The desire for a better life....

...began in 2014, in Shropshire, on our family holiday.

We stayed in a lovely cottage in a little village called Aston-on-Clun.

The cottage next door was a beautiful old Post Office.  It was for sale.  The area was so beautiful, peaceful....lacking motorways!  It got us wondering if we could relocate for a better life.

The talk of a better life had us thinking about location, jobs (or retirement), schools, isolation, leaving friends and family, but above all it had us reminiscing about the Good Life.....a TV show from the 1970's where a suburban couple threw the towel in on consumerism and went self sufficient.

Remember it?

We've decided that we do want to do that, ...well, not quite like that.....there's more to it.

This more...or less...is known as 'Lagom' in Sweden.  It simply means enough.

Not too much, not too little....but just....enough.

Reminds me of Goldilocks!

I don't believe I have any neighbours called Jones....or Margot, and if I did, I wouldn't want to keep up with them, I'm not that sort of a competitive type.....I like nice things....but I don't need what other people have.  Apart from which, I'm a bit...erm...unique.  I like creating and making...a bit of a homebug sort.

Now this doesn't mean I want to wear sackcloth and crochet my own toilet roll....I don't want to live a life of no enjoyment or fun or treats....how dismal.

Nor does it mean I shall be a brand slave or queue at stupid o'clock for product launches or sales....

......just somewhere not too mad...somewhere inbetween.....

I want to want less!

My aim would be to be comfortable, enjoy the few things I own, live as sustainably as I can, be frugal (not mean) and avoid waste,  stop buying and make the most of what I have. My work would be to provide foraged or home grown, home cooked food.  To use my skills to create a warm comfortable home.

To achieve this I'd like to trim down my possessions, grow my own food, keep bees and chickens, live somewhere less stressful...slower... and be mindful of my footprint on this world.  Above all I want to be happy in myself, to live and enjoy the simple pleasures.....and share this way of life with my husband and family.

And work?  I hear you cry, yes....to retire at the ripe old age of 51....(next year!)

So we'd like to do it....but can we do it?

Could you join us...get a plan in place and retire sooner than you ever thought possible to live the life you want?

This will hopefully be my diary of thoughts and actions as we sort out what we have to do to achieve our goal and a place to share the journey of our successes and failures with anyone who'd like to rumble along with us.

So that's the story of the 'why', I think the next time you pop in for a catchup, I'll tell you the story of the 'where'.....and in the meantime I'll try and work out how to use this!

Bye for now!