Ten-Year Planning Questions

So, recently my wife and I laid out our 10-year plan, the end goal of which being to have bought a couple acres and have built a house and farm on it to manage a good portion of our food (and establish quality assurance).

The kicker, though, is that we will likely have had to move twice before that point (once as I enter residency and once as I finally enter the workforce). We're currently starting off with some potted garden plants and have had some limited successes (hampered largely by unexpected pests). We've since come across permaculture and are thinking of implementing some of those strategies for next season's crops.

What are some ways we can prepare for that ten-year goal (whether by increasing the potted crops, gaining experience, etc) while still balancing a student loan budget (supplementing food efficiently, planning for the future, etc)?

J.R. Davis wrote:What are some ways we can prepare for that ten-year goal (whether by increasing the potted crops, gaining experience, etc) while still balancing a student loan budget (supplementing food efficiently, planning for the future, etc)?

Having a plan is a great start.  Also having a budget that lets you know where every penny is going so you can locate unneeded financial strain.  Live frugally, save as much as you can, and don't eat out.  

Learning to grow in pots is a great start.  What I am learning about pests is to not get overly excited about them.  Read about them and then take the necessary steps to eliminate them or leave them be.

An example:  I got aphid on a plant I was overwintering.  I washed them off, I sprayed them with soap, and nothing happened.  I let the plant die and then in the spring we threw away all the potting soil and replace it with new soil and plants.  Still got aphids.  The other identical plant that I overwintered never got aphids, even when I put them outside.  So I decided to just ignore the aphids and they eventually went away.

Anne Miller wrote:
Having a plan is a great start.  Also having a budget that lets you know where every penny is going so you can locate unneeded financial strain.  Live frugally, save as much as you can, and don't eat out.  

Learning to grow in pots is a great start.  

#1) Having a plan is a great start, I agree--but don't feel like a failure if plans change. I had absolute confidence in my plan-making until I graduated from college--and then life's curveballs started. I feel like the older I get, the more conflicting interests I develop as I learn things. And as I learn things, the things I originally made plans for and worked for became things I didn't much want anymore (and by this I right now mostly mean my mortgage!). So these days, I think people should more act guided by their ideals and principles, their weeks being mosaics of good habits and action steps, and being open to the changing winds of fate, because life happens.

#2) Budgeting, too, is an essential I have found: the most important thing for us about having a budget was learning exactly where our money goes. Everyone needs to know this upside-down and backwards, I think! This led us to finding strategies to save more money, and live more frugally--there are many ways!  One great financial habit we implemented a year ago was setting up savings accounts which we would have automatic weekly withdrawals made to after payday. We have saved up quite a bit of money this way, not even noticing it as it was happening. And the budget lets us know how much is reasonable to expect to automatically save.    

#3)  So far we have had to grow in pots, and it saves us so much money in the summer, especially on organic tomatoes and green peppers. At first I thought just a few pots in the driveway wouldn't be a real garden, or a noticeable benefit to our lives, but it is. Even the smallest pot garden can get you going: connecting with the seasons, your local ecosystem, learning the lifestyles of plants, and producing food rather than just consuming it. And I have made soft plans for expanding a garden onto my parents' property because I found I do have a green thumb after all!

I highly recommend visiting the area you plan to live and build a home to confirm that you actually want to live in that area and what you're allowed to have in that area.

Example:
A 1 hour drive in the west can be the difference between a freezing winter, record breaking summers or flooding. Which means you also have to consider what you plan to build to keep your future animals comfortable and safe.  



The next step would be setting alerts for land sales. There's a lot of realtors that will work out a great deal, since it's hard to sell rural land fast depending on the area. Cheapest owner financing that I've seen is $100/month. By not being in a rush, you have a higher chance of making less mistakes by finding a better deal on land than someone rushing to buy land immediately.

Example:
I helped multiple friends get a couple acres under $7k. The ones who wanted land right away paid more for same amount of land than the friend who waited and bought someone out their owner-financing for $3k.