Our only bills now are water, cell phones, wireless Internet, electricity, auto and property insurance, and gas for my wife to drive to work and diesel for the farm equipment. Our total cost of living has dropped from $50,000-plus per year to less than $10,000.
Where once the food came from the store, now it comes from the garden and pasture. Now 75% of our electric use is solar.
My friends call me "quasi-Amish" because I'm so cheap nowadays I will often ride a horse to town before I will turn the key on my truck. My income went from $15,000 per year as a dishwasher at a restaurant to over $35,000 by selling eggs, chickens, goats and cows.
Moving to the middle of nowhere was a huge change, but the burden of the money pit house is gone and finally there is no financial stress. Sure, the mobile home looks like a pile of steaming cow crap, but it is completely remodeled inside and is actually nice. It also keeps the property taxes at $48 a year -- compared to $7,000 on our old house.
