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You a science fiction fan? I'm a huge one and just saw Interstellar @ the IMAX. It's about the human race where in 2060 or so (PS: I dont' think it would happen this soon), our planet is dying and we have to move off it or die out as a species. A wormhole opens up around Saturn and drama ensues. . .

The social dimension of this movie is that there is/would be conflict and people want to tenaciously cling to their roots (in this case Earth), while the others are trying to pull out these people with their "human wanderlust."

The risk of staying vs. the risk of wandering.

I have family who live in the mountains of PA and every time they come visit me in rural NJ, they say, "You live in the city." (I am surrounded by farmland). They went through hard times years ago and luckily did find work as a truck driver and car salesman, but you know, there was a point they should have picked up.

So I get the culture/psychology of "you folk."

You need to pick up and move or go bust. This place sounds "historic" at best and "decaying" at worst.

Captain Scanner out.

[mom-from-missouri]

I put myself in your shoes and thought of a couple of things I would consider doing leveraging what you already have:

1. Offer 'life on a farm' type of vacation or tour packages. Zoning prohibits this in our county.....

2. A fast computer connection will be a great asset, what exactly is available there today, DSL? Cable? or still 56k dialup? However, not all companies/work requires a very fast computer connection though, for example a BPO company like VXI, Alorica and West etc hire work-at-home customer service agents. You'll need to access their system through Citrix etc but that doesn't require a very fast connection as long as it's stable. The ONLY company that offers internet here is a ma and pa wireless that has a dish on the roof. We have no other option. The telephone company does not even offer internet as we are 17 miles out of town. there is no cable tv, there is dish net work, but is is off more than it is on, and has a very bad reputation in our area. I tried to work for West here ( I worked for West back home, but even with a brand new lap top, could not pass the speed requirements)

3. Have you thought about writing Kindle books? Your teaching, writing and farming experience can be a great combination in my mind. Another option is doing taxes...online. I do write--for several online magazines and some print ones, and a couple of newspapers. Some months its nothing, some months its several hundred dollars. This months out of the blue I have earned $500 so far--for 2 articles they rejected 3 months ago-then this month they liked them....

I won a contest for writing in January and earned $300 in amazon gift cards. I took that and bought LED light bulbs with it-enough to cover most of the house. Last month our electric bill, for our huge farm house (a little over 3000 square feet) was under $100. If we can keep that up, we might just make it until the retirement kicks in. My husband built this house in 1996. It is super insulated, with 8 inch walls, energy efficent windows, and on a well. We can't live this cheap in the city. Now that I have found a job in town, we are slowly doing better. We just need to find him something and we will make it work. Keep throwing out the ideas.

We just had one of the executives from Parr Electric move down the road from us. Hopefully that will spurr the need for some sort of move into the 21st century for internet competition for highspeed, unless he moved out here to get away from the rat race.

[mom-from-missouri]

Several suggested we move into the city. So, the last week and a half, we investigated that option. Jobs would only pay about $1 an hour more IF we find one there.

Rent for our family size would be around $1000 a month or more (city is zoned in the areas we looked at-which was the ones with no crime and decent schools. The zoning prohibits more than 2 children per bedroom in 2 of the 3 counties that the city covsers. So, we would need a 4 bedroom apartment or house. That was no frills, and on the small side. No room for the older college kids when then come home to visit). We checked into the price of the utilities, and a moving truck. Just to move, deposits and get stuff turned on would be close to $6 thousand. Utilities would run us around $500 a month.

So, our living expenses would more than double, to earn only around $500 more than what we are earning now. In other words, we would be in worse shape than we are now. Also, we would have to add in the expense of public transportation as some areas of the city don't have public parking, depending on where we might find jobs at.

We also took into consideration that here, we grow our own food--orchard, vineyard, raised veggie beds, berry bushes, fish, pork and beef. So, with 5 kids.....in the city, we would be paying for food big time.

Also, what would we do with the farm and house?? We would still be responsible for the upkeep and taxes and such until it would sell or rent, and in this area, it would not sell for what it is worth, and I don't see anyone paying what it is worth to rent it. To just walk away from it would only lower our credit scores, which it seems most employers around the city do look at.

