Where do I start?

[Florence-Blue]

Okay. I'm 16.
I'm getting married next year.

I'm currenly earning 50 pounds a week(collage) and intending having a sumemr job, plus a year or 2 of full time work after.

so yeah, hopefully I'll have money, im saving every penny i canwhile i'm living under my parents roof.

I had this dream of living in a log cabin, with a nice plot of land, growing my own food and so forth.

But i know it's not so simple.

I've thought about diffrent living places, weather to buy land, or try and get a small plot of land of a farmer friend, hopefully cheap, or find some(i know, risky) because i live right by a wood, very nice.

What to live in, tipi, yurk, log cabin, whatever other options there are.

But from ur experiences, those living self sufficent, and those not, what do you think is the cheapest option?

[Millymollymandy]

Move out of the UK!

[Archie]

Hi Flo....learn self sufficiency skills whilst staying at home, gardening, allotment, cheapest transport, Freecycling, It's the cheapest way, and UK is not the ideal country.
Some of my folks went to Canada in the 50's and literally did build their own log cabin, and enlarged it over time.Rainwater harvesting, woodburner, the lot.
But it still needed some capital which you aint got, so the best you can do is learn the skills whilst staying at home,then you will be ready for the b ig day.

[John Headstrong]

I agree with the "learn skills" and I mean learn everyting.

over the years I have squated, travelled and lived in large communites around the country, in that time I learnt about fixing cars and trucks, fixing up houses (plumbing, electrics water) I helped out a blacksmith (he had a broken arm at the time) so I learnt basic metal work and welding, I have made wood burners,yurts and benders.I have helped out at farms, collected chicken eggs, made fences, drove tractors and sold food at markets. I also had huge partys at some of the squats so I got to learn about sound systems and lights. The more skills you have the more useful you will be to the community

the cheapest option is join a community that is already setup or squat

[the.fee.fairy]

Have a look at WWOOFing - you can get vital skills that way.

Get yourself an allotment/bit of the garden and start growing.

Learn skills such as dressmaking, knitting etc.

The others are right in saying that you should learn as much as you can about living self sufficiently whilst you can. Its going to be a long hard slog! Talk to as many people doing self sufficient things as possible - like the people who own allotments, the people who run haberdashers (proper ones, not chain ones that employ anyone), even the farmers at the farmers markets. The more people you talk to about your dreams, the more knowledge there is for you to tap into.

[Florence-Blue]

thank you for your help. Abroad was something i thought about.
I can already garden, grow some veg, sew, knit, weave. So thats all good.
I can cook from scratch. I can make stuff, i know some wood work and plan on learning alot more at collage.

I recycle a lot of stuff already.

I would love to learn how to make yurts, im in the process of making a teepee for just relaxing and doing art, and a bit of camping.

Thank you for the advise again.

My other option would be moving into a flat, in a shit area. Which is the last thing i want to do. a) its going to cost money u just dont have, and i wont be investing in anything long term. b) not very envirmentaly friendly.

Hmmm....

I would love to move away from the UK, but my fiance still has collage and universaty to get through and is wanting something in the music buisness.

Ah, i dont know....

[red]

guess you cannot plan it all.. just have to see how it all pans out to a certain extent

[Florence-Blue]

I suppose. I gues all I'm going to do for the moment is save money and see what i can do later on.

Thanks everyone though x

[Wombat]

Ummm, good luck Flo!

One thing I will suggest is to scour second hand shops for books on skills you don't have. A good library is an excellent start and you can sometimes pick up some gems cheaply.

Nev

[Archie]

Learning to handle people, perhaps Flo would be a useful skill. Not in my armoury I'm afraid. Was talking to a special needs teacher the other day, quite a bit to it, anticipating trouble smoothing her pupils down re-assuring them and so on.
But that is something that is jolly useful in ordinary life, perhaps not to earn a living.
And with your own flat think of the expenses, gas bill electric bill, phone insurance and so on, No end to the spend.
My old dad used to say, don't smoke, don't drink, don't run a car unless someone else is paying, and don't have childen. He could talk nine of us.

[yugogypsy]

It sounds like you've got a few skills under your belt, I'd add canning, freezing & dehydrating to your food skills.

I agree with having a good library, some books you'll read again and again. Check the "Book Reviews" forum for some ideas.

I personally like John Seymours books and am trying to apply some of his principles here in Canada, our climates being so alike, they work well.

You could start with a good old fashioned "Hope Chest" with the basic linens you'll need to get started, check flea markets, auctions, garage sales and thrift stores for kitchen equipment that works. Definitely get "Home Food Systems" by Rodale Press if you can.

I was reading up on tipi's myself this morning, the price isn't bad, but space is limited, it would do if you got a spot of land someday and wanted something to live in while you got a cabin together.

Look for "The Eco-Cabin" on Google, thats another option.

Pallets broken down make excellent building material-see "The Pallet Woodshed" on Google. You could put together something like that and cover it-voila` instant cabin.

Those are my thoughts for today.
Lois