Instead, I decided to spend a day praying about it and listening for an answer.
Many of you probably didn't read the post, so I will summarize most of what I can remember with some new details added.
Nearly eight years ago, as our family started heading toward the direction of simplifying our lives and opting out of the consumer society to some degree, I would spend lots of time searching through Countryside Magazine, online, and at bookstores and libraries looking for writings from families that had chosen similar paths. I found and read article after article of "how-tos" (how to grow all your own food on 1 acre, raising chickens, living off grid, etc, etc.) but could find very little specifics about finances. I really wanted to know if a large family could live simply, work toward a more self-sufficient lifestyle and support themselves through meaningful self-employment, preferably a combination of farming and handwork.
I also wanted to know if people that made a move to a homestead way of life had a savings before they did so, or a family inheritance or disability, or......
When I started this blog, I felt God leading me to not only keep it as a journal and a place to organize our family photos, but also to share the ins and outs and ups and downs of our life. Not to make a statement that our way of life is the "right" way. Not to say that this is the way to do it. Not to make anyone feel any less if they have more stuff, or make more money. Simply to share one alternative, our life, and our experiences along the way.
Therefore, I decided it was time to share about our finances. Our handwork business grew 100% last year and we had earnings (after deducting business expenses) of about $19,000. I added the $6,000 we get from the tax "welfare" or tax refund. Truly it is not a refund because we didn't pay $6,000 into the system. Therefore, I don't like the term refund in our case - which made our income about $25,000.
This is the most we have made in our five years upon moving to Vermont and we are grateful that it has helped to make it possible to support our home, and six, soon to be seven children. When we moved here from Massachusetts we had nothing, no savings except enough to get us through a couple of weeks.
Our expenses now include - $600.00/month for our small homestead on 3.5 acres that we paid $55,000 for one and a half years ago, $100/month for electricity, $75/month for phone (this includes our unlimited dial-up for business), $1,000/year for property taxes, $400/year for car insurance, $600/year for home owner's insurance.
The rest is variable - food, gasoline, car repairs, home repairs, vet bills, etc... I would love to share more of this in future posts.
We also give because giving makes us ever more grateful for what God has provided us.
The only government assistance we accept is health insurance. For a family our size we would still get state covered insurance even if we made up to $75,000. Mike and I will be paying a monthly premium, probably about $75.00 for our coverage soon. We qualify for all kinds of other assistance, but do not need it. We also believe that the more you take from the government, the more likely you are to lose your freedoms because you have to follow the standards the government sets. We take this insurance for our children's benefit. Vermont, for better or worse, (and I don't want to get into a debate about health insurance here) looks like it will be the first state in the nation to have a single payer system. This means that everyone will be under state care when this happens. Currently 2/3 of all children in Vermont have state funded health insurance including many farm families that work very hard.
The only government assistance we accept is health insurance. For a family our size we would still get state covered insurance even if we made up to $75,000. Mike and I will be paying a monthly premium, probably about $75.00 for our coverage soon. We qualify for all kinds of other assistance, but do not need it. We also believe that the more you take from the government, the more likely you are to lose your freedoms because you have to follow the standards the government sets. We take this insurance for our children's benefit. Vermont, for better or worse, (and I don't want to get into a debate about health insurance here) looks like it will be the first state in the nation to have a single payer system. This means that everyone will be under state care when this happens. Currently 2/3 of all children in Vermont have state funded health insurance including many farm families that work very hard.
So I wrote more about the health care issue than the original post because I received some comments from a person who wished to remain anonymous. The comment was that he or she could not understand how we could be living a family centered life when he or she has to go to work every day to support us. Not kind and not productive.
A brief response is that we did not say one day - "Let's be poor and get free health insurance." Mike lost his good paying job eight years ago and after trying to get another job in his field for nearly three years he went from earning $75,000 per year to $18,000 because he could only secure employment in the landscape field. This was a blessing from God, however. Our life would never have been so full and so enriched. We just know that this was the first step, the first shove along our journey, to get out off the world's track and follow our hearts.
I will deleting all anonymous comments from now on. Please let me know who you are if you would like to contribute.
I truly look forward to discussion about this and sharing.
Warm wishes,
Tonya
