-being. I am certain you can do it. Save money now if you can. I comfort myself with knowing that if it comes down to it I can wait tables, deliver newspapers, etc.

-- Anne (HT@HM.com), October 06, 2000.

Well, we are working on it. My husband and I are not exactly dropping out but I am raising the kids and he is hoping to retire in 5-8 years (before 40). No we are not rich, however we have changed our lifestyle, he found a position he could make decent money in SW Missouri and now we are buying a farm, just to homestead for ourselves.

I believe you can do anything if you set your dreams on it and work towards it. Everyone told me I couldn't afford to stay home with my children, but here I am. Everyone told us we couldn't buy a farm, but here we are. (BTW both my husband and I have degrees in Chemistry)

I would suggest seriously reading a book call "Your Money or Your Life". It changed our lives. Good Luck and GO FOR IT!!!!!!!

-- Carleen (netorcs@mo-net.com), October 06, 2000.

Carleen, yeah, great book! Joe, I have been dropping in and out for a number of years (20?)...all with the eventual homesteading picture in front of me. I finally said to hell with it last year, and quit my "day job" for real and FINALLY. I've been home/at school for a year. Why I didn't do it sooner is a mystery to me!

I was making pretty big bucks, but I couldn't stand working for a big corporation making multi-zillion dollar decisions for everybody. I would wake up in the middle of the night and wonder if everything I had done that day was ethical. Drove myself nuts. Then I understood that I had reached that point where I really NEEDED to drop out! (before, I/we would quit our jobs, travel around a bit, hang out, etc., but always with the idea of getting yet one more job, to get yet one more part of the homestead set up, etc.)

I really think I'm done this time, although I am going to school to get training for a job that I can do from home (I have a couple of years where I want to get some income and help my husband transition into his consulting biz...so HE can work from home.) That way we can possibly not work at McDonalds when we are in our 70's in case we have a medical problem or two, or whatever.

SO, I guess, we have, and we haven't. But if I were a single guy with computer skills, I would be out the door and let it slam. Good luck to you. You can do whatever you want!

-- sheepish (rborgo@gte.net), October 06, 2000.

I guess you could say that I am a drop-out, although I feel more like a drop-in. For most of my adult life, I have been in a high-income, fast paced job that is essentially the hyperbolic extreme of the socially acceptable, conservative office lifestyle - an exotic dancer. Although I loved the job and never put myself in a position to be exploited or mistreated, eventually we all wear out (usually knees/back first). After 11-ish on and off years in the biz, I now find myself carooming off in a totally different direction (up days instead of nights, making less than 1/2 my previous pay working for a non-profit and beating a path to homesteading as fast as my little tootsies can take me. I feel more like a "respectable" member of society now than I did then, although that is of minimal importance to me, merely a side effect. I don't know if that qualifies or not? When what you were doing is percieved as "weirder" and less "acceptable" to society at large than what I'm doing now, am I in or out? Y'in, y'out....y'in, y'out (Sorry, little John Boy and Billy bleed through, there. Ya either know what I'm talkin about or ya don't.)

-- Soni (thomkilroy@hotmail.com), October 06, 2000.

We are kind of in a transition (dropping out)phase. My husband quit his job as a full-time college professor end of last school year to work at home as a full time writer (he had several writing jobs/contacts set up before he did this). We moved from Southern Calif. to an area where real estate is much cheaper. With the profit from our modest California house we bought a very nice older house in town free and clear. A couple of months ago we bought our dream property-13 beautiful acres in the country-with money that I'd saved from my husband's relatively modest salary. We've lived pretty frugally to accomplish this, but it's definitely been worth it. Next summer we hope to build a house on our land after we save enough money or sell our house in town. Then we'll have realized our long- time dream of raising our 5 homeschooled kids in the country, having more time for each other and the things we enjoy. For us there was about a 3 year planning period where we saved as money as possible as we considered our options. Books that helped us: the Tightwad Gazette books, Your Money or Your Life, How To Survive Without A Salary among others. So, sure Joe, it can be done. We're not quite 40 and are debt-free. I'm sure it's much easier for a single person to "drop out", but I think it's an option families should consider as well.

-- Teresa Wiker (bwiker662@cs.com), October 06, 2000.

Joe, The only thing I have to say is: Make sure the dream is not only yours. It stinks when your spouse and child don't share your country ideas. Or the work involved. Sometimes, lately, I wonder if it is all worth it. Especially when the garden didn't produce and some of the livestock died.

-- Dee (gdgtur@goes.com), October 06, 2000.

Joe, one of these days you're going to shock me and write in and say you've actually done it!!!

I've been extremely sick and both the eye doc and the regular doc both say that although I've had a serious illness, STRESS is likely a major culprit.....That is REALLY giving me an incentive to get this homesteading going a little better. Husband's home-based handyman business if going good (although he's making about one-fifth what he's always made before) and if I could just come up with more freelancing instead of having to write all this political junk (with its accompanying political pressure) we would be MUCH BETTER OFF!!!

LIFE IS MUCH TOO SHORT to be tied to a job just for a pay check!!!! Best wishes! We'll conintue to pull for you! suzy

-- Suzy in 'Bama (slgt@yahoo.com), October 07, 2000.

