Ways to earn from a one-acre property while staying afloat

[marmite123456]

I'm a bit stuck. I have a large (ish) property but no income. I don't live in the UK. Does anyone have any ideas for earning some money to keep things afloat until my youngest leaves school , in 3 and a half years. We have to stay here until then due to schooling, plus aged parents. I am getting disabilty , my DP is unemployed. I severely stuffed up. I had a rental property but sold it as it had doubled in value. All that money is gone . I'm thinking of growing veg but that isn't going to make much more than the cost of the seeds, same with flowers and their bulbs. I have one acre. There must be something I can do. Any ideas? For reference we are about 10 minutes from the nearest town .

Camping or caravan park

Get DH on to online work finding sites. If he gets offers of work he can vet for suitability to his physical issues. Once he gets a word of mouth following he should be good. PAT testing, minor repairs, switch board stuff.

Get rid of the pony and sheep (just why!!!)

Why not go for the longer term fostering?

Are there any farmers markets near you? Any low cost, high selling things within your skills
that would work? Cakes, chutney?

If the house is large are there any parts that you could annex and rent out over the summer?

Otherwise it is vds like you are really bad at budgeting generally. Print out 3 months of bank statements and go through them with a fine tooth comb. Seperate into essential things that are unavoidable, nonessential but worth the cost and frivolous. Cut down on the last category completely, eat into the second if needed.

Completely cut out things like charity giving, gym membership, lottery payments, TV subscriptions. Move phones to Giffgaff for cheaper monthly cost, sell phones for cheaper ones.

Start a savings account. Buy in bulk. Clear and debt, highest interest first.

If none of this works. Sell and downsize.

It sounds like you have the time to foster so I’m unsure why you can’t cope with slightly longer placements?

Other than that, dog sitting sounds an obvious one.

Dog sitting was my first thought this year when I realised how broke we were. But we have 4 x 40kgs dogs. Not all my choice, owner backtracking, but I won't give them to a shelter. Cats would be more successful maybe as I could set them up in the separate shed. It's big. Worried that one would run away !

let out the pool for swimming lessons or doggie swimming?

Could you let out the pool for hourly swim sessions? With add ons such as a drinks/snacks package?

Ooo!!! doggie swimming, I mean it's not the biggest pool in the world but this is a great idea. Thank you so much. Once we'd covered the chemicals ( it is self-cleaning but not when dogs or 10 people jump i it as we have learnt) we woouold be getting cash. Fully fenced You've got me thinking now! @AuntieDolly

Everyone on our very long 2 km street has a pool . Hadn't though about the addons though. Sounds like I'd have to check with council. Thanks for idea though.

Pool is about 10m x 4m with steps to get in and out at every side. Our dogs love it but it clogs the filter. How much do people charge? I know nothing about this! I can do the currency calculations. Thanks

I mean just tell me where it costs you, not being a wanker. I will resort to google

what
happy to resort

ok so if the electrician jobs aren’t working, what else is he applying for?

shop worker? Shelf stacker? Uber driver? anything! He needs to be earning, doesn’t matter doing what at this point

You could advertise at the dog walking field that is nearby.

Yes, he has applied for a lot. He is late 50's and people done seem to want to employ people in that age group. I know I have to sell the pony. I won't get any money for her but she is an expense we can't afford. Sadly. Even though she is a menace. Not sure if I should give her away for free or charge a small amount.

Fostering for the money is an awful idea. Those kids need people invested in them, not just in it for the money imho.

Other ideas;

• rent it as grazing
• wild camping site - if you have a bathroom accessible but seoerate then proper camping (but look out for regulations - here in the uk you can do it for a month a year without jumping through all the hoops)
• grow flowers for cutting (but harder work than working if you are disabled)
• dog training area
• Airbnb - the pool will be a great draw
• re-mortgage and use the money to get a small pod to rent out.

Can you not just buy somewhere cheaper?

You are living beyond your means.

Everyone would love to rent a home with a pool, land, pony and sheep etc - but we don’t because we can’t afford it.

If the stress of having no money outweighs the lovely lifestyle, then it is not worth it.

Petting zoo

• charge families to come meet and feed the animals. a very successful place near us does this.

Depends on planning regulations in your country, surely? To open up a secure dog field in England would require planning permission for change of use of the land, boarding pets overnight at your home would require a licence from the local council, plus suitable liability insurance. Can’t you get a job in a shop or office?

Fostering for the money is an awful idea. Those kids need people invested in them, not just in it for the money imho.

agree. If you and your home have passed social services checks for fostering, surely you could do child minding or holiday care?

what’s the plan for all the animals when you return to uk in 3.5 years?

How will you manage these plans (or indeed fostering presumably active children) if you are too disabled to work in any way, including working from home? It doesn’t seem practical for you to manage an acre of land as a vegetable plot, or to run and maintain a petting zoo in these circumstances. Would you not be better off selling up and downsizing?

Definitely rehome the horse. They are not meant to live without other horses, it's illegal to have just one horse where I live, so it would be beneficial for her to live with other horses. I would sell the sheep too and rehome the dogs if possible. You can't afford to house all these animals. It's a shame keeping animals is a luxury, but that's just how it is.

Could the pony cover it's keep by offering some pony care days/rides for a fee?
If you do any B&B a pony to pet/groom and even have a brief pony ride could be a selling point.

If you have to get rid of the pony if you put it "on loan" rather than charge money you would be able to safeguard it's welfare - if you are not happy with it's care you can ask for it back. You would also be able to have a say in further re-homing in the future. You do run the risk of having the pony given back to you if it was poorly/lame though.

Given you have a pool and are 40 minutes from a tourist hotspot, turning this into a bijoux holiday spot would be ideal. You'll need to spend to get set up. My family and I havd had a few really nice holidays in small luxury glamping sites where there are 3-5 little units of either bell-tent, yurt, shepherd hut or glamping pod - it's great to be able to book out the whole site. It won't make you rich, you'll need to spend a chunk of the income from each booking on excellent cleaning and maintenance so that you remain desirable, but if you invest in making it a really nice place to stay you will be able to charge high fees for what you offer and make a worthwhile profit.

Can't you just downsize?

A flower farm that people can pick their own/take photos at would work well for an acre.

Almost all uses world need a change of use from garden though if it will be used for more than 28 days.

If you are too disabled to work, how are you going to manage growing veg, flowers, running's petting zoo, running an air banb etc?