Rural Living: 3 Reasons it is Way Better Than Your Life

Hey y’all, my name is Meghan and welcome to my blog! I’m glad you’re here! Today I wanted to discuss a topic near and dear to my heart, rural living. Rural living is how I grew up. After experiencing the suburban life and the city life, I can say with certainty that the rural country is where my husband and I will eventually return. There is something so romanticized and pure about living the simple life; here’s why rural living is for you!

#1: The number one thing I miss most of all about rural living, is the quiet.

Ah! The day’s when I could walk to the mailbox and have comfort in the fact that I would never be approached or bothered. It may be the only child in me but I LOVE the quiet. I love that feeling of isolation and the intentionality required for social engagements. No one just drops by, because you live out of the way!

The streets rumble from the movement of the gravel when your neighbor over yonder comes home and you can wave politely from a distance without ever needing to speak. There is no hearing your neighbor holler at their kids to get in bed or hearing the key turn in the knob of someone else’s apartment down the hall.

The sound of birds in the morning or insects at night make a perfectly adequate hum in my opinion, and I miss that as a background track! I long for it.

#2: The thing I place second to the quiet is just the privacy.

In the same breath as the quiet, I place the privacy. There is just nothing like having a few acres to yourself! Planting trees about your yard to keep it a bit camouflaged to the passersby keeps your business yours! There is no greater plan than to keep your neighbors having no idea what you are doing around your house!

This is coming from the woman who uses social media on a very minimal level, and always chooses privacy before telling the world. If you have different values than I do, you might not find this note all that important.

#3: My third point is all about practicality, rather than preference, and that’s the freedom that rural living provides! Self-sufficiency is an option with this amount of space.

Freedom in rural living can be placed into three major categories. All of these lean into the idea that if you are living in a rural area, you probably sit on a chunk of land.

1. Hunting: If you live in an area where your husband can hunt on your own land, you can save tons of money on things like leases. The average cost of a hunting lease is anywhere between $10-50 per acre. Therefore, your honey can expect to pay anywhere from $100-500 for 10 acres of potential kill space. If you are married to a hunter, this is an obvious benefit of living outside of town.
2. Gardens: Green thumbs can grow anything, even money! Just kidding, I’ve never known a tree that produces Benjamin’s, but gardens can save you hundreds of dollars annually. A 600-square foot garden costs about $70 annually to maintain, and can produce $600 dollars worth of fresh food annually.
3. Animals: Last, but definitely not least animals are an option when you have the space for them. Chickens for example, could be a really helpful animal to have around. There are factors to consider with this of course, but in a post pandemic world I think we can all see the benefit of having a bit of insurance that there will be something to eat in case of emergency.

Living in the middle of nowhere isn’t for everyone, but if you identify with these points, there could be a place for you yet! My husband and I center all our goals around the idea that we would like to move back home to rural Arkansas and live simply ASAP. Click here to read about why you should pay off your debt as newly weds.

We live debt free so we can reach our savings goal of building a house in the country with no debt. Whatever your goals, financial freedom will definitely inch you closer and closer. As always, thank you for stopping by the blog!