Our dream home. The story of creation.
This year February 1st we are celebrating 10 years of our small family reunion. And all these years roaming from one rental housing to another, we have been dreaming about our own home.
Thanks to friends in October-November last year we raised about 5000 USD which helped us to purchase a land parcel in a beautiful place near the river. We fell in love with it at first sight! Please look at this short video (1 min 30 sec) :
If you want to know more about our reasons (why we gave up a hectare in an open field in favor of a smaller land parcel in a settled village) please read our story here. From February to September 2022 with the help of friends we managed to build the foundation, the walls and cover our dream home with the roof. Please enjoy this short (6 minutes) video showing the whole step-by-step building process:
By the end of the year we also completed the front fence, all communications and concrete works in the entry area and around the house:
In Februay - March 2023 (thanks to the donations of our friends!) we managed to build the staircase to the second floor and installed the windows.
In the month of April, we embarked upon a grand mission with the aid of hired builders. We braved the challenges of laying insulation on the ceiling, installing gypsum boards, electrical wiring, and heating pipes upstairs, and even screeding the floor. But alas, the cost of all this work and materials was far beyond our humble expectations, and we were forced to take out extra loans from the banks.
As we looked around at our unpainted ceiling, half-finished plaster walls, and unfinished flooring, we knew that we could no longer bear the burden of rent. Therefore, on the 10th of May, we bravely moved into our Dream Home. Behold the majestic changes that have taken place in our humble abode by watching this video:
And here is another video 2 months later:
However, given the new bank loans, our total amount of monthly payments reaches 70,000 rubles. Taking into account the cost of food and other necessary expenses, our monthly income should exceed 100000 rubles (1266 USD or 1180 Euro)
Because Eco-Minded shop revenue, our the only source of income (the Dolmen tours and Vedic Russia retreats we have not been running for 3 years due to lockdown and sanctions restrictions), fell by more than 70-80% within the recent 2 years when our clients strugle to make payments for their orders because all international payment systems stopped working in Russia!
Luckily, my son Andy, living in Australia has kindly arranged some payment options (Western Union and wise.com) for us to recieve all kind of payments and donations. Transferring the money to Russia is still quite complicated, two-stage process, where also some commissions involved. But we can breathe a sigh of relief now as we can offer a few reliable payment options (Profee.com, WU, wise.com, Ethereum) to our clients and eco-minded friends.
Anyway, at present we are in a situation when we have not been earning significant funds for more than two years now, which, along with the cost of construction of our dream home, has brought us to the brink of survival. Considering all circumstances we really need your help again. This time I am asking your for new orders. If you are willing to support our family, please browse our site https://ecominded.net select the items you like and place an order!
Also if you would like to support our Dream Home, we would greatly appreciate any donation you can give. Your contribution will help us complete the interior design:
1. Donate via PayPal, Profee.com, WU or Wise.com - click on Donate image below:
2. Donate in Ethereum - send some Ethereum to my Ethereum address: 0x8B1bf54F2aDb285D80075DC13b754E92526b6324 , any amount matters!
3. You can also help us to spread the word of this fundraising online via emails or in your social networks.
With hope for understanding and help
Yury (Ecominded) Smirnov and family.
https://ecominded.net
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