How To Live A Simple Country Life

I was having a look at where a lot of my traffic here on the blog comes from, and I'm always intrigued at the words used in a google search that finds my blog. Sometimes I google them too, just to see what else comes up, and where my blog sits amongst that. But this one, 'how to live a simple country life', kinda stuck out for me. And so I thought I'd share my completely blunt and honest answers to the question. Take it as seriously or not as you please. And obviously everyone's circumstances are different, and there is sometimes a lack of work available in the country, but to offset that, the cost of living is much cheaper too.

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How To Live A Simple Country Life.

1. You need to actually move to the country. You need to stop googling about it, stop reading blogs about it, stop number crunching about it, find yourself a cheap little place in a country town somewhere and start living it.

2. Once you get there, start growing your own food, as much as you can. But be realistic about how much you can actually grow, especially when starting out. Be kind to yourself if your ideals of bountiful harvests of home grown produce don't quite turn out like that, at least for a few years.

3. Get rid of your commercial cleaners. Keep a few must have things, then start making your own cleaners. It's amazing what you can do with a bit of velvet soap, bicarb soda and vinegar. And be kind to yourself once again when realise that you can't actually do it all, and worse, you realise that you don't want to do it all (so you choose a good eco option).

4. Make your food from scratch. Just like getting your vegetable garden established, it takes time to become accustomed to dealing with more food coming from your own garden. It takes longer. There is more generally more work involved. It tastes amazing. It is worth the extra effort. Wean yourself off prepackaged foods as much as you can. It's a process and it will take time.

5. Get involved in the community. Shop local as much as you can, if there are shops available. Make use of community facilities. Go along to community events, be involved in community events. It can be daunting at first moving to a small community where faces are familiar when you're used to being anonymous in a crowd of people. That's why being involved in the community is so important.

6. Realise at some point that you were completely mad to think that you wanted to move to the country, and think seriously about moving back to the city.

7. Slow down and start to enjoy the pace of country life. Stop to talk to locals in the street. Listen to a story from the lady at the post office, drive a bit slower, say hello to the man who delivers the gas bottles. It's addictive, once you developing a liking for a slower pace of life.

8. Get chickens. Chickens are amazing. They need a secure place to rest at night, and a decent sized chook run if you aren't letting them free-range. Watch them and be entertained. They can be messy if they get into your garden. Marvel at how good your frittata's taste using eggs from your own hens.

9. Write a blog about it!

Basically, if you're thinking about moving to the country, there comes a point where you either decide that you will do it, or you won't. I'm not saying don't do your homework about it. It's a big decision, a life changing decision. It seems there a lot of people living in cities wondering about changing it all up for a simple country life. It can totally be done, but like anything you think will make your life better - it looks glittery from the outside and may not sparkle quite how you think it should. But it sparkes, alright.

What do you think it takes to live a simple country life? I'd love to hear your thoughts.