Dropout , no ..... dropping out, most definatly. Twenty years in electronics/cis as engineering technician with same employer. Finding myself burned out to technology, opted for position as problem solver on graveyard shift (no guys in ties or anal ladder climbers). Works out best for my boss too. Keeping me out of sight,out of mind keeps my laid back attitude from affecting the day shift rat racers. As far as money goes, I passed up promotions and raises for the latitude of gardening during the day and weekends with my wife and son. After all , if you have the house and bills covered and a little in nestegg investment and a little sock money, your better than a rich man ( I have never seen the owner of our company smile, until he retired and divested himself, my friends and myself on night shift are always "grinning like jackasses eating sawbrier". My in laws think my work ethic sucks, I like to think it "caresses me as a lover and soulmate".

-- Jay Blair (jayblair678@yahoo.com), October 07, 2000.

Another good motivational book is "How to Make A Living Without A Job". The newsletter she offers isn't worth it though.

-- Anne (HT@HM.com), October 07, 2000.

I have; my husband hasn't. When we moved to this rural area, I tried to find a job in my field and couldn't. I've been having a great time ever since. Spend lots of time with my two teenage girls, which I couldn't do when they were little, and they are such good people. Glad I got to know them better before they're gone.

Husband is first generation of immigrant parents, and I don't think he'll ever be able to slow down. It's just part of him. More education, more money, better job... So I have fun doing what I want, and he loves his job.

-- Teresa (otgonz@bellsouth.net), October 08, 2000.

Remember, even if you win the rat race, you're still a rat. My husband and I both retired from city, banking jobs before we were 40 and don't regret it for a minute. The money seems to keep coming in from other sources. We work for each other now. One of the hardest things is dealing with the questions from family, friends and people in our small town who wonder "how can they do that" "where do they get their money from" "are they doing something illegal"??? Then, they seem to make up their own answers. Because in their minds people can't live without a paycheck. The only thing we wish we'd done differently is moved further away from all the inquiring minds. We would both strongly recommend - DO IT! It's only a job, not a life! Bueno Suerte!

-- Rose Marie Wild (wintersongfarm@yahoo.com), October 08, 2000.

One of my favorite quotes, although I can't remember the author, essentially says that the biggest problem about life in the fast lane is that you get where you're going so much more quickly.

-- Soni (thomkilroy@hotmail.com), October 08, 2000.

Good one, Soni!

I have a degree in Russian, and currently work in the big city for good money (not in Russian, though). I am definitely selling my soul for paper, but the paper is on a piece of property, ten acres, that I just bought. I hope to have it paid off in three to five years, and then I can "just do it" without having to worry about the bottom line. In the meantime, I am learning what I can while living in town. So far, I have learned quite a bit about gardening, and about raising and harvesting production from goats and chickens. I can do some carpentry (chicken coops, goat feeders, etc.). I can also make soap and some cheeses, and can make a raw fleece into a wearable article of clothing. It eases the frustration somewhat to be making progress on the hands-on front as well as the financial front, but I can't wait to get onto my land!

-- Laura Jensen (lauraj@seedlaw.com), October 09, 2000.

I suppose I am a split, always have been the biggest batch of contradictions though! I just paid off my place, and I am still working in a high overhead business that has the delightful position of holding all of my debt. But I am intending on being all the way out of it in 4 years. Doing this solo is just like everything else,certainly has it's share of goods and bads.

It seems to me that the only thing to do is to strive after what fills your soul. Of course you have to be financially responsible, but there isn't any sense in beating your head against a wall to get more of something you don't want, is there?

Joe, you have researched this from one side to the other and now you just need to formulate your plan and then do it. Some people have better luck just taking a giant leap out of society at large and "disappearing", but most tend to do best wading out of the pool. Personally, I find the wade to be lasting longer than I would like, but since no one is giving me a bunch of money to make sure I meet my responsibilities, I have to be content with progress toward the goal. You can do whatever you set your mind to! Good luck!


-- Doreen (animalwaitress@yahoo.com), October 10, 2000.

Hey Joe. One of the "benefits" of working for big corporations for all those years (for me) was getting to take all the battery of psychological tests that indicate what type of personality you have and how to work with the rest of the personality types in the organization. Yeah right. Big benefit. Anyway, there are essentially four types of communication personalities, according to one theory: Drivers, Expressives, Amiables, and Analyticals. Each has great strengths and each has weaknesses that can be overcome by learning versatility strategies (i.e. learning how to communicate using the other types styles). Okay, this is already boring! Anyway, from my experience as a Business Systems Analyst (for a few years) I discovered that many computer techie folks were Analyticals...their "weakness" is overanalyzing things to the point of paralysis. Don't know if you fit in here, but could be. I have this characteristic myself. Hard to get moving....always more data to get, and gee, what if I were wrong?

Sometimes it's just time to take a deep breath and dive off that platform.

-- sheepish (rborgo@gte.net), October 11, 2000.

Dear Joe, Before you just drop out - GIVE YOURSELF A YEAR OR TWO OF PRACTICE. Do not just quite your job. Try and get an idea of how much less money you would be making by giving up your current job and getting a rural job. Let's figure you will make half your salary in a rural setting. So if you currently are making $30,000 (after taxes) start to live on $15,000, putting the other half away as a savings cushion if you decide to make the real big change. If you can happily live on this lower amount without feeling too deprived or constantly tempted to dip into the saved half you will do just fine in the "dropout world". Best of luck to you...

-- Diane Greene (fgroeters@ulster.net), October 11, 2000.