Monday, August 29, 2022

Money Monday - Goal Reset

     


     I think I've convinced DH to shorten his retirement date by four months, from January 2024 to September 2023. He's fed up with the work environment, the laziness of his coworkers, and the fear his boss has in losing staff, even bad ones, so let's their behavior continue. I'd love for him to say enough this fall, but he wants to one, wait until DD2 graduates, and two, after he turns 62. He may not draw on social security then, but wants the safety net that he could. 

     I'm not going to say I have no concerns financially of being the only earner, but they are minimal. The extra four months is huge for both our morale. He can get ease into full retirement by cutting back to no weekends, including Friday if he chooses. That alone would be a game changer. I look at how much we try cramming into his small windows of days off, and combat with both his physical and mental exhaustion, and it's no wonder we're both cranky with each other so much. 

     It's not so much a goal reset, but a financial audit heading into the 12 month countdown. Some are tied into my self imposed money challenges. Others are to help improve our current quality of life, while moving into a different life style. 

  •  Realistically look at what we are spending on meals out of the house including DH's lunches. This week aside ( because budget be damned when I've got all my kids around), we easily have $200 a month spent on meals out that brought no added enjoyment, and likely were detrimental to our health. This is above planned nights out with or without friends or family. He's got to cut his fast food lunches by half or more. Cutting this out still gives us room in our budget to meet up with friends, take our kids or his mom out, or a nice meal for two, but keeps $1,800-$2,400 in our pockets.
  • Get the bathroom and deck/ patio scheduled so both are done and paid for before he retires. I know his mindset. Seeing thousands of dollars go out the door without means to replace savings, even if earmarked, will play mental tricks on him. Better to know these are done while he's got a paycheck. 
  • Make list and schedule all the minor household tasks that are not fully done. Rank them in order of requirements. This might be silly, but there are stupid issues not taken care of that hurt our quality of life. Replacing and painting a board below the front window, replacing the florescent light bulb tube in the laundry room, the ceiling fix in the downstairs bathroom, and the gas fireplace insert repair are all on that list of annoyances. Again, just having our house feel more maintained will help him transition, and me feel like he won't be interfering with my work day if these all wait until then. 
  • In light of inflation, review every line item of our budget to see if it's accurate or not. This needs to be done quarterly, starting in September. Tweaks can be made on some spending and we can look at frivolous outputs that aren't for a need or giving us joy, to shore up the lines. 
  • Examine why we do what we do, and make subtle changes for the fiscal better.  Even if DH isn't big on leftovers, I can still double batch items for a future week. I've talked about cutting a streaming service and getting an antenna instead of Direct TV. We need to actually do this. It's just wasteful at this point. 
     These are September fiscal goals, perhaps stretching into October. Even if we have to be on a wait list for bathroom and deck, at least it'll be planned. It's just essential we get things in order to give DH more of his own time back. 


28 comments:

  1. this sounds quite sensible. Nasty work environment is bad on the complexion Good for him!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's not good for anything to be frustrated everyday.

      Delete
  2. My mom also re-did her roof before retirement, so I agree big jobs getting done before retirement is a great idea - especially as costs are rising for labour and product! You two have so much to look forward to when retirement comes, it's exciting!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. No doubt what we thought they would cost will be quite a bit more. More reason to be more focused on not spending dumb.

      Delete
  3. You can always create more earnings, but you can never create more time. I keep telling TheHub that, but he is still not ready to retire. Bummer!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I know you've said your husband will likely work quite a while longer. Does he enjoy his job? My DH doesn't dislike his job overall just the stress right now with the supply chain and others.

      Delete
  4. That sounds like a good plan. Why don’t you talk to people with antennas? Cutting the cord really saves money and do we need to watch hours of TV nightly or on the weekends? I pay for Hulu- it’s going up to $15 and I get Peacock and Roku channel free. That’s it! My daughter gave me her password info for Amazon and Netflix but I rarely watch them. Maybe you can set a challenge of just eating out- lunches included- once or twice a week. Does hubby go with friends or just get take out from a window? Nan

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We do not need to watch hours of TV. That is for sure. He goes with a friend a couple times a month but the work day breaks are quick take out. He says he just needs to leave for a bit, but doesn't want to come home and interrupt me. I wouldn't even notice to be honest. He could text me quick. It's hard to get him to change his ways, but it's gotten much more frequent.

