With great regret, The tractor must be sold.

[Doofy]

I'm a sentimental old fart too. Any tool or piece of equipment that helps keep memories alive is priceless. Cherish those thoughts.

 

[BrokeFarmerJohn]

Well it’s been a little over a month and I miss the tractor quite a bit, but I have managed to still complete all my chores without it so far. Cattle are fed and happy. So far it’s been a minor inconvenience not having a loader tractor around.

 

[Carl_NH]

Good job doing what you can with less, and what you need to get by.

That horned steer in the picture seems well fed - what is the food in the bale? It looks like corn fodder, or is it cut and baled corn?

 

[BrokeFarmerJohn]

Good job doing what you can with less, and what you need to get by.

That horned steer in the picture seems well fed - what is the food in the bale? It looks like corn fodder, or is it cut and baled corn?

It’s fodder, not a lot of nutritional value in it but it was cheap and he’s got other stuff to eat. **** its been in the 50s, grass grew a little so he’s been grazing on that also.

I had an appointment in October to take him in to the butcher but I couldn’t line up a trailer. I didn’t plan on having any cattle over the winter but so far it’s been very mild. I’ll probably end up keeping him into the early summer now. Pasture is about 2 acres and last year he couldn’t keep it all ate down.

I planned on taking a year off cattle to lower my expenses even more, and let my neighbors cattle graze my pasture so I don’t have to mow it but that didn’t work out either if I end up keeping my steer into next grazing season. Lol

 

[Gale Hawkins]

Well it’s been a little over a month and I miss the tractor quite a bit, but I have managed to still complete all my chores without it so far. Cattle are fed and happy. So far it’s been a minor inconvenience not having a loader tractor around.

View attachment 635740

Becoming debt free then moving to being financially independent can bring more tractors your way down the road. The son and his new wife are working hard to make the old place with a run down house and a large shop into a starter home at 22. It is hard for them but down the road better than a $700+ a month apartment. He said his friends are looking at saving for 10 years before they buy their first home. It is hard for young people with no wealth and or credit history to even get home and car insurance at good rates plus the age thing. Dave may be hard to swallow some days days but it pays down the road. You are doing better than most to learn such things at a young age.

 

[BrokeFarmerJohn]

Becoming debt free then moving to being financially independent can bring more tractors your way down the road. The son and his new wife are working hard to make the old place with a run down house and a large shop into a starter home at 22. It is hard for them but down the road better than a $700+ a month apartment. He said his friends are looking at saving for 10 years before they buy their first home. It is hard for young people with no wealth and or credit history to even get home and car insurance at good rates plus the age thing. Dave may be hard to swallow some days days but it pays down the road. You are doing better than most to learn such things at a young age.

That’s great they are in a house at 22, i was 24 when I bought my house and I just barely got it bought. Conventional 20 year.

I didn’t find Dave till after I bought my house. My mortgage payment was close to, one year was over 50% of my take home, on top of other bills and expenses the house needed I started to get really bummed out. So I bought a tractor and got into cattle, chickens etc. it really helped me stay positive. It was mostly funded by rent from a room mate at the time and side jobs.

I got to the point where I felt like I was drowning, I was scared to death to lose my job because I didn’t have any money to get me by. Depression kicked in, the future looked really bleak scratching and clawing for every penny. I had been sick and tired of being sick and tired long before I found Dave at that point.

Him taking about what it’s like to be debt free and have a fully funded emergency fund, sounded like a dream. The question that really hit home for me was when he asked (Dave Ramsey youtube video rant) “if you would work at the same place you work now if you were out of debt?” I only planned to be at my job for 2-3 years and move on doing what I do now for more money somewhere else. I have been so scared to leave, because I don’t have an emergency fund, this March will be 7 years lol.

I eventually said screw it and started selling everything, including the tractor. It took almost two years of making payments on the tractor to build up enough equity to knock out most of the debt I had. Not having the tractor payment and being so close to paying off other debts relieved so much stress already.

My biggest mistake was buying a house with debt and being house poor. According to Dave’s rule: 15 year mortgage, no more than 1/4 take home pay. I tech don’t make enough for the house I live in. Lol
Now that the market is inflated, not a chance I could buy my house today, I bought when the market was just beginning to recover from the great recession.

