Thursday, June 11, 2015

PURCHASED A MINIVAN

I purchased a used minivan last week.  It needs tires and a few other things but I'm ready to take a trip.  Every time I get in it I want to just keep driving.. heading south or west.  I've checked the prices on blowup mattresses, portable potty, tent, and an enclosure that allows you to sleep with the back door open and keeps the bugs out.
This is no RV but will allow me to travel some without making a commitment to full timing until I'm ready.  On June 21st I head to Cumberland Falls for our family reunion.  I have a cabin there so will not be sleeping in my minivan.  After that I will take a few one night trips to see how well I do sleeping in the minivan.  It is very humid here during the summer but if I stay at campgrounds with elec. hookups I will be able to run a fan.  I don't want to spend a lot of money on camping supplies until I decide how much I will use it.  Since I only have 2 days off, the camping will be pretty close to home.  If the weather is too bad I may end up waiting for fall to do much camping.
It is so exciting to have a vehicle for travel.  I have to force myself to come  into work everyday and I know I will have to force myself to come back home after Cumberland Falls.
I'll try to post more often now that I will be doing something beside whining about making decisions.
Have a great day.

Friday, June 5, 2015

IT'S BEEN SO SO LONG

I didn't realize it's been so long since I posted.  Nothing really exciting has happened.  I'm planning a trip to Yellowstone in June 2016. Have a family reunion coming up in three weeks.  I'm trying to find a way to keep my house.  Trying different ways to look at the meaning of retirement.

I've been working on the assumption that I would not have enough social security to keep my house once I stopped working.  I started looking at books on retirement and they were always about how to prepare financially for retirement while you're still making good  money.  Those days are over for me.

Last Saturday I picked up a book about different ways of thinking about retirement.  This book is more about what you will do with your time during this part of your life.  Of course everyone mentioned in this book has lots of money to make their choices.  But the idea has made me think a little differently.  Working my bookstore into my 70's was part of my original plan.  Just because business is poor doesn't mean I can't still do this.  I won't be able to save as much for the time when I can no longer work but if I still have the house I could take out a reverse mortgage later if I needed to.