Hi, my name is Terry and I live in Sydney, Australia. I have a wife and 2 young children (with another on the way), and we are in the midst of a life changing decision – debating a move from the hustle and bustle of city life, to a dream where we build our own house, live in the country, and become self-sufficient. I have created this blog to share this dream, in the hopes of finding others who feel the same, and create a place we can share our thoughts and experiences to ultimately help each other, learn from each other and hopefully make this dream into a reality!
Why move from the city to the country?
As per my earlier post, my family and I have a dream to move from Sydney city (Australia) to the country.
We are holding back as we are unsure if this is the right thing to do. Exploring the reasons some more as to why may help. Well there are a number of reasons:
- City life feels very busy, its go, go, go all the time. Expectation is country life is not so busy. As I write this I wonder if this is true? What is it in our lives that makes it feel busy currently? Here are a few things:
– 2 young kids (aged 4 and 2) and another child on the way. For parents out there, you know what I mean. It’s a full-time job to look after young kids, admittedly it does get easier the older the kids get. For those of you who don’t have kids, maybe you have a sibling or friend that does? Ask them what its like, even stay a day or 2 and you will get a sense of what I mean!? Will looking after the kids be any easier in the country? Maybe? Currently we have the Monday-Friday daycare trip as a slight detour to and from work. Whilst we could continue daycare in the country, I imagine us all at home and having more time together. Of course kids will need to go to school in the not too distant future, and there may be less schooling choice in the country? Perhaps we school them ourselves?
Looking after kids may not be so easy in the country and perhaps bring its own new set of challenges???
– Work: mainly 9 to 5, Monday to Friday, with about 1 hour travel each way. My current job is fairly stressful and involves constant negotiation of priority, based on benefits and effort, combined with a limited number of resources and budget to deliver with. If we move to the country, the idea is not to work. Or, more likely, work in a way that is in sync with our country life, so we have some income for the things we cannot be self-sufficient on (e.g.: school books).
– Maintaining: household chores such as cooking, washing clothes, cleaning, shopping, generally keeping the house and garden neat and operating, fill up most of the spare time we currently have (outside of work and looking after the kids). We have a cleaner who comes fortnightly to help. Whilst this eases the cleaning chores a bit, there is no stopping the relentless washing and cleaning that goes with young kids, only time as they grow will do that! I can’t see these chores going away in the country, however, we should be self-sufficient and not really working, so the maintenance things should be more easily absorbed in our day-to-day routine!
– Other: visiting family and friends, exercising, and fun stuff. This doesn’t happen that much at the moment. We generally ask people to come to visit at ours, as it is easier with the kids (we still go out places too, from time to time). Exercise routines are hard to keep and are generally done wherever possible, usually with the sacrifice of less sleep. Fun is when we go to the beach or pool as a family. Occasionally one of us goes out with friends whilst the other looks after the kids. On rare occasions my wife and I go out together. In theory there should be more opportunity for the fun stuff in the country. There maybe even less chance of visiting family and friends as they will most likely remain in the city, yet we may build an oasis that continues to have people visit, we will see… - Simpler life in the country. Life should become more about living and going back to basics. At least the basics on food and to some extent shelter (build our own with natural materials such as mud and/or straw). Life hopefully becomes more about getting up and tending animals, bringing food such as milk from the cow and/or goat, eggs from the chickens, fruit and vegetables from our gardens, into the house and preparing fresh food as a family. Of course there will be maintenance, kids, some shopping to be done, but it can be mostly at our own pace, perhaps with the additional life responsibilities of any animals.
- The feeling of space, being surrounded by nature and less human-made structures and people
- Healthier living, almost by default. Work stress has gone, time seems more plentiful, eating the freshest possible food and having fresh air or at least less polluted air.
So in summary, the reason appears to be a desire to go back to basics and be in touch with the earth, combined with generally wanting more time to do as we choose (whether that is as a family, with extended family or friends, or doing fun stuff, it doesn’t really matter when you have the time to be able to choose).
What are your thoughts? Why have or would you move from the city to the country?
Do I, don’t I – where to start?
Are you living in the city, tired of the hustle and bustle of city life and wanting a simpler life? Is a move to the country a way to slow life down? Will I be happier with the open space of the countryside? How will life change from what I have now? Is there a way to sample the change to know it is for the best or do I take a leap of faith? Are you like me facing these dilemmas and feeling in limbo but plodding on thru life, as you know it? This blog is to explore these aspects and more. To bring together people who have done, partly done, or would like to do, a change from life in the city to the country. To help each other, to learn from each other, and ultimately progress the journey. I live in suburban Sydney with my wife and 2 young children, and have a bub on the way. We live in a 3 bedroom house, on a 500sqm block of land. We moved from a 3 bed city apartment, what seems like no time ago. At first the extra space was fantastic. It brought back my childhood memories of living in a small Irish country town. It was joyous to see my kids’ excitement at having their own green space to play in, instead of a balcony or walking to a nearby park. The commute to work was longer, but I found I could get a seat on the train and catchup on some reading. The trip became more relaxing and in particular a good wind down after finishing a day in the office. By the time I reach home, my mind has had enough time on the way to switch off thinking about work and switch on to family life. Almost 2 years on from moving out of the city, I wonder is it time to go the extra leap from “city fringe” to real country living? My wife has a beautiful dream to build our own house from mud (or hay!) and be self-sufficient off the land we live on. I share this dream, but I have some scepticism on the fanciful vs. reality and the potentially dramatic change of where and how we live now. Can we simply give up our well-paying office jobs, that fund the purchasing of a nice house with a little green? To go some place where we should tend the land and ultimately produce and provide food for ourselves, instead of going to an office to fund buying what we need from a shop? Do we potentially jeopardise our children’s education and their opportunities in life, by following our own dreams? Perhaps it is better to wait until the kids are finished school and can make up their own minds? Some people have done this type of move: – Honeycomb Farm (http://www.honeycombvalley.com.au) – Rabid Little Hippy (https://rabidlittlehippy.wordpress.com) I’m sure there are many more examples throughout Australia and the world. Did these people face similar dilemmas in their life change? How have they overcome the dilemmas, and are they truly happy with the change? Is life what you make of it and the journey is part of the fun? Should we leap and make the most of it? I don’t think I am comfortable in leaping, not yet anyhow! I feel uneducated or uninformed enough to know whether a move is best. I hope through this blog to educate myself and others like me to become more informed. To share the experiences of others who have successfully done such life changes. To learn from each other and ultimately find a point where I am comfortable enough in deciding to make that change, knowing it is the right thing for our family, and go live the dream! Please share your thoughts or experiences?
City To Country Living - Australia 