My Husband and I have been together for 9 years. He comes from an awful background (Alcoholics, drug addicts, abusive, thieving, lairs... you get the point). But he has worked through it and come out good on the other side. We have bad luck after bad luck. Seems to be when something good happens to us, the universe throws a tonne of crap our way. I'm not going to go into specifics because it will detract from my question. We are stuck on welfare and absolutely over it. We struggle everyday. We are not bludgers, we don't smoke, don't drink, don't gamble, don't go out. We budget, pay our bills and still struggle. We don't have any luxury items either. No matter what my husband does he just can not find a job. I have a lot medically going on and am unable to work at the moment, and my medicals bills are hurting us financially (not everything is bulk billed, covered by medicare or on the pbs.... don't even get me started on the NDIS). I am on the mend medically (wont be a future issue, just a very annoying, expensive current one), and I grew up on farms, so I know what it is like. We have tried a few times to move away from the area we are in, but for varying reasons have been forced to stay. We have exhausted every option we can think of and that is offered to us. It is just not working where we are. What we are doing is not living. We are so stressed out, especially over money, we have had it. We are relying on family members which is not fair on them or us. No we don't need a financial planner, we need work. We have been talking at length, for a very long time about moving to the country and working on farms. We have 2 kids and the environment we are in at the moment is not good. We want them to have a better life. So we have been looking for a farm to lease that we can work on to make an income and build a better life for ourselves. But we are struggling to find anything..... Are we looking for a unicorn, or does this actually exist? Does anyone know where to start looking? We are in Western Australia and want to stay in the state.
5 Replies
Perhaps start smaller and rent a house in a small town countryside (cheaper rent and living for you too) then work out what you can farm and sell at localfarmers markets. Fruit and dehydrated fruit wraps, veggies, eggs, herbs, nuts, theres enough roomin a large backyard to get you started and let you settle into an easier life.
A farm would be a huge thing to take onit really soundslikemore than you need right now.
OP Here: We need to make sure we can have an income. We cant just move there and then work out what to do. By moving to the country we will forfeit our Centrelink (which is fine by us), but we need an income. Establishing our own will take time and cost a lot of money up front, before we see any return. Farms are huge, I grew up on one and hubby has worked on one in the past, so we know what is involved.
With my suggestion you would still get centrelink but it sounds like you know what you want and you know what youre getting into. All the best.
Have you looked at going outback and being a farm management couple or even a contracting couple - fencing, etc. Often a house, electricity and some food comes with the job (whatever they grow). My cousin is a bush girl and they did years as a couple working on other people's farms. She nannied/governessed and he did physical work. They both got involved in mustering and other seasonal tasks. I don't know WA, only Qld. But they did many years in a small country town in WA working the sheep...
OP Here: Thankyou! I don't know why I didn't think of this! lol