DW Fired, Downsizing, and move aboard or stay in US.

[DFA]

Well as title states DW retired, June 30th, after 32 years in USAF and Air Guard, also FERS retiree.

Now we are downsizing of stuff we have collected over the 30+ years of marriage, we are going through each room and picking stuff up and determining if we need it, are emotional attached to it, or can it go. It is amazing how much stuff we have and how much we don't feel we need to keep. Garage sales coming up and whatever does not sell will go to charity.

Now the move, I know I have talked about a move to Ireland, but Ireland has changed the rules on retirees, you need 100k Euros of income per couple, saving in cash or liquid assets amounting to the purchase price of a home in Ireland, Med insurance, and not becoming a burden to the state. On top of that the cost of moving two dogs is around $10,000 by air.

Now with the violence and Brexit we are looking pretty hard as to whether we want to move to Europe still.

If we don't move to Europe we need to find another place to move too since we want to sell out multi level house for a ranch style (condo) to get rid of the stairs, yard work, and the snow.

Not really a question, just an update on our FIRED.

[Rosie]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DFA It is amazing how much stuff we have and how much we don't feel we need to keep. Garage sales coming up and whatever does not sell will go to charity.

It *is* amazing how much stuff accumulates over time!

As we were organizing/packing up for our move last year, while going thru the attic and the garage we came across boxes we had not unpacked from our move into that house ... 18 years prior.

Most of that was stuff we didn't need (obviously!!), but there were a few things I had given up for lost, or even forgot we had. Here's hoping we'll keep better track of our stuff from here on out.

[daylatedollarshort]

Good luck finding your ideal retirement spot. We have been going room to room decluttering and it feels good. Going forward it should be easier to keep the house tidy with less stuff around. I have a couple of bags ready to donate today.

[W2R]

DFA, congratulations to your DW on her retirement.

The requirements you describe for retiring to Ireland, would be enough to deter me as well. But there are lots of nice retirement locations elsewhere in the world, including the US. If things markedly worsen I'd personally rather be here in the US than there because I have a better sense of my environment here.

Just searching for a new home and/or new location can be very pleasant and entertaining.

Excellent idea to get rid of the stairs and minimize any outdoor maintenance. I have done that already with my recent move to my dream house, and my 73 year old brother just informed me this week that he is selling his house this year in order to get rid of stairs and yard work. Of course I teased him about being late to the party on that one.

Despite repeated de-cluttering and downsizing, when I packed to move (last year) I was averaging 1-2 trash bags full of trash for every box packed. I donated some things but it was amazing how much worthless junk I had kept "because I might need it some day".

Have fun in the adventures that await!

[gayl]

I did a major decluttering recently and it feels great! However, still need to tackle garage

As to moving in retirement, do you have kids / grandkids? That will affect the location

[brett]

We understand downsizing and the lifelong accumulation of things you do not need or things that you should have discarded but simply moved to an unused room out of sight/out of mind.

We downsized to an 8X8X16 storage container after 2 children, 40 years of marriage, and an 3600sq foot home. And that was after downsizing 15 years earlier for a company transfer.

We thought we did a great job. Managed to get all the 'must haves' and the 'must keeps' into to the container. Not an inch of space left.

Returned from an extended trip. Unloaded the container to our rental condo. Guess what? We have been giving away unwanted/unneeded things for the past two years. Downsizing our downsize. We are scratching our heads about why we saved so much...other than to make the container nice a tight for transportation/storage.

We did three, perhaps four waves of downsizing prior to the arrival of the container. We have done another 2 waves of downsizing post container. This week we made a trip to donate good used clothing. Another trip scheduled for next week as we really come to grips about all the clothes we had pre retirement and what we need post retirement. A common question we still ask each other 'why on earth did we keep this or that item'. Must of had a good reason at the time but not so good that we can remember it nor or that it is still a valid reason.

So good luck to you. Our advice...be absolutely ruthless and resolute! Don't let anything sneak back into the keeper pile.

[DFA]

Downsizing is a lot of work, I had 20 years in USAF traveling and collecting stuff, now don't know why I bought most of it. Only thing to move into the keeper pile is a leather motorcycle jacket costed about $500, it doesn't fit anymore, probably give to nephew he rides.

DW had 32 years of collecting stuff too.

We too are finding stuff in boxes we never unpacked since we moved into this 3300 sqft house 19 years ago, all going into the sale.

Lots of military uniforms and such that we no longer need or want.

Well back to it, thanks for suggestions too.