We even spoke to a couple of Realtor and one real estate attorney. They said we would be going from the frying pan into the fire. So, we will stick it out here. The attorney also pointed out to us that since the husband was applying for jobs in the city and not getting them, simply moving to the city was not going to change that. He suggested we stay where the cost of living is much cheaper for now.

Meanwhile, I got our last electric bill, with the house 100% now on LED lighting. It was $60. Last summer we ran the AC only 5 times, so if we do the same this summer, we should have a $60 electric bill until next fall.

Daughter got a grant for one of her online college classes, and it pays for the internet. So, no internet bill.

3 more car payments and then we have no more car payments!!!

And, where I got my job, I am now off of the new employee restrictions, so I am now up for overtime shifts if I want them. I will take at least 1 a month, as they try to rotate those around to everyone to keep it fair.

We did not burn wood this last winter, due to a cracked lining of the fireplace, but we have the money saved for that repair, so next winter we should have a much smaller propane bill as well.

So, I think we will keep plugging away at where we are at for now....besides, this farm is a century farm (having been in the family over 150 years). Husband is not wanting to just walk from it.

[creditcardfree]

I think it is good you explored your options! And it does all make sense from what you indicated.

Another option, if a job came up for your husband, is for to him live in the city four days a week, assuming the commute is manageable and would allow him to come home on weekends. Obviously not ideal and assumes the cost for him to live there could be minimized in some way.

Military members often put themselves in position to rent their homes when they move and are unable to sell. Many times they rent for less than their mortgage payment which is better than not getting any money. I only mention this as a way to consider cash flow, if you were to rent your current home out it would offset what you would have to pay to live in the city. But again, it sounds like you are making it work where you are.

[mom-from-missouri]

I think it is good you explored your options! And it does all make sense from what you indicated.

Another option, if a job came up for your husband, is for to him live in the city four days a week, assuming the commute is manageable and would allow him to come home on weekends. Obviously not ideal and assumes the cost for him to live there could be minimized in some way.

Its an hour commute, one way. It would be cheaper to drive it daily than to live there.

We know several who live in the city, but none he would feel comfortable staying with or would have room if he did.

The one realtor went out of her way- (a friend of a friend). She had all the info as far as the utility usages and rates, costs to park...... We also would be looking at the "drama" of moving the kids there-2 are taking college classes thru the high school that they would have to drop (thus loosing the grants that are paying for them) so we would have to pay for the credits, even though they would end up with it being dropped on their transcript.

She told us they have been working with several families who want out of the city, to live off the land and to live less expensively.

If we can just get the cell bill down....and figure out a way to help cover the real estate taxes....

[CashUp Sammy]

That certainly sounds tough living in a small town. I can understand the family ties that keep you there.

Through the cold, harsh reality of that post, I can still sense your optimism and good nature. You need it at times like this. I hope you find something soon, and am sure you will.

God bless and good luck.

[Fishindude77]

Sorry for your predicament. This situation is not unique. Much or rural America deals with the same issues you describe.

Although the jobs aren't there, the beauty of rural living is the small town environment, knowing all your neighbors, small schools, low crime, peace and quiet, and pretty low cost of living and home ownership.

The long and short of it is, one of you needs to get a decent job, and it doesn't appear that is going to happen right around home. Much of Missouri is rural like you describe, but there are some populated areas and jobs within an hour or two anywhere in the state, so one of you is going to have to go to where the work is and commute daily or weekly.

You don't say much about your hubby's skills or what he does, so it's hard to say from what we've read but there are always truck driving jobs, construction work, work at the grain mills and fertilizer plants, utility jobs, state and county highway jobs, etc. Would also think an EMT could find work if you were willing to commute?

The commuting will take some adjusting to and could stress the family, but not many other options if unwilling to relocate. If you have tillable ground or grazing land, cash rent it to a neighboring farmer.

I see your situation a lot around my neighborhood. Usually hubby works away all week, or commutes somewhere 40 to 70 miles away to work every day. It's tough, but beats living in a metro area.