Buying a house today would be 5x harder than even what I went threw, it would demand me to have a second income to do it. Kudos to the young folks that get it done in this market.

Unfortunately it will be the better part of this year to be fully out of debt not including my house, but then I’ll start looking for another job most likely. I have had 3 offers for jobs making 5-6 bucks an hour more than I make now. I played it safe and stayed where I am, where I know I have job security and get the bills paid. Well I haven’t fully decided if I’ll stay here for 10 years or not, I have 38 years before I can draw social security so what’s the rush? Lol

 

[Doofy]

Kudos for having the cajonies to better your situation. If your job was fun, they wouldn't call it "Work". Some folks are fortunate in that they love what they do for a living. Most, not! My career was a Love/Hate relationship but I survived it and was rewarded by a fairly decent retirement. I felt like quitting a thousand times but always came to my senses and focused on the end game of retirement.

Some folks are able to quit jobs and move forward with better jobs with more pay. Many just can't get out of that rut.

I certainly wish you the best in your endeavors. Keep on keeping on!

 

[BrokeFarmerJohn]

Kudos for having the cajonies to better your situation. If your job was fun, they wouldn't call it "Work". Some folks are fortunate in that they love what they do for a living. Most, not! My career was a Love/Hate relationship but I survived it and was rewarded by a fairly decent retirement. I felt like quitting a thousand times but always came to my senses and focused on the end game of retirement.

Some folks are able to quit jobs and move forward with better jobs with more pay. Many just can't get out of that rut.

I certainly wish you the best in your endeavors. Keep on keeping on!

Thanks.

I don’t mind my job at all, I’m not in love with my job but at the same time I don’t get a case of the Mondays going back after weekend. I would go as far to say I like my job. But just wish the pay was more, other companies pay more for the same work.

What I do is like industrial maintenance in a very large office type building. I plan my own days for the most part, plan my pace, don’t have bosses looking over my shoulder, most days I only see the boss 20-30 mins or not at all. I have enough seniority now that the real crappy jobs I did for years, go to a newer less experienced guys.

If I keep going with my same job and salary, I’ll have the house paid off around the age of 40, I’ll have enough saved up to retire with dignity. Just won’t have as shiny toys lol. Also after 10 years (3 years from now) I’ll be at 4 weeks paid vacation lol. Vacation increases a week every 5 years. There’s a lot of perks to where I work, a big checking account isn’t one of them. So not sure if I should chase that dollar and risk being miserable or stay where I am at. I won’t need to decide that in 2020 anyway.

 

[two_bit_score]

Thanks.

I don’t mind my job at all, I’m not in love with my job but at the same time I don’t get a case of the Mondays going back after weekend. I would go as far to say I like my job. But just wish the pay was more, other companies pay more for the same work.

What I do is like industrial maintenance in a very large office type building. I plan my own days for the most part, plan my pace, don’t have bosses looking over my shoulder, most days I only see the boss 20-30 mins or not at all. I have enough seniority now that the real crappy jobs I did for years, go to a newer less experienced guys.

If I keep going with my same job and salary, I’ll have the house paid off around the age of 40, I’ll have enough saved up to retire with dignity. Just won’t have as shiny toys lol. Also after 10 years (3 years from now) I’ll be at 4 weeks paid vacation lol. Vacation increases a week every 5 years. There’s a lot of perks to where I work, a big checking account isn’t one of them. So not sure if I should chase that dollar and risk being miserable or stay where I am at. I won’t need to decide that in 2020 anyway.

You recognize that you aren't bad off. A lot are worse off.

The early years you described are past and you have a house which is probably worth more than you thought it would be. Lucky that you didn't spend money on rent for years and years while trying to save up for a down payment. You seem to be entrepreneurial. So you can probably come up with a side business that will help out, you may have already.

I was always lucky enough to be able to have non-conflicting businesses on my own time along with my paying jobs. Rent property was a very profitable endeavor. It provides cash income as well as the depreciation was always deductible from regular income.

You're doing things right so keep on!

 

[Sigarms]

BrokenFarmerJohn

I might of missed it, assuming you aren't married with no kids?

I only ask because you would probably fall over dead if you knew what braces run for two teens a month.