[Bionic]

I was gainfully employed in a stressful job until last Sept when I took early retirement.
Before that I worked long hours, drove a fancy convertable sports car which was my pride and joy, my nails were always polished and pristine. The wardrobes and loft space were bulging with clothes, shoes and handbags and I had so much make up and toiletries of every description and my hair had to be 'just right'.
 
In Feb I moved to a smallholding, got rid of my sports car and bought a 4x4. My bottles of nail varnish are sitting in a cupboard somewhere, if only I had nails to put the polish on now. I wear leggings/jogging bottoms most days and old t shirts. The other clothes and shoes are still in the garage where I put them when we moved in. I haven't worn a dress/skirt since I got here and the high heels have changed to crocs and wellies.
 
My pride and joy now are my hens, my pigs and my sheep. Oh how things have changed.
 
Am I happy???
 
YES
 
Sally

[plumseverywhere]

Same as you really, Sally - long stressful hours in a managerial position within the NHS, running to cardiac arrests while 38 weeks pregnant, dealing hospital red alerts due to bomb threats at Heathrow - loved it at the time but wouldn't want to go back to it now 


I still have a little red MGF with my number plates on - its undriveable currently but reminds me a bit of who I used to be.


Must admit to still wearing skirts and dresses with my wellies a lot of the time though  [size=78%]  [/size]

[Bionic]

My one concession is that I moved my personal number plate over to the 4x4 

[Fowgill Farm]

Yes all of the above, much happier now doing less hours, roaming round in a grubby pick-up instead of having to keep our posh car immaculate, physically working harder but mentally less so unless you count doing AML's.   
Life is good and i try to remember each day that i have to make the most of it.
Happiness for me is mainly pig shaped.
mandy 

[Mammyshaz]

I haven't changed yet but I haven't found my dream place yet. Oh my..... I dread to think what I will change to. 
I've never dressed up even as a child, always in jeans and t-shirt or jumper and trainers or wellies. As a teenager I couldn't be bothered with the dolling up malarky much preferring to 'scruff it' walking the dogs 

Even going drinking with friends as a teenager I wore jeans and a top and boots. ( just cannot do the hi-heel thing )

I've already got the 4wd be it a CRV so good economy for city use too ( wouldn't like to do too much cross country with it but it manages muddy fields well, and light trailer.) great for muddy dogs and cage of hens.

Perhaps I'll have an opposite effect and become a posh designer country girl with an Audi TT convertible     ..... No, I can't see that happening either  oh well, will just have to stay as plain old ME 

[jaykay]

I'm living the two lives side by side for the foreseeable future, as I can't make the finances work to give up the job. There is a door off my hall which goes into the 'real' house, ie the kitchen, dogroom, snug and bathroom.

It divides upstairs (clean, dog hair free suits) from downstairs - dirty, tatty farm clothes 

My farming amuses my high powered work colleague immensely - and it keeps me sane  The giveaway is my hands - they stick out from my suits, broken nailed, grufted with dirt and frequently stained with Terramycin spray

[Mel]

I had raised a similar subject a while ago,especially one about wellies and one about changing:

http://www.accidentalsmallholder.net/forum/index.php?topic=22685.msg218237#msg218237

[goosepimple]

Think kids changed me more than smallholding - from running multi-million pound architecture projects to changing nappies, it gradually wore me down, I was killing myself.  Think women have been told we could have it all but it was all at huge cost and I had to make a choice in the end. 


Love taking care of my kids and animals and the place we have is a huge project but worth doing.  I'm physically exhausted rather than mentally (in fact don't have a brain cell left).  Would warn my daughter if she wants to do a long degree though.. In retrospect I'd rather have had more kids (too late now).

[plumseverywhere]

Think kids changed me more than smallholding - from running multi-million pound architecture projects to changing nappies, it gradually wore me down, I was killing myself.  Think women have been told we could have it all but it was all at huge cost and I had to make a choice in the end. 


Love taking care of my kids and animals and the place we have is a huge project but worth doing.  I'm physically exhausted rather than mentally (in fact don't have a brain cell left).  Would warn my daughter if she wants to do a long degree though.. In retrospect I'd rather have had more kids (too late now).

I can identify with you there Goosepimple. I wouldn't change my 4 for the world but the reason I had to return to work when my eldest was only 3 months old wasn't totally financial    it was the fact I was going stircrazy. Then we moved after the 2nd baby and I had to complete 2 OU diploma's just to keep my mind active! Reason the soap business has come about is because I need to be doing more than just housework/being mum.
Hardest part of being mum for me though isn't just the physical - it's taking onboard all their little fallouts and worries at school and getting stressed on their behalf 

[goosepimple]

Yup, can sense already I need to keep out of it 

[SteveHants]

Nah, I'm the same yokel I always was. All I did was change from running a fish farm to running my own sheep (in a convoluted way). Didnt really leave the countryside, even when I went ro uni it was Aberystwyth which is hardly a heaving metropolis. I'll never have the money to buy land, a house etc, can't see me ever caring about all that though. Its all just stuff, you can't take it with you as the saying goes.

[suziequeue]

Marraige changed me. Paul wanted to move to Wales. I had no inkling of what was in store really. Prior to getting married I - like Bionic - had a wardrobe full of clothes and bags, a personal shopper, BMW Z4 sports car, expensive extreme adventure holidays.......

Now - like Jaykay - I have double life: Monday to Friday office-based in Birmingham - academic, intellectual, writing and research. Saturday and Sunday - tatty leggings and toil. Car and holidays are a thing of the past and I've NEVER BEEN HAPPIER :-D

[Roxy]

I was a Personal Secretary to the Top fella at our local hospital.  I still had my animals (although not as many as now!) and got up early every morning, to deal with them.....before donning the power suit and high heels and make up, and tottering off to my office.  I realised there was more to life than that,and took the decision to leave, and had a couple of years off.  Went back part time working as an accounts clerk, which suited me better.
 
I am just happy earning enough money to fund my animals.  Posh cars and clothes mean nothing to me.  I am sitting in now, in mud splattered leggings (torrential rain) a scruffy looking fleece, and my nice comfy wellies.  Hair is plastered to my head with the rain,  and my hands ....hmm......ingrained with mud.  Probably a few splatters of mud on my face too.  I no longer worry about what people think.....if they want to walk round supermarket looking like they have stepped out of the fashion pages, thats ok .....I want to walk round in my wellies.  Although I do sometimes put a clean fleece on, but not if I think I can get away with my scruffy one!!
 
Gone are the days of pubbing, and shopping for clothes.  Any money I have is spent on the animals, feed or new housing for them.
 
Walk between the two farms, to save on fuel......people are amazed that I walk 4 miles each way.  Nice countryside, good views, whats the problem?
 

[SteveHants]

Dont think I could ever give up the pub.....

How do you think us yokels know everybody elses business?   

[Roxy]

Believe it or not,I had not been in a pub since the smoking ban came in, until last summer when I ventured in ......and this is someone who could in the past, down a pint or three with the best of them!!  Seeing as most of our pubs have shut down anyway, looks like I will be hard pushed to find one to go in even if I wanted to