*Homeless Or Homebase?*

[chiwawa]

Hello everyone,

I am planning to retire in 2 years or so, and planning to
travel around the world like perpetual traveler;
3 months in Asia, 3 months in Europe, 3 months in South America,
3 months in North America.

Just thinking about this makes me smile and keep me motivated
to sticking to the saving plan!!! Awesome!

but wondering about 1 thing...

*Homeless or homebase?*

Should I have a home base somewhere? Or should I be complete
PT without home base? One of the reasons of this dillema is the book.

I really love books and I've been collecting many books for years,
and now I have more book than I can keep in my apartment, so
I'm renting a storage to keep them.

I don't know what to do with them when I retire, should I have a
home base to keep my books? Or should I get rid of them and be
totally "free"...

I'd like to know what you guys think of it..

Should I have a inexpensive home base somewhere and keep my
stuff, or should I get rid of stuff and be free.

Thank you very much

 

[haha]

Should I have a inexpensive home base somewhere and keep my stuff, or should I get rid of stuff and be free.
Thank you very much

You may get lots of opinions, but only you can decide this question. If it were me, and if any of these may be hard to replace books, I would keep them in storage until I had been out on the road for a while. Then you can decide with better self knowledge.

Ha

 

[Caroline]

I like Ha's answer -- not black or white.

If you now live in Latin America, for example, and plan on traveling for three months to Latin America, do that before you get rid of the books. If, at the end of 3 months, you want to get rid of them, you're right there!

ps: have a FABULOUS time, and keep us posted!

 

[kramer]

I sold and gave away most of my old books (I also had a collection although probably nothing like your collection). I found that I can get them back anytime I want to in the future by buying them used or going to the library. Most of them I probably would have never looked at again. I set up a store on amazon.com. Some books that had absolutely no value to me and that I thought I was going to have to throw out I sold for $30 to $50 each.

Also, you should look into the new electronic book readers. I plan to make almost all future book purchases this way. I am waiting for the second generation devices to come out, probably next year, before buying one.

Also, if you have made recent purchases at places like amazon.com, you can buy the e-books for the same books deeply discounted.

Be careful about how and where you set up your homebase for tax purposes.

Kramer

 

[jIMOh]

I guess carrying the books with you is out of the question?

rhetorical question, do not answer.

I say donate the books to something and take the tax writeoff.

 

[lazygood4nothinbum]

i wonder the same question. storage answers a lot of it (be it with family or a small rental unit). but also it is not easy to surrender your home base.

to complicate it, i don't know if i want to give up my homestead exemption on property taxes, of which i've accrued many years of advantage. (under portability, i'm currently allowed to not own for two-year stretches only and still maintain my savings.) but i'd probably downsize low enough that it might not make all that much of a difference. mainly, i dread leaving a place empty in florida, what with all the little bugs and big storms.

on the one hand it would be great to have a place to call home no matter where i roam & to one day return if i want and maintain my exemption all the while. on the other hand it would be great to not have to worry about a place for which i am responsible that is 1/2 way around the world.

tough decision.

 

[Florida]

Maintaining a homebase just to keep stuff does not seem practical to me.

Storage is the way to go. 5x5x8 can be rented for about $50 or $60 per month depending on where and the specials the storage places offer. Smaller ones less. Larger ones maybe $100.

I wouldn't consider storing furniture but books, personal items, small electronics, clothes may be worth keeping. You may change your mind and priorities after a while and you can downsize.

When home there's Extended Stay America for a few weeks if necessary.

 

[FIREd]

More and more I am going electronic. No more CDs, no more DVDs, no more paper bank statements, fewer books and fewer "stuff" to store. Nowadays external storage drives (large in capacity but small in size) are readily available for relatively low prices and it is becoming easier and easier to store large media files. E-books are still relatively new, but I have no doubt that more of them will become available with time. It is however unlikely that you will be able to find electronic versions of older or rarer books so you might want to store those in a climate-controlled storage unit.

 

[dex]

One thought I try to live by is: "You do not own things. Things own you."
I think your first step would be to put the books into storgage. If after a period of time you find you do not refer back to them - sell them.

 

[chiwawa]

Thank you everyone!!!

I agree with you guys... I think "owning things" is same as "being owned by things", I totally agree.

I decided to start with getting rid of books that I haven't read at least last 12 months and keep books that I still read once in a while. I'll do this maybe every 2 months or so. This way, by the time I retire, I may have much less books, I may even be able to store them in my suitcase and travel with them!

freedom sounds better after reading you guys comments.

thanks!