Have you ever wanted to know how to move to the country?

Do you have a little voice in your head saying you are completely over the hustle and bustle of living in the city or suburbs?

Do you think there is another life out there where you and your family are happier, less stressed and have more freedom and space?

If you answered yes to any of these questions and are on this website chances are you are thinking of making a lifestyle change and moving to the country.

If that is the case congratulations for getting this far! Making such a move is major upheaval of your life and whilst it is the best thing we have ever done it takes some serious planning and strategies to make it work. In this series I hope to show you exactly what you need to do to make it work for you, I’ll go over our experiences in moving, what we had to sacrifice and what we had to do to achieve our goal. It took us a long time to make the move and we were steadfast in our desire to do it. So if you have the patience and don’t rush into this, you’ll come out the other end happier, healthier and living a life that you want to live.

So why did we move to the country?

Kate was into horses and I was into hunting and fishing before we got together so when we just started dating all those years ago of course one of our first trips away together was to a friend of mine’s cattle and sheep farm, the accomodation wasn’t the best – a dingy old caravan but we didn’t care, we were in love with one another and already have a love of the land and country even though we both came from the outskirts of Sydney.

That weekend was a lot of fun, we rode quad bikes, rounded up some cattle and did all the usual farm visit things but it was the drive on the way home that kicked off our Small Country Life story. We had such a great time we got talking about where we would like to live, we both agreed living where we grew up was not what either of us wanted. What became clear was that we wanted the same thing, acreage away from Sydney! We were 17 and 20 at the time so it was very early days but the idea of escaping to the country was well and truly planted in both of our brains.

Throughout the following years we both worked at building our careers and tried to get ahead by building a small flat on my parent’s 5 acres to get ahead. This did not work out and was a set back to us, as was us then buying into the family property to save it but ultimately it did not work out and we had to sell and move on.

During this time of selling the family home shared with my old man we started talking about what we should do. Should we buy a residential house in the suburbs?

Or should we chase our dream and get some acreage and get out of Greater Sydney?

Obviously you know the answer but how were we going to do it?

We had very little savings, we made no money for the sale of the house so we had to plan and be smart about this!

So we made our plan, let’s spend 2-3 years closer to Sydney getting higher paying jobs as well as doing some courses to upskill and make ourselves more money to get our place as well as make finding a job when we move easier. So we rented a modest place in Campbelltown in Southwest Sydney and got to work saving.

During this time we explored all of our options as to where we will live, how we will get work and what our ideal property was.

These things were major factors in where we ended up but we had to majorly compromise what we wanted to get where we are now. We started out wanting 100-200 acres and we compromised down to 3 acres to ensure it was sustainable to move.

It is not an easy transition moving to the country, we love our life now and all the hard work, soul searching and compromise was worth it.

A rest after planting our little orchard! Don’t forget to follow us on Instagram www.instagram.com/smallcountrylife

Move for the right reasons.

This is just a short one, but make the decision for the right reasons, you want to make sure everything is resolved in your previous city life. If you have a partner they have to be 100% on board with you.

Talk to your spouse and kids you will be making the move with and make sure it is right for you all.

Do it not to run away from something but because you want to start something different and new!

A word of warning!

There’s one thing that will inevitably happen when you tell your friends and family you are thinking about moving to the country:

They will think you’re nuts!

You’re not, let me assure you of that.

People have a difficult time of comprehending a life different to theirs, they may be seriously concerned for you but in my experience and observation it is a “them” problem and not a “you” problem.

People who will question your decision or even tell you that you’re making the wrong decision just don’t understand. Most people don’t like leaving their comfort zone nor do they want to take risks. You’re not that person, don’t let them force their insecurities or judgements onto you. This is your life and you need to make this decision for you and your family.

I am warning you now, expect to hear this sort of thing and expect to hear it from people you wouldn’t think would say something like that to you. Be ready and be strong it is your choice and yours only.

That’s the end of part 1 of this series!

During the course of this series I will be outlining what we did, how we did it and what you need to consider to successfully make the move.

But the one thing I urge you to do if you’ve decided to make the move or are even 60% of the way there is to start saving, NOW!

See what expenses you can eliminate and put that into your dream fund. This is especially important if you’re not already a home owner. Save save save. The sooner you do this, the sooner you will be able to escape the city and move to your new life!

So stay tuned and sign up to our mailing list by clicking here to be updated of when new posts in this series are made!

Don’t forget to follow us on Instagram.

The next post in this series will be finding the right country town to move to.

Thanks for your time and we really hope that this series will help make your dreams of a country life come true!