About Me

My name is Indigo Ferra, and I am currently in my mid-twenties. I live in the UK and USA. I have an interesting backstory to say the least. My mom had me right after she graduated college, my parents got married a few months after I was born. My dad wasn’t a stellar character, and they divorced when I was three. My mom moved us to be closer to her family in Georgie, where she worked three jobs to support me as a single mom. We lived with my grandmother for a bit, tried renting, then found a family that was moving to Japan. The family let us live in their house rent free, as long as we took care of their dogs. My mom leaped at the chance to save money. We stayed in that house for five years, and the money she saved paid off the debt she incurred when I was a baby.

I'm obsessed with
unicorns

I was diagnosed with dyslexia when I was five. My mother wanted to give me the best education possible, so she worked insane hours to pay for me to attend private school for three years. But the bill eventually became to much to handle financially, and my dyslexia was under control, so I switched to a public school.

Following the death of my grandmother from colon cancer, my mother and her new husband decided to move away from the South and start a new life in Washington state. We bought two vacant lots, and a cabin kit on one of the small San Juan Islands. Instead of hiring builders, over the period of a year and a half, we built our own house. It wasn’t easy by any means, I stepped on nails and had boards dropped on my head. But I also learned to pour concrete and place pipes. To save money (a theme all throughout my life) my (now pregnant) mother, stepfather, and I lived in a 10 by 10 foot bunk house. It had bunk beds, a toilet and a sink. We had to do all of our cooking on a grill, and we took outdoor baths, even in the winter. The economy in America was starting to go downhill, so my stepfather decided to chase a dream and teach English in China.

We were supposed to only be in China for nine months, but that turned into 3 years. I was 13 when we moved, and I was mostly home schooled while I attended a Chinese language college. Both my parents taught English, and saved all of their money so we could adopt an orphan whilst in China. In 2008 we adopted my deaf brother Colt. He was four years old (the same age as my sister) and he had severe brain damage.

After adopting Colt, we moved back to America. I was 16, and after years of having control over my education, I wasn’t eager to attend high school. Instead, I tested into a university program that allowed me to start college early, and have Washington state pick up the bill. I graduated from Whatcom Community College with my Associates Degree in Arts and Sciences.

I missed the warmth of the south, so after earning my AA I moved to New Orleans where I decided to finish my final two years of university at Loyola University. I developed an eating disorder after my first term of college away from home, and had to attend and eating disorder rehab center. This didn’t get me off track in my education, I went to summer school and still graduated with my class, just one week after my 20^th birthday.

I love animals

In New Orleans my mother decided to use her family inheritance to buy an empty lot and a derelict duplex house on the borderline of the New Orleans ghetto. To save money, I lived in the house. It had no hot water, only cold. I only had a mini fridge for my food, and one fan to keep me cool. Oh, and did I mention the house had no electricity? I had to run all my appliances off an extension cord. For protection, I got a dog from the local humane society. I was working part time and going to school, so I was responsible for most of my own bills. Sometimes I had to pick between feeding my dog, or myself. I thought that was the worst things could get, living in that house.

But after I graduated, no one wanted to hire me. I was twenty, with a good degree, but I was too young to be put in a professional position. So, I had to move back in with my family. My parents also struggled to find employment so they moved to Missouri where the cost of living was drastically cheaper. My mom worked at Americorp and my stepdad was a landscaper. I worked three jobs to pay my bills, I was a nanny, a substitute teacher and I worked in retail. Because my family didn’t have much money, the only place we could rent was a trailer. The trailer was the worst place I have ever lived, and that includes a tiny shed and a house with no power. The trailer was disgusting, impossible to keep clean, freezing cold in the winter and boiling hot in the summer because it had no insulation. It leaked, there was mold, and if it was windy, I thought we might tip over.

Living like that for a few months put a hunger in me. I decided to move abroad and go to get my Master’s degree in England. I worked all my jobs, and cashed in my minor investments to buy a ticket to the UK. I was accepted to Warwick University with one of the their only international student scholarships. I graduated with honor’s in political science when I was 22.

But hard times hit me again. I was an American living in England. No one wanted to hire me because it took too much paperwork. The only place that would take a chance on me was a nursery/daycare where I now work part time.

I’ve had jobs to support myself since I was 12. I had to buy my own clothes when I was 13, and pay my own bills at 18. If I didn’t like the food in my house, I had to pay for something else to eat. I’ve been working on and off for over ten years. I’ve had 10 different jobs in all sorts of fields, from childcare, to cooking, to walking dogs. I know firsthand what it is like to struggle to pay bills. To be without health care, or the ability to feed yourself. In all my trials, I’ve learned all sorts of tricks and methods to saving money, while still looking good. I didn’t realize how thrifty I was until I came to England, and saw how much less I spent on things like clothing and food than most people. I am the queen of the #doitcheap lifestyle.

My bible

I write this lifestyle blog to discuss politics through the eyes of someone who understands the system but also knows what it is like to be on the bottom rung of the class ladder. I do my best to share all of my money saving hacks, and share my knowledge on getting stuff for free or extremely reduced cost. I truly believe that you can have just as great of a life as richer people, if you put in the effort to get things for less. 

I do work part time now, but my main job is writing this blog and novels. My ultimate goal/dream is to become a published author and spend all my time writing.