To Move or Not To Move

Hi Friends,
We live in the home we built shortly after we married 41 years ago. We brought our babies home to this house and it's the only house they lived in before they married and moved out. We have made lots of great memories here.

We planted little pine trees for both of our children.  I think it might have been Earth Day or something similar at school.  They each brought home a little paper cup holding a little twig that I never expected to live, but we planted them.   They have grown to be huge trees.  The pine closest to the house on the right side of this picture is our son's tree.

We have put alot of ourselves into this house and love it here.  At the same time, I feel an urge to move on. We are at a different time in our lives now.  I would like to be free of so much upkeep.  I want to feel comfortable and safe in a home where we can age in place. This house has stairs.  We have to go up a 1/2 flight of stairs to get to our bedroom and main bath.  We have to go down stairs another 1/2 flight to do laundry.  There is a huge lawn to mow and also snow removal in the winter.  I would like to move now, while we are physically able to pack and move.  It will only get harder as we age.

And money is tight for us right now.  I worked hard to get all our credit card debt paid off before I retired and we have managed to get ourselves back in the same situation.  Ugh!  We are now working to pay that off again.  If we sell our house we could use that money to pay off all our debt and save the rest for the emergency fund we should have.  I know I would feel less stressed by that.

This is where I want to live.  It is a nice senior independent living apartment.  We would be free of all the maintence and the yard work.   I would be happy with a couple pots of flowers on the patio.  You can't see it in the picture, but there is a marina and a beautiful park next to it.   It is within walking distance to my favorite book store/ café where my knitting group meets, and the farmers market in the summer.  It is close to both of my children.  Really, its close to everything in a small community!

But...Hubby says he wants to die in our home!  He does not even want to consider moving to a smaller one level house.  I think he is in denial that we are aging.  He did a lot of the finish work on this house when we built it and he is quite attached to it.

So....what to do?  I guess we stay awhile longer.  He has agreed that we will reevaluate every 2 years.  In the meantime, I am going to work on decluttering this place.  That way it won't be quite as overwhelming when we finally move.

Are you downsizing your home after retirement, or are you staying put?  If you have moved how do you feel about your decision?

 Til next time,
Peace

Spending Less

Retirement has its perks, but $$$ isn't one of them.  It calls for some budgeting and frugality for us.

Hubby and I made a good income when we worked and we spent pretty freely. Retirement seemed like a far-off dream.  We really should have planned better.  We did put money into a 401k account, but we could have saved more.  We also used credit cards quite liberally.....why not, we could pay the bills...at least the minimum. It took us years to figure out that was a bad idea.  We spent the last 5 years before retirement getting out of credit card debt...Yay us!

And then guess what?  We turned right around and started charging again.  We have a new game plan now.  Pay cash!  Pretty radical, right?

It is really hard for Hubby.  He is more impulsive than me.  He seems to have more difficulty with the difference between a "want" and a "need".  That is my new mantra when I go shopping.

Today I stopped at Joann's for a size knitting needle that I need (um.. want?).  That's all, but OH!... the yarn was calling my name.  I fondled it, I even smelled it.  I walked away and walked back again.  But I was strong....I escaped from the store with only my knitting needles.

Then I stopped at the dollar store for a few things.  I picked things up, and I put them back down.  I stuck to my list.  I got the Easter napkins I needed and the artificial tears eye drops, and the shampoo I needed for a dollar each.  These could easily cost several times that amount at the supermarket.  These sound like such small things, but it all adds up.

Tomorrow I will take stock of the food I have in my pantry and plan a weekly menu. I have much to learn about cooking frugally but I am working on it.  That's a post for another time.

I am excited to find I have 2 followers.  Thank you and welcome to Fourmi at Frugal in France, and Gillian at hookin' A yarn.  

'Til next time,

Peace