This is a bit late but I have reached and passed that point in the work rotation that I can count the days on one hand… a major milestone has been passed and happy days are here again. It is amazing what we do to have enjoyment?
I have been reading a lot more of late about people that retire early, or drop out of the “rat-race” and live a simple life. Nearly all seem to have the focus of “living the dream”.
Well, living the dream is great for some that can make it work but unfortunately I am not built so free-form. I am too much of a worry-wort. Mostly, how will we pay for those problems of life that seem to hit us quit often, if I do not have a paying job or a substantial quantity of funds in reserve? How much is enough, when it comes to reserve money?
I guess I am destined to be one of those people that chase my dream rather than fully living it… the big problem is – I am sure getting tired of chasing something that moves so fast….
The dream is to be able to live and enjoy things at the same level we do now – although I do anticipate cutting a lot of expenses down that have been running way out of control over the past few years.
That building a new house was an expensive exercise – we love the new house, and of course we see a multitude of things we wish we had done different but some of the things we did do – are simply wonderful. The big problem now is that it will be a payment for a substantial amount of time to get it all paid off and the after costs are still hanging in there… many things that are not included in a new build – landscape for one… but we are cutting them down and they will soon become just maintenance.
Back to the dream – to be able to load up in the motor home and go for a few months at a time, spend summer months where it is cool, travel on a lazy schedule and see things that we probably have missed in our hurried previous travels… I would love to do a New England tour and a pacific coast tour and maybe spend some winter time in Arizona or south Texas… and I have never been to Florida so there a plenty of things to do without leaving the US. I have traveled out of the country enough for me but Sherrie has not so we do need to make a few trips so she can see some of the rest of the world… maybe the best method for that would be some cruises?
The major problem is – how much money will it take, we sure can’t take many trips while we are working with such little time off for her? On the other hand we can’t afford to just drop and go either as we try to get our fund built so we do not have to hourly worry about whether we can afford to go shopping for the things we need… We spent too many year living from one check to the next and I have no-intention of doing that again – that was not a dream by any stretch… although we were happy most of the time with a lot less? And we learned how to get by on little, but time change and attitudes change and styles change – we just have to figure out how to change some things back I guess?
Anyway, just a few more days and I will be on my way home – again…