Learning to co exist with the upstairs cats. Going well. My innate fear of felines is subsiding.
These are my boyfriends mom's cats. We are currently staying in her basement...at 30 years old. Yep...one of "those".
Worst part? Found a local farm job which requires extensive skills and experience and pays...$11 a hour. Ugh. Possible desk job at $25ish a hour with full benefits or soul fulfilling farm job at less than half the pay with no benefits. Not sure if either are real options at the moment, but if given the choice what do I do? Not farm to pay off debt and come closer to owning a farm or farm living paycheck to paycheck with no farm in sight.
Live for today or plan for tomorrow?
Farming is one of the most important key occupations. Health, education, food, safety etc. How are the necessary occupations the lowest paying?
I'll never understand how celebrities are paid more than soldiers or athletes more than teachers.
Come on America.
I suggest the higher paying job while you get out of debt. Work it so you can also work on a farm on weekends to keep your hands in it. Then, you may be lucky like I was and you can lease some land on someone else's property and grow some veggies and raise some Pigs- that will be YOURS to care for and raise. Win win my dear.
ReplyDeleteDoesn't make any sense does it? No shame in living in your MIL's basement. My just turned 30 yr old daughter finally bought her own place and moved out this Spring. She works in a medical office and took a year's training for the job. She has worked at it for about 6 years. A friend of her's got a job, part time, in a warehouse, no experience, no training and is making the same wage right off the bat.
ReplyDeleteIf I was you I would go for the desk job and put up with it as long as you can. Help at a farm or garden on the weekends or evenings. Before you know it you will have a little nest egg for your own farm. Good luck!
As a 30-year old with plenty of college debt and a strong desire for my own space for a more sustainable lifestyle, I've had to make a similar choice. I stuck with the "normal" job while living blocks away in a kind of crappy but cheap apartment in an attempt to knock down some of my debt. I volunteer at a horse farm, which is my real passion, on Saturdays and holidays when I'm off work and I'm able to have a small garden at my apartment. No acres for my dogs to run or to keep chickens or horses or grow enough produce to sell, but for now it'll work. It's always possible to find ways to satisfy our soul.
ReplyDeleteYou have to go for the money right now. Sorry.
ReplyDeleteYep. Don't even see why this is a question.
DeleteThink of the higher paying job as just the means to the end you want to accomplish. One caution, though, don't be tempted to "upgrade" your lifestyle to "fit" the new, higher pay. Dig in and pay off your debt and save.
ReplyDeleteMy $.02, go for the office job if possible. Higher wages and benefits are huge....huge. Save up money, which should be very easy living in MIL's basement (I assume low or no expenses?) and then buy your own place! We lived in a single wide trailer for 3 years while saving up for our own place, and now I can work at my office job in they day and still raise my livestock. :-) Best of both worlds. I've got the security of a steady income and benefits, and money to spend on my animals.
ReplyDeleteI will recommend the desk job as well. From current personal experience/situation, I will add one other point: Don't get so sucked into the desk job that you lose sight of the farm goal. Keep your eyes on the prize in the face of every decision you make with work.
ReplyDeleteI go along with the others and recommend the desk job as well. Knock down debt and save for your dream farm. You can have it all, although maybe not all at once. There are many people here that have farms and off farm jobs. You can too.
ReplyDeleteNo reason a desk job can't be ag related. Is the job you interviewed for related to agriculture? I know some people who work for Farm Bureau or the County Extension Offices.
ReplyDelete$25.00 an hour? If it's offered, I would grab it. I have a masters degree, worked 30 years in a government job, and topped out at that rate when I retired. Still, the benefits were great, and with frugal living, I was able to retire early.
ReplyDeleteIf you made around $50,000 a year, you should be able to knock down debt and find a place of your own in no time.
Address the debt 1st, then pursue the farm. Farming does not pay well, whether you are the owner or an employee, & you'll have a hell of a time driving down the debt on a farm paycheck. Been there, done that.
ReplyDeleteNothing new from me...take the job, pay down the debt and save like crazy so you can pay in cash.
ReplyDeleteYa know what Dave Ramsey says, "live like no one else (cheaply, frugally), so you can LIVE like no one else."
Cash is king and you won't be writing posts about wolves at the door.