Friday, October 15, 2010

Weekly Wrap & Crofters Lane

Crofters Lane
Today MCM of TO asked me what is Crofters Lane? So glad you asked! Crofters Lane is a magnificent little acreage near Alberton on PEI - it is home. It is the culmination of a years long search for "just the right place" to retire to...an early retirement I hope.  I've spent the past few years scouring the MLS listings, finding many an idyllic home/acreage just to watch it get sold to someone else. This past summer when I saw the homes for offer I impulsively decided to drive the 1626km. there to check them out in person. 
(This was kind of  out of the norm behavior for me - I don't usually do things that spontaneously though I had the foresight to slow down and get pre-approved for a mortgage before I left for PEI! You know, just in case :)

Even though I got the pre-approval I really didn't plan on buying anything, I wanted to check out the island, see if I wanted to live there and have a nice summer holiday. HAH!
View from front porch
Check out August's archived posts for my journey around the island looking at four other properties before finding that house #5 was the one for me. Within hours of arriving at Crofters Lane I was signing an Offer to Purchase.

View looking east from front porch
 My partner and I tossed around a number of names for our new home and we finally decided upon Crofters Lane. I wanted to recognize our .4km laneway which we walked up and down every day while we stayed there, coffee in hand, birds constantly flitting back and forth between the red berry laden trees, and acknowledge the scottish "crofting" way of life that we plan to emulate- a lifestyle that is environmentally friendly, thrifty and sustainable: a few chickens, a few goats,  a large vegetable garden, some fruit trees, a wood stove & some tilley lamps.


The "Lane" part of Crofters Lane all .4km of it
 Until I actually retire I need to be extra-frugal as I carry a mortgage and maintain my condo and my trailer. If I can keep my costs low now and in the future then I plan to take a reduced pension and retire two years early.  So Crofters Lane is my motivation and the reason I squeeze the life out of every penny that I make. Oh no, wait, that's my scottish blood!

View from the lane
 Weekly Wrap:  I made it til Friday without spending the last $20 in my account so that goes into the Crofters Lane Jar. We did really well with spending over the last two weeks and actually had a surplus of $154.69 (didn't spend all of the $ allotted to food and gas) AND I had set aside $50 for my cell phone and the bill was only $33!! So I tucked another $120 into my Christmas fund raising it to $200 and left a bit extra in my misc. spending as I need to cover a $60 bill for winterizing my trailer (forgot about that!)

Two huge raspberry patches behind the house & backed by our forest
My final pay for October is in my account and every cent has a place to go except for $131 in misc. spending for the next two weeks. There's also a good chance that I won't need all of the $80 ear-marked for natural gas as I haven't had the furnace on yet and I usually come in under the $80 I set aside for London Hydro so barring any other forgotten bills I should make it through October in the black!

And that's a wrap!

10 comments:

  1. I feel a little envious that at the moment I can,t achieve many of my financial goals, but as soon as The Wedding is over I intend to rock them.

    Great month ahead for you, and money into Crofters Lane awesome !!!

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  2. The views are incredible from Crofters Lane! What a wonderful place to retire!

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  3. I love your background pictures! Thanks for the background history on Crofter's Lane. You are doing a great job on your budget, and I see you even worked in a category for Christmas! I need to get busy on that.

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  4. stunning photos!!!! i love when bills come in less then ihave budgeted!!! woot woot!

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  5. Jane, I'm glad I got to hear the story of how you found Crofter's Lane. It's so interesting to hear how people find PEI and what makes them pursue that dream.

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  6. Your excitement about Crofters Lane comes through in each and every penny you save! Thanks for sharing the photos as well -- Marge in Colorado...

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  7. Love, love, love your pictures!!!
    Good job on the budget. I find it hard to stay on track. It's good to read how great your doing.
    Hugs

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  8. Thank you all for your great feedback! Every penny counts - cashed in my winebottles and put a few more dollars into the Crofters Lane Jar:) Glad y'all liked the photos - not a day goes by that I don't have a look at them - great visual reminder why I do what I do. Sometimes I feel like such a scrooge for being so parsimonious but hey - I am so enjoying my life and the daily challenges, especially with my network of fellow parsimonious supporters:)

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  9. Very nice! Thanks for answering my question. The view from the front porch is enough to convince me why you got your pen poised over that Offer to Purchase! Looks beautiful. Great to have such a visual goal, isn't it?

    Congratulations to you.

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  10. Sorry to be such a stalker by coming in late to this conversation, but I just had to find out what Crofters Lane was (after not finding it on the Google Map of P.E.I., another place I had heard of but never looked into, and was stunned by the beauty and simplicity there) and I had to search your archives and find out.

    WOW! That's all I can say. The view from the porch looks like a cinematographer's fictional view of what a view SHOULD look like.

    Congratulations to you on this magnificent find. It brings me faith that everyone's dream house/property is out there somewhere. You can see a little of mine at the top of my page. It may not be as dream-like in the Google Maps photograph, but it's a place special to me.

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Thank you for your comment - it means a lot to me that you read my post and are leaving a comment - you just made my day!