May 12, 2011

What to do while we wait

We could start showing our house next week for all we know. It just depends on when we hear from the bank. I have already made quite a plunge in starting seeds in our living room. 

It feels like we are in some sort of limbo. On one hand I know we need to enjoy the home we have now, but what effort do we put into the house if we are only going to be here for a few more months? We don't have money to fix up the house for sale. That mortgage payment sucks up all our saving money.

Another I am trying to figure out is how to start homesteading and simplifying now without planting my roots in this home or land.  I have concluded in my mind, though I need to keep reminding myself, that making things from scratch is a good thing to start on while living here. There is a lot I can do without having to have the garden or land we look forward to. I can learn more about baking bread, making my own dairy products, and I can even learn a lot about food storage like canning and freezing seasonal foods.

It is really easy to stick to my old way of life. Transitioning off grid is not just moving ourselves to a different location. It is living completely differently than we do now in every necessity of life. One thing I don't think I will be enjoying much longer is being able to just jump into a hot shower whenever I need to.  The energy consumed in heating water is a major expense. We hope to discover an ingenuousness way of heating water that is tried and true. (Who knows we may get all our hot water from heating it in a pot on the wood stove! A wood stove hot water heater is not out of the running for us yet either.)  Discovering new and better things does not come without it's trials and challenges.

So here is my new list to focus on, not to a 'T', but just to get my head around my priorities at the moment.

Line dry the clothes
Learn to bake bread without the bread machine
Hand wash the dishes
Flower gardening and maybe a few potted veggies(to enjoy this season and be thankful for what we have now)
Do some canning and freezing with seasonal foods from the market (roasted red peppers, tomatoes, salsa, pickles, fruit, corn, etc.)

To inspire myself here is my canned goods from last year. It wasn't much, but at least I started! This year I hope I have a whole pantry full!

3 comments:

  1. Just a suggestion--

    Not sure how far away you plan to move but you could go ahead and plant your garden and make sure that the new owners know that the produce is yours (but you could share some with them!). We actually did that when we sold our house and we did take from "our" garden all summer long!
    Alice

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  2. Thanks! I think we'll probably just do a few container veggie plants. I'd like to spend a lot of time on flower gardening for curb appeal.

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  3. I completely relate to being in limbo and needing to enjoy the home you have while waiting or saving for your next

    I hope you don't have to wait too long :)

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