trigger_andy

How is my work lifestyle unsustainable? Not many have the mindset to handle my kind of work. A few here do or did but it’s certainly not for everyone. Many can’t handle a year off/shore. But that’s an asset for me, less competition. 😁 What happens when you’re too old or too frail to be a contributing member of your commune? Do you get reduced hours dropping off to zero the older you get?

What does that share mean in reality? Certainly nothing you can cash in. When you eventually leave you’ll leave empty handed. Out of interest what happens to someone when their usefulness is over? Or too old or too frail/disabled? Do they get a free pass or do they get expelled from the commune? I too rather spend time growing veg than working for the man. I’ve Polytunnels, veg patches, soft fruit patches, front and back porches devoted to citrus. I have time for all this since I only work 80-120 days a year, “working for the man”. I assume you pay tax and NI in the U.K.? If so at the end of the day you’re working for the man. Id like to rear animals right enough, one day maybe. Just now I enjoy holidays to much to be tied down like that. I can have 20 acres of land for a nominal fee if I wanted. Couple days milling a year.

As mick says you relate everything to money. Earning potential etc. I don't. I dont relate everything to money, although I can see why it seems that way. I could work way more days off-shore than I do if I wanted. I could double my yearly wage by going from 80-100 days a year to 180. But I want a balance of home life and to be able to provide my family with a comfortable lifestyle and if I can do that by working just over a quarter of a year then I'll do that and not chase the money. If you're having to give two days a week labour to the commune then of course Im going to consider the earning potential you're giving up in the belief you're getting 'low rent'. You've still not explained what this £1 buy-in is you mentioned?

I have other toys to buy first. Want the new Rock Stump Grinder first.

Well I was quoting from some on-line articles posted by members or ex members of your commune. Id keep quite it only took you 2 hours, you'll still owe them 6 more for today otherwise. Im glad you've found your calling. Its clearly for some folk and not for others. Personally I like my own space and the joy that comes from gaining the fruits of my own labour and not being forced to share that with everyone and then one day have to walk away from it all. Each to their own.

It is a Husky. [emoji4] Just a wee YTH 150. 42" Cutting Deck. Its now the log-getter with a bogie that carried half a cube down to the house each day. Got a steal on this old McCulloch (husky), Basically the same as the YTH150 but has a new 22hp engine. Was owned by a local Caravan Site and meticulously maintained. Got it for £400 with a spare 15hp motor that I just flogged for £200. [emoji3]

I would if it took me all afternoon and was for 10 adults and however many kids! Evening meals are eaten together, and people sign up to cook. This means that you only have to cook about once a fortnight, but it takes all afternoon. Everyone pays a monthly rent to the co-op. Rents are kept low because members put in two days per week work – this could be in the gardens, working with the animals, splitting logs, maintaining the property, admin, cooking, cleaning etc. This means that members have paid work outside the community, but part-time. You might have more private living space than me, but is it a competition? I doubt you do though. [emoji3] Im sure its a rewarding lifestyle though, but certainly not for me. Im sure we like very much the same things in life, I just prefer that on my own terms and in privacy and seclusion. I have enough of living in a commune when working off-shore, I certainly do not need more unwashed hairy buggers around me when I come home too! This is my new wee workshop my brother and I are building. 4.7m x 4.7m ( guess how long my mill can currently cut? [emoji3] ) Will be for wood working only as I have a Barn up on a local farm. Plus whisky drinking and looking out at the views.

Eggs might get upset if you say clearing a drain is not 'work'. Regardless, both spouses have lost two days earning potential a week. 16 days a month between them. But I get your point, as a home owner you have tasks to do to maintain your property, but no where near 16 days a month. Well, I do but I took on a fixer-upper. The upside is whilst I enjoy what Im doing Im doing to my own home and although it seems to be a dirty work of late Im adding 'value' to my home. I also like to keep things cash free as much as possible. I swap a days milling for some nice Mill Logs, or Stup Grinder hire, or get a mates chipper in for a few days. Each to their own though and Im not really knocking the hippy lifestyle. The cost explanation seemed a little disingenuous to me though.

''Everyone pays a monthly rent to the co-op. Rents are kept low because members put in two days per week work.'' Is this still the case? 'Low rent' and slave labour? Two days a week? Both you and the missus? That sounds like extremely high rent to me. At a tenner an hour your missus pays the equivalent of £640 a month rent and I'll guess you'd earn far more than that an hour. But jut say you're both worth just a tenner an hour each you're paying 'low rent' and at least £1200 a month (equivalent) for what I can only guess is a couple of rooms in an old mansion. Its certainly an interesting life style, but I do feel you're somewhat in denial.

