A woman is living in a "drafty" abandoned barn in -20 degree temperatures so she can have financial freedom while renovating her $610k ranch.
Amanda Schmidt, 31, from Alberta, Canada, has been living in the 50ft by 100ft building for the last six months.
She bought the 72 acre ranch with an old abandoned dairy barn and main house with the dream of creating a horse training facility.
To make her dream a reality Amanda has been renting out the main house so she can put that money into renovating the barn - which has cost her $56k so far.
Amanda Schmidt, 31, from Alberta, Canada, has been living in the 50ft by 100ft building for the last six months.
She bought the 72 acre ranch with an old abandoned dairy barn and main house with the dream of creating a horse training facility.
To make her dream a reality Amanda has been renting out the main house so she can put that money into renovating the barn - which has cost her $56k so far.
Category
😹
FunTranscript
00:00As someone who lives full-time in a barn in the winter in Canada, here are a few things I can't
00:05live without. I do have a furnace, so there is some heat. However, it is very poorly insulated,
00:11so I keep the heat very low because it costs a fortune, but it is above freezing. When it's
00:17minus 25 outside, it sure doesn't feel warm. A microwavable rice bag that you can chuck in
00:23your bed with you when you go to sleep. Trust me, your tootsies will thank you. These twinkly patio
00:28lights improve my will to live probably more than anything else. A drape cloth to throw over
00:33your bed during the day to keep all the dust and animal grime off of it. One of these water pumps
00:40to go on a blue jog, since I don't have running water. This crown cap, and if I want to get real
00:47cozy, this blanket star. And lastly, livestock panels as room dividers and closet space is an
00:52absolute lifesaver. Spoiler alert, second question was also why, and this is my most asked
01:08question. Why do I live in a barn? My last video reached a shocking amount of people that are not
01:13my followers, so here's the Colesnose version. Back in July, I bought a dairy barn on some land
01:17and had a vision of it fulfilling all my dreams. There were over 120 days of 12 to 16 hour days
01:21straight put in by myself and a significant financial investment, along with hard work
01:25from all our contractors. There is a main residence on the property that I have a tenant in,
01:28so because I believe in financial freedom, delayed gratification, and being able to be
01:32comfortable in uncomfortable situations, I chose to live in a barn and I get paid over $2,000 a
01:36month to do so. As my home and my dream training facility continue to be worked on, I don't mind
01:41being a little bit uncomfortable because instead of having one cookie now, I'd rather have two
01:45cookies later. If you learn to be okay being uncomfortable and have a little resilience,
01:49you can do anything you put your mind to. If you follow my Instagram, you now know that I'm
01:53currently living in a weekender trailer, which means no bathroom. I'm feeling like a freaking
01:57genius for coming up with this shower contraption, so I just wanted to show it to you. Back of the
02:01trailer, I have both doors open and a shower curtain up. You just go in here, one of them
02:06black hot water camping bags for the shower, nozzle, shampoo and stuff. Look how spacious this
02:12is. This is like five-star resort-style shower here. Come feed 35 horses with me in a snowstorm.
02:20I've already lost my good pair of mittens this year. This fall, now I have two left-handed
02:29mittens.
02:41This first pen, Mama Jersey, looks after my stud colt yearlings and my weaned baby.
02:46There's also a connected small catch pen where we're currently keeping the hard-to-catch horses
02:53and then the pen with a big herd where the majority of horses run together.
02:57Now, I will tell you my most favorite thing that's on this property is the heated automatic
03:03waterer that is connected to all three pens. The fact that I do not have to water all these horses
03:08this winter is the biggest blessing. The big herd is normally out on pasture, but since this is our
03:15first big dump of snow, now they are on hay. They still get kicked out at night though to be horses
03:20because there's a couple woodchewers in here. Another thing I love about this pen is what I
03:24call my gravity gate, and that is an intentionally hung crooked gate that shuts automatically and I
03:31don't have to chain. So these guys are all taken care of and we've got one more pen to feed.
03:37This back pen does not have an automatic waterer, so I do have to string out a hose to fill it,
03:43but I don't have that many horses out here and it is pretty easy to string out because most of it
03:48runs through the barn and arena. And then I just have a heater with an extension cord run out there
03:53to keep the water thawed. So that's not too bad and I definitely can't complain because last winter
03:58I was running a hose for all 25 horses that I had at the time. So that takes care of all the ponies,
04:04stay warm, and have a good week!