I'll warn you up front this won't be a short post but rather a catch up on things I've learned in 2018.
I went on vacation the 2nd week in January to Mexico with my son,daughter in law and two grand kids. Just as we arrived my Mom ( age 92) started having some internal bleeding issues. By the time I got back she had had a stroke and while I was expecting to come home and move her to rehab life took another turn. Within 24 hours we realized she was not going to recover and began the process of moving her to hospice on a Sunday afternoon. She spoke with my son on the phone about 3:00 and would never speak again and passed peacefully on Wed morning. My life would never be the same.
Since I was the executor, I began the task of dissolving the estate and my siblings joined in getting rid of her things and closing up her apartment. I ended up with about 6 large containers of things that sat in my garage for a few weeks. I had already been feeling like I had too much stuff, had been contemplating retirement in a few years and this just put me over the top and the need to downsize became a stronger pull. I began reading up on the Kon Mari method (https://konmari.com/) of organizing and tiding up. This led me to The minimalist documentary on Netflix ( if you haven't watched this it's a must in this day and age of consumerism) , then the tiny house movement and ultimately to the Choose FI group on facebook.
Choose FI ( Financial Independence) is all about saving diligently so you can retire early and do what you love. The community and the idea is more a of movement geared towards the younger generation so they can save everything and retire in their 40's if not earlier. I wasn't raised this was but definitely wish I had found all this out 20 years ago. My parents were definitely FI, but of course who listens to their parents. Me being in my 60's it's not quite the same timeline of course.
Now fast forward a few months and I have been looking at all the unnecessary stuff I own and getting rid of things, I paid off my car and I'm making headway to retire in Sept, 2019 and move to PA to be closer to my son, daughter in law and grandkids. When I made the decision I was FI but with the decline of the market things continue to be a little more tenuous.
One of the strongholds in the FI community is Mrs. Frugalwoods. You can find her here: http://www.frugalwoods.com/
She is just now advertising for her 2019 Uber Frugal Month Challenge which she does every January and July. If you are looking to cut back on expenses, get off the hamster wheel of consumerism and learn some techniques of self care and simplicity please go to her website and sign up. It's free and I guarantee you it will be life changing. So won't you join me? Let's make a commitment in 2019 to slow down, smell the roses and save our hard earned money that the stores are so trying to get us to spend on needless stuff.
May you have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Nanci
I went on vacation the 2nd week in January to Mexico with my son,daughter in law and two grand kids. Just as we arrived my Mom ( age 92) started having some internal bleeding issues. By the time I got back she had had a stroke and while I was expecting to come home and move her to rehab life took another turn. Within 24 hours we realized she was not going to recover and began the process of moving her to hospice on a Sunday afternoon. She spoke with my son on the phone about 3:00 and would never speak again and passed peacefully on Wed morning. My life would never be the same.
Since I was the executor, I began the task of dissolving the estate and my siblings joined in getting rid of her things and closing up her apartment. I ended up with about 6 large containers of things that sat in my garage for a few weeks. I had already been feeling like I had too much stuff, had been contemplating retirement in a few years and this just put me over the top and the need to downsize became a stronger pull. I began reading up on the Kon Mari method (https://konmari.com/) of organizing and tiding up. This led me to The minimalist documentary on Netflix ( if you haven't watched this it's a must in this day and age of consumerism) , then the tiny house movement and ultimately to the Choose FI group on facebook.
Choose FI ( Financial Independence) is all about saving diligently so you can retire early and do what you love. The community and the idea is more a of movement geared towards the younger generation so they can save everything and retire in their 40's if not earlier. I wasn't raised this was but definitely wish I had found all this out 20 years ago. My parents were definitely FI, but of course who listens to their parents. Me being in my 60's it's not quite the same timeline of course.
Now fast forward a few months and I have been looking at all the unnecessary stuff I own and getting rid of things, I paid off my car and I'm making headway to retire in Sept, 2019 and move to PA to be closer to my son, daughter in law and grandkids. When I made the decision I was FI but with the decline of the market things continue to be a little more tenuous.
One of the strongholds in the FI community is Mrs. Frugalwoods. You can find her here: http://www.frugalwoods.com/
She is just now advertising for her 2019 Uber Frugal Month Challenge which she does every January and July. If you are looking to cut back on expenses, get off the hamster wheel of consumerism and learn some techniques of self care and simplicity please go to her website and sign up. It's free and I guarantee you it will be life changing. So won't you join me? Let's make a commitment in 2019 to slow down, smell the roses and save our hard earned money that the stores are so trying to get us to spend on needless stuff.
May you have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Nanci
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