Starting from 'Scratch', Again

It’s been exactly a year since I last wrote anything of significance in this blog, and I didn’t actually publish that. In 2021, I had big goals of what to write, how to eventually monetize it as a side hustle, and how to track my move from happily married to suddenly divorced, and rebuilding with basically nothing. I was going to call the series “Starting from Scratch,” and while it’s about two years later than I expected, I’m going to write the series now.

I have a couple of years of living alone under my belt, and I’ve got a handle on finances (mostly, more on that later), so I can’t really call it “Starting from Scratch”, but I like the name, so I’m going with it. I’m going to assume that anyone who’s reading this has never read my previous posts, and probably won’t

Where I started

In January 2020, I was 45 years old, married for 15 years, with two kids, 9 and 7, a solid career if somewhat unsatisfying career, a house well on the way to being paid off, and a rental property that was more than paying for itself, and guessing I was 10 years from a comfortable retirement, maybe less.

In February 2020, my wife asked for a divorce, I said yes, and we went our separate ways. Sold the rental, she kept the house, and in May of 2020 I moved into a townhouse not far from her/the kids. She also kept much of the cash, because it’s just the way the divorce proceedings worked out. That’s when “Starting from Scratch” started to make sense as a concept.

In March of 2020, well, we all know what happened then, but in case you’re reading this much later, COVID-19 hit, everything closed down, and I barely left the house for months, except to move, and then I stayed put. I didn’t have any human contact, outside of video calls and the ex wife and kids for months. I had been used to going into an office pretty regularly, and traveling for work some as well, so it was quite the change.

On the plus side, I went full keto and dropped 30 pounds, kept running, and generally stayed in good shape until January 2021. That’s when I met my girlfriend, let the exercise slip. But, in that time, I also changed roles at work to one that was much more fulfilling, and even a bit more lucrative. So I’m happy, if disorganized and sort of treading water as far as goals.

Where I am now

Fast forward to December 2022. In the middle of the month I bought a house, and took advantage of the holiday break to move. So now I’m sitting here in January 2023 with a new house, five acres of forested land I’d like to do some homesteading on, and I decided that documenting that might be interesting to other people. I also have some personal improvement goals, such as getting back into shape and becoming more consistent with this blog.

So here we are. My goals for the blog are:

• Document my homesteading progress
• Post at least weekly - Probably Monday mornings, or Sunday nights.
• Share any additional “life hacks” I end up doing, succeed or fail
• Potentially monetize the blog as a side hustle

So, if you’re reading this soon after I wrote it, welcome aboard, you’re in on the ground floor. If not, welcome anyway.

• Introduction
• Starting-From-Scratch