      Delete
  5. Ooohhh possibly just one more year to count down. How great is that (although believe me, the last few months are the L-O-N-G-E-S-T)! That's great news for you both!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It feels like a long way out still. He'll come up with excuses as it gets closer. Me? I'll be ready when my time comes.

      Delete
  6. It sounds like you have a solid plan. We also knocked out the big ticket to do's we had before my husband retired. It was basically just to ease our minds. Other than the TKD school, he's been retired for 10 years now and is so much healthier and happier.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's so nice you have your guy slowed down, but still doing something he loves. I will be counting down the days.

      Delete
  7. A big moment in my life occurred as I found a work truck in mama's and daddy's driveway. A guy was changing a tire on Daddy's car. I asked Mama what was going on. She said Daddy was tired of doing everything. He still was not retirement age and had always done everything around the house and with the car. So, he started cutting back and paying so he would not hurt and be exhausted for his very difficult job.

    Tommy and I got sausage and biscuit and coffee when we had to go someplace early. I finally took scrambled eggs and milk with me. He just refused to stop eating the sandwich. Finally, I purchased expensive premade and precooked patties for him to eat the mornings we had stopped at Hardee's.
    Finally, he ate cereal before we went out. He uses the precooked patties for lunches.
    Now, I am trying to get him to not buy BK when we go to my house. He refuses, saying he wants something warm. I want us to eat a chicken sandwich that I can make with baked chicken. I will figure out something, hopefully.
    I would love to have deli ham or chicken, but there is too much sodium! But, this eating out is only about once a week.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. For my husband, it's not the food choices, it's getting away from work for 20 minutes when he can. That then pulls him to get a bite to eat. He's not going to bring a bagged lunch as he wants the break.

      Delete
  8. Sounds like a good plan! YEs, getting your home prepared is smart. I also agree with Nan. We pay for internet only and have Fire TVs so we get Amazon Prime channels with our membership, and we order other channels we want, when we want them, like Hulu, AMC+etc, and cancel when we are bored with them. Saves a lot of money. We also have Tracfones which cost next to nothing compared with monthly plans, but I know that's not for everybody.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's what we need to do as well. Just add service's if we really want them for a period of time.

      Delete
  9. It's amazing how much you can shave off your outgoings with a bit of creative thinking. Years ago I lived alone and wanted to pay off a chunk of my mortgage but didn't want to sacrifice travel or nights out so I lived on toast and vegetarian spread for a year - I did it! xxx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. My daughter wants to challenge herself too. She's a traveler but now with a mortgage, hard to get money to stretch as far. She'll be creative with cooking and entertainment so she can still do her cross country trips, and international periodically.

      Delete
  10. All good ideas. IT is hard to redo things when you feel you are not earning.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Says the master of working hard while trying to do it all. We need things done for our own enjoyment too.

      Delete
  11. I have a colleague that is retiring in 9 days, but she meticulously planned her retirement, downsizing their home and cutting out tons of expenses. Also, all home improvements were completed while she was working.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We're not ready to downsize, but likely by my retirement. All the more reason to get our house shot d up now.

      Delete
  12. I will quickly add another voice to the chorus who is urging hubby to take the plunge sooner rather than later. Retirement is like no other stage in life, one he ( and you) will welcome in a full embrace.

    Financial concerns are completely normal, but your degree of planning tells me you two will be just fine.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. There's fine on paper,and fine in our heads- his head. He needs to be sure and getting those checklists done will help. The last few years though have added double that to him. He's tired all the time.

      Delete
  13. You’ve probably addressed this before but can your hubby at 62 take half of your earned SS, holding off of his till full retirement? Or is that only if you’re retired? There is something about pulling 1/2 of spouses early.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I've never heard of that. I think you might be thinking if he's a widower. If what you're saying has merit, wouldn't that just decrease mine later?

      Delete
  14. I love what Anne said "You can always create more earnings, but you can never create more time. " So true!
    I'm glad that your hubby has a retirement date, and it sounds like you have thought of most everything. Great job!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. He'll waffle as the year goes on. That's why the easing into retirement is probably more likely. He'll see how much having more time to call his own will be like and take the full of plunge soon after. That's my hope.

      Delete

Join the conversation. Your comments are welcome. Dissenting and different opinions are welcome as makes for good conversation. I moderate comments to be sure I read them all and stay ahead of the spam. Advertising products or services without permission will be deleted, as will anything that may be harmful to others-read promotion of debunked "experts" and conspiracies. If you're a blogger, feel free to include your blog URL.