tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7812128414310678524.post1124173761589704224..comments2023-09-03T02:18:45.267-07:00Comments on FARM LIFE LESSONS: #118 - City to Country Changes in Monthly BillsLanahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14422413007128219320noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7812128414310678524.post-60931273184243028452011-10-20T19:02:53.243-07:002011-10-20T19:02:53.243-07:00I have lived both in the suburbs of Chicago, and i...I have lived both in the suburbs of Chicago, and in rural areas of Illinois. (Not quite as rural as you are moving, but fairly rural none the less.) I also know some people that live as far off the beaten path as you.<br /><br />For internet/TV. Dish or DirecTV are probably options. Depends on the amount of trees, what part of the sky you can see, etc, but satellite will probably be your best/only option. TV can be had fairly cheap depending on channel choices. Internet, fairly expensive - $70/80/month range. It will be decent speeds, but if you do a lot of gaming or other things that require talking back and forth on the internet, you will notice it being slower.<br /><br />In regards to heat. I grew up with radiator heat. It is WONDERFUL. My house now has floorboard water heat, and it is almost as good. (The old fashioned, huge, metal radiators were better, but they were, huge...) I'd really recommend some sort of water based heat! You'll probably run your water heater off of propane, maybe electric, but whatever you use to do that, you can use with your boiler for the floor heat.Matthew Tnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7812128414310678524.post-13173592250875015992011-10-20T13:32:04.866-07:002011-10-20T13:32:04.866-07:00Stacie, this is her youngest daughter "Stefie...Stacie, this is her youngest daughter "Stefie" my sister and me will not be moving to the land with her. My sister already lives in a small town up near the Fort Worth/Dallas area and I will be moving to San Marcos in January. We grew up spending every weekend on that land picking up sticks and other chores, that was enough for me. My sister and parents love country living, nature, farm animals, and such...but as for me I'm more fond of concrete, sky scrappers, and neighborhoods where my neighbors are just a few feet away instead of miles. <br /><br />I am very excited for you mom though! I'm glad yalls life long dream is finally coming true! I'm also glad y'all will be saving all the money. Just promise me one thing...no two story cabin! One floor will be quite enough. Love you!!Stefienoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7812128414310678524.post-76711463803437512192011-10-20T07:32:55.404-07:002011-10-20T07:32:55.404-07:00I'm a country girl. I was raised on a 3000 acr...I'm a country girl. I was raised on a 3000 acre cattle/wheat ranch. I LOVED it! I live on the very edge of our smallish town now. The biggest things I can think that are money wasters is "running into town" for something small. Gas is ridiculous now! I would suggest using your bread machine. If you can get the internet, buy a ROKU and get Netflix to stream to your TV. This saves us a ton of money and we still get to see our favorite shows AND be picky!<br /><br />It is going to be a HUGE adjustment for your children. They will get frustrated, but it is essential that you teach them how to work hard and help out with the chores. It truly is good for them. You have to work as a team.<br /><br />BTW, can't imagine painting that high up! Yikes!!!<br /><br />Hope this helps.<br /><br />Blessings,<br />StacieStacie, A Firefighter's Wifehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14195223939229023945noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7812128414310678524.post-33317395920363756122011-10-19T23:55:07.455-07:002011-10-19T23:55:07.455-07:00So you're moving to the country. With renewabl...So you're moving to the country. With renewable energy sources. And you're not going to heat with wood?<br />Since you will have a new place, and you are in the South, heating with electricity may be viable. :)<br /><br />We do plan on having propane. For our gas stove (never cooked with wood, though I'd love to be as good a cook as <a href="http://cowgirlscountry.blogspot.com/" rel="nofollow">Cowgirl's Country Life</a> with pits and home made smokers and such.<br />And I was just telling hubby the other day that I think I'd like a gas insert for the fireplace. Wood is good, but we would have to buy it, or wait for the forestry service to open areas for cutting - which we did some of when we lived in Louisiana in '94.<br /><br />In '94 we had a real satellite dish. Not dish network or any of that stuff. A real, 10 foot satellite dish. We LOVED it. Hubby even installed them for a while. But all the regulation to make it <i>fair</i> for the cable companies ruined satellite programming. It's just too expensive now. :( <br /><br />I won't get started on over regulation of stuff, or making everything <i>fair</i> for everyone... <br /><br />Sadly, I don't think Rabbit Ears work any more. Thank the government and the crap digital TV; but they do have antennas that will pick up the digital signal. Our trailer has one. So we do over the air TV at the farm, but it's not as far out as you are.<br />We have Verizon for our cell phone, and still have our old Alltel service plan and use that on the farm for our internet. So I guess we sort of have dial-up. :) <br /><br />We always like getting back home to cable, but that isn't an option at the farm. Not enough houses to make it pay for them to run cable. We have considered satellite internet, but you are limited to how much time you get.<br /><br />Before we got Verizon, we had spotty service with Sprint. As in dropped out a lot. So we used the public Library in Alec.<br />But cell phone service has improved a little since '94. <br />You could still pay to have whoever is local run the cable line for you. Costs vary over distance...<br /><br />That's about all I can think of right now. And since it's almost 3 AM, I should probably go to bed. Happy Thursday to you!LindaGhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12203719919661519350noreply@blogger.com