So as Im interested I asked. Im not entirely new to hippy communes my old man moved in those kinds of circles and had friends up in Findhorn but my mum banned me from ever going up to visit. That really peeved me off when Mike Scott from the Waterboys lived there and some of my old mans hippy buddys invited us up. Was still a no from my Mum.

It was a question not a statement.

Redfield REDFIELDCOMMUNITY.ORG.UK Redfield Community Certainly not for me but if it works for you it works for you. I bet you're lying about the group sex. Could you explain how you become a part 'owner' for a quid?

Interesting. So you're just squatters then? Do you even have electricity there? Running water?

Shame about the group sex. Fully mutual but you pay a quid to join? What am I missing here? I assume you cant just build a house there? So its huts, tents or caravans or something else? Is it a commune?

Only because you claim to be a good little socialist and seem to support the parties that would increase tax for the average working man yet then mouth off with glee that you're a dirty little tax dodger. That in my opinion is the lowest of the low.

Is that like a commune? Someone clearly owns the 18 acres, right? There must be something in it for him/her? Group sex I assume.

Some interesting points there but I feel you’d not get away with what you suggested for long in the U.K. I can’t say I agree with you comment that taking out a mortgage is the path of least resistance. As a home owner you’re fully responsible of everything that goes wrong with your property as really it’s still the banks til you pay off the mortgage. Need new windows? Kitchen? Leaks? All on you. Rent? You’ve got got your hand held for you your whole adult life and spoon fed.

Sounds exhausting. I’d personally hate that lifestyle but then I know many would hate mine. Swings and roundabouts.

I don't have a landlord so I'm certainly not paying his mortgage. Ok. Sounds like a very unusual lifestyle. No mortgage, not a home owner and no landlord. If it works for you it works for you and that’s great, it’s certainly not for everyone. So what is your living arrangements? I’m certainly curious now.

Good man! Im feeling the rise in the price of timber now. Had to pay £45 a ton for 6m lengths of Spruce! 🤣 The amount of hoops I had to jump through to get my mortgage this time was insane, all stemming from being paid in Kroner. Only one bank would offer a mortgage based on the Kroner and that was stress tested to death. It was an 24 month roller coaster ride that eventually paid off. We rented the house we bought for over 4 years before we where in a position to buy it. But we had the offer from the landlord accepted after 1 year of renting. To know we could buy the place, but not knowing if the bank would accept us was very stressful as was trying to sell a house in Stavanger for 3 years during the peak of the oil crash. I ended up selling at the same price I bought the house for but lost the £30,000 deposit and the £100,000 I pumped into renovations. Instead of waking away with a £100,000 profit that the estate agent expected the house to sell for we walked away with a few suitcases each. So then I had to work my Arse off again to get the cash together not just to get the deposit in Scotland but fully furnish the house we where renting (bought) here. All worked out in the end though.

I was not referring to you personally since you’ve already made it clear you prefer paying off your landlords mortgage. I was referring to someone who did actually wish to get on the ladder in an area they are priced out of. If you think by renting you’re not falling in line then more power ya. We all fall in line, some by getting a mortgage, so by paying off their landlords mortgage. Either way you’re not sticking it to “the man”. Let’s see you not pay tax since you don’t wanna fall in line and see how long that lasts. You’re as much in line as anyone else.

I find this a bit insulting Saul. You’re 3 years older than me and I was offered a 30 year mortgage, so your age is not an issue. I picked Berries, Daffies, Bulbs and Tatties as a kid because we where flat broke. I’ve never had a penny given to me. I stared out on £40 a week and I had to pay £20 of that in rent to my mum. After my first apprenticeship I had to start a second as there was no jobs as a mechanic. I’ve worked my arse off my whole life to afford anything and have had zero help. To be able to afford a house again after losing everything in the last crash I’ve had to make a lot of personal sacrifices.

Define “here”. I assume you mean around your way and not the U.K. as a whole?

Don’t live round your way if you want to get a foot hold on the ladder then? 🤷‍♂️ If someone in your neck of the woods wants to get in then they need to move away, buy a £100,000 fixer-upper, do it up and flip it. Rinse and repeat. If they’re still desperate to move back they’ll be in a position to eventually.

I see them in the woodland I walk through each year but finally plucked up the courage to pick them and eat them. Mainly because if I’ve picked some false ones I’ll not die. 🤣 No one else picks them and there must be 10-20kg there a year. Gonna be nice knowing they are there each year.