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A garden with a view
One key aspect of our downshifting plan has always been to have a nice garden. A garden is hard work, right? It is a pleasure to look at after hours of toil. How do full time workers have the time to invest in it though?

On this note it is sad to see so many gardens being made "Low maintenance". Grass replaced with stones, borders are covered in that horrible black plastic to prevent the weeds from growing. As for growing your own veg. Forget it, too much work, and the supermarket is around the corner.

Where is the joy in any of that - changing gardens into a sterilised form of the office?


Our piece of happiness.

Fruit trees in blossom and vines waking up from the winter
We are currently renting our house but still take care in the garden. It is huge 4000m2 in comparison to our London pebble garden of 20m2.

We have lots of fruit trees ranging from fig, cherry, apple, plum and apricot. They are now in full bloom and a joy to look at

Our Kids Happiness

Good weather - check, space - check, outdoor activities - check, kids demanding to go outside and play - check.

In London our kids really enjoyed the park and playing in pebble garden. Thinking back on this they did ask to go regularly. Some days the weather was bad, usually cold or they would just point to the idiot box in the corner of the room (it did not make it to France).

Now they demand to be outside all the time and love it! They play for hours digging, biking, looking after a frog or lizard, picking flowers and making meals out of mud and grass.

A pirate ship was made all on their own out of some old crates, a plank and a flag created out of a construction sign showing risk of death!

Sticks Daddy, Me help Daddy!
They even help out with the chores such as collecting and stacking sticks

We feel they are happier, free to roam without anxious parents worried by traffic or child nappers! They play together and on their own. No adult input needed - bliss.







 Growing our own food

Barron and soon to come to life veg patch
We have been planting seeds in our little greenhouse with our kids. Hours of messy play and learning. They had a great time.

We have been working our vegetable patch, planting potatoes and onions. Hard work to dig over but hopefully worth the wait.

Back to the Land

We come from and live in nature. It has chaotic splendor, dramatic weather, songbirds and delicous fruits.

We feel happy and content away from it all smelling the sweet air and feeling the radiance of the sun on our skin. What better way to experience this than in the garden. Learning where our food comes from, watching the dazzling display of the trees and flowers.

Everyone should have access to a garden and the time to connect to and embrace it. Perhaps if we all grew some of our own food at the same time we would be happier for it whilst saving money and the environment!

Peace, prosperity, happiness and gardening

CoNTeNDeR

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Are you planning for financial independence and wondering what to do with it. If so is any of the content on this blog of use to you? I would appreciate any comments you have. All the best C

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Welcome to FISH !
You have come here looking for answers. How to get out of debt? How to save and invest? How to retire early and how you want to live in retirement.

Well this is the right place for you as out tribe has been through all of these steps. We no longer work for a corporate employer and have saved enough to retire early. How we did this is shared here on this site for you.

Our little tribe found out these secrets to financial independence in our late 20’s. Since then we have taken early retirement, in our late 30's, in just 7 years. We now live in the South West of France with our two young children.

Along the way I decided to share everything I learnt. My articles and tips on aggressive saving and compound investing are there to help you meet your financial goals fast. I discuss ways to help you decide what you want by building a life plan. This helps to work out how to get where you want to be whilst avoiding the pitfalls along the way.

My expertise was built up working in blue chip corporate jobs, extensive reading and putting it into practice. I have condensed this knowledge into simple strategies to help you meet your goals and not those of the bank or the place you work.

There are free planning tools on this site that help you make a life plan. A plan for your future. The tools calculate how to reach your financial goals in a timeline that suits you. The tools help set out your life goals, make them happen and how to exceed them.

There are tips on how to simplifying your life to remove day to day headaches. These include ways to pay off debt fast buy eliminating wasteful spending habits. How to reduce your monthly bills through choices that actually improve your health and wellbeing. Identifying things you don’t need that sap your time and wallet.

There are little sustainability projects to reduce your dependence on shops and utilities whilst saving money to spend on things you want.

All of these little steps will show you how save 50%+ of your salary so you can meet your goal whatever it is. This huge saving rate can be compounded for very early retirement. I am sure you will find something here for you.

Darren Lee (A.K.A the Contender as in my blog)

 
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