Introduction

Are you running out of Time?

Life is not a Practice Run!

Sections

Some important subjects to think about before Downshifting

Learning to live by your own means by saving and changing your way of life

Diversity in bringing home enough money to pay the bills

A few articles on downshifting abroad

The hardest part of downshifting is having a control of your finances

There are not many people who would not be happy to see the back of this !

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The ups and downs of changing your life

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Copyright (c) R.Cannon 2007 -

What is downshifting?
For many the word downshifting means simply giving up the rat race of 9 to 5 living in a large town or City and moving to the Country, buying a house, preferablt Cottage, with a bit of land and living the leisurely life of self-sufficiency.

Being in my eigth year of a downshifting change of life, I can assure you that it isn't always as easy as that!
For some with a lot of moey to spare, it can be like that, but for the normal family, it's hard work which can, if not planned and carried out correctly, simply exchange one set of stresses and strains for another !

The word 'escape' is used a lot in downshifting, but often it's not escaping as such, it's more a search for a better way of life to enable us to enjoy it more, see more of our families and have a sense of slef destiny,rather than relying on salaries which are earnt by mudane work etc.
Someone else is enjoying the benefits of our talents than we ourselves.

So it can be that the downshift isn't so much the 'down', but 'change', a change of direction in life.

For some, downshifting is not voluntary, it is forced upon us through redundancy, ill health.
It can be something we do in fear of the above happening, so we find ourselves in that 'give them up before they give me up' scenario .

If it's voluntary, you are lucky. It gives you a chance to plan ahead, maybe save up a bit of emergancy money and generally build up a business,  more appropiately,. a life plan.

My experience has been one of ups and downs, as in downs to go up.
For me, downshifting has meant having as many forms of income as I could get and after 8 years, I've almost got it right !

My career took in Advertising, Marketing, Retail and Railway management.

What I would emphasise most is, don't throw away all those skills and talents you have achieved during the 9-5 experience. It's amazing how useful much of those will come in handy and get you out of trouble occasionally.

Yes, you will be your own destiny, yes you will see more of your family, no you will not be relieved of stress - you are simply exchanging one set of stresses for another, but they're a better kind !

I hope in one or two of these pages you may find something which will help and unlike me, you will not spend many a day wondering if the bang on the door is the bailiff, becuase, as much as I hate having to say it,finances do have quite a lot to do with it!

Britons work the longest hours in Europe and as our transport system becomes ever more unreliable — not to say downright dangerous — even getting to work is a source of frustration. Many people feel their lives have been taken over by work. A report by the Mental Health Foundation (MHF), released this week, will say that despite much talk about “work-life balance”, many people are still working 50-60 hours a week and feel their lives are out of control.
From The Times. April 2003 (and not much has changed!)