With having the week off, and yes, I spent a few hours on Monday, Wednesday. and this morning, getting a few issues taken care of, I've done some life admin focus. The biggest task I did was a 6 ear projection-through August 2027, to see if my retiring at 61 and 3/4 and DH at 62 and 5 months will work. ON paper, all our priorities can be met-if. The If's are both in and out of our control. We can continue to max out our 401K's, but can't control the return rate. We can continue to sock away all spare cash, but are somewhat at the mercy of the automobile economy, at least for the next three 1/2 years. Because we have so many priorities lumped into the early retirement goal, I'm feeling the need, almost pressure, to look where every dollar is going. However, as I age I realize time is more limited than money. We need hard looks at where are we spending our precious free time. Weighing out family and friend time, celebrations, travel and vacations-the things that make life good and can cost money, while foregoing stupid spending out of laziness or impatience is my challenge. I'll still trying and tracking where I feel I had success.
Time
- Time off work, even if I am bouncing online, has been good and very much needed. I will be more cautious to take the odd day when needed and not put myself in this position next year.
- Spent Monday putting things away in the family room-like the card table that was intended for games and puzzles, but was becoming a collecting grounds for unfolded and folded but not put away laundry. The removal of all that clutter instantly made the room feel bigger and airy.
- I joined my daughter and her friend on Tuesday morning to early afternoon Wednesday. It was a nice short break because I have things I wanted to get done at home, but no play is not a good thing on vacation.
- I attended both a soccer game and a lacrosse game of my great niece and a nephew. I miss this stage of my kids lives, so fun to see family and support the kiddos.
- I've been using a large bag of frozen spinach in a variety of dishes. It means I could just pulled out what I needed, already cooked down, and the same priced bag actually gives me twice or more what a fresh bag would provide.
- Used up sugar that was hardening in the bag for rhubarb jam. It worked just fine as it cooked down the same as the fresh open bag would have done so.
- I found a couple jam size canning jars lurking in a cupboard. I should have enough for the amount of jam I plan to make this summer/fall, but will keep my eyes out for freebies.
- The Minnesota Vikings sent a food truck to my daughters work and she had a free lunch-saving her lunch from Wednesday to today.
Money
- We were able to make a May and June deposit into savings that exceeded the savings target. This is good news as no doubt there will be months where we are way below. That's the life of a commissioned based salary.
- A splurge and a savings. Instead of an expensive coffee/breakfast outing this morning, two of us got BK 2 for $5 meal of a croissanwitch, small coffee, and potato rounds. The price would have been over $5 normally. A coffee at a Dunn Brothers or Caribou alone would be over $3 for a small. This will be my lunch as well as breakfast. $2.68 per person for the splurged win.
I had to reconcile myself early on with the fact that how I prioritize my time, just as my finances, might be vastly different from another person's. There are things I find enjoyable that others find onerous, and vice versa. Our time is precious!
ReplyDeleteI wish I had more back bone in claiming my time as my own, but I' getting better. I will say I no longer have any patience when someone blows smoke on my days with "I just don't have time for that"...My typical response now is, yes, you do, you're choosing to do something else.
DeleteEXACTLY. Just as my response to my kids in the earlier days was not, "We don't have the money for that," but "That is not how we choose to spend our money."
DeleteYou can get canning jars for good prices at second hand shops. It's the dang lids that you can't get. I did do jam once with wax, but it does not last as long.
ReplyDeleteI'm hoping for garage sale prices-thrift stores have wanted $1 a jar! The lid scarcity is crazy. Really, people canned this much for their gardens last year that it still is an issue?
DeleteI'm glad you're making the most of your time off and I think you will get so much out of taking the occasional day off in the future. It will feel like a gift just to not have to think about work for a day! And thanks for recommending that movie. I was looking for something to follow up after watching The Serpent!
ReplyDeleteDebatable whether I am making the most of the time, but I am resting and getting thing done, so I guess that's good. I need to plan my schedule better-others do and work life goes on.
DeleteIt's so important to spend our precious time in ways that are valuable to us isn't it. Arilx
ReplyDeleteIndeed. I need more wandering in my days. I love your posts.
DeleteI meant to mention in yesterday's post how much I also enjoyed "About Time" - it is a good reminder not to take people and the small joys we experience for granted, and also that we can impact others in ways we don't always realize.
ReplyDeleteI often think about you when someone says a kind, unprompted word to me. You have often said how nice it is to be told compliment son your wardrobe, and you in turn, say unscripted niceties to others. It is the little things that make a day lovely-so much better than letting it go sour.
DeleteTotally agree, the time prioritization is just as important as the financial one. We're at the point where we are recognizing that family summer vacations are limited, and that the kids may have jobs or other things in a few years that make that more challenging.
ReplyDeleteIF I had known that June ad July 2008 was really going to be the last time all my kids would live with us, I would have insisted on much more family time! My son ended up with summer jobs in his college town and never relocated back home. That is part of why I'll help pay for airfare to get him home at least once a year (or more if his schedule allowed) and will do so for all my kids and families if they live out of state. I've factored "to us" travel into our long term budget.
DeleteI'm glad you are carefully assessing things as far as retirement goes, we definitely made some mistakes when we decided to retire early. It all looked great and perfectly planned at the time but things can change unexpectedly along the way.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you are making good use of your time and creating memories and having happy times with family in the meantime.
I still need to check out that movie!
You live at least in a place where your retirement home is where your kids want to come! I think we will likely stay put tin our house, free and clear, for as long as we are comfortable with stairs, but eventually, will relocate perhaps warmer and less expensive. The bigger priority is DH retiring. His job is hard on his health- a lot of stress, outside in cold weather and heat, then back into air conditioning or heat. If we need to defer my retirement we'll still be able to do a lot of retirement planning things like travel since by then I'll have six weeks of vacation a year.
DeleteWe never get back time. It cannot be recovered!
ReplyDeleteWith each gray hair, I have a constant reminder.
DeleteHow nice to get out to do a few of the normal things like the lacrosse game and time with your daughter, fun still exists!
ReplyDeleteAs for rhubarb jam, that sounds absolutely gorgeous.
It doesn't feel entirely normal again, and I still take precautions, but outside stuff feels good to be at. I'll be making more when I get my lids and canning it.
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