what did you do today? (2008-2015) (closed)

[Gumby]

I brewed 5 gallons of what I hope will be a nice dark ale in a few weeks.

[Ronstar]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gumby I brewed 5 gallons of what I hope will be a nice dark ale in a few weeks.

Very nice! Few things better than drinking a nice homebrewed dark ale in the winter!


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[freebird5825]

I watched the snow come down. I watched my snow plow guy push it all off the driveway.

I surfed the web, looking for a pull tab ticket counting device for the Legion at Mr B's request. I found one but it is ridiculously expensive.

There is a luscious boneless chuck pot roast in the crockpot, cooking for over 4 hours now. The aroma is unbelievable. Gravy Master is the best stuff to flavor pot roast. Mmmm mmmm mmmmmmmm.

We're watching 2 1/2 Men re-runs on FX and laughing our heads off. Next up will be Law and Order re-runs.
I don't think Mr B and I have spent an entire full day together for months. It's kinda cozy.

[Lisa99]

Spent the entire day with my stomach tied in knots.

With my recent realization that I'm not getting subsidized HI through megacorp AND learning that when I leave megacorp I can only do a one-time withdrawal of my 401k (which as a result will have to be a rollover to an IRA) there is no reason to wait until my 55th b-day to retire.

I've spent all day running numbers (again) in multiple retirement planners, looking at income streams, doing proforma taxes, looking at the ACA health exchanges and scrutinizing our retirement budget. I'm within a hair of having of nervous breakdown (not literally but my brain hurts). Thank goodness work is slow

The money from the sale of our rent house hit our bank acct today and I'll be paying off all but about $25k of our current house. I'm leaving a balance until we can get a HELOC in place.

Frankly I'm scared to quit. I thought Sept 1, 2016 was the very earliest that I could leave so it still hasn't really sunk in that I can leave now. I still enjoy what I do and I make VERY good money so I plan to take the decision to leave one day at a time until I'm comfortable with the decision. Also there is BIG workforce reduction coming this year so I'm hoping to get let go. If I'm WFRed I get about 9 months severance.

I do have a ton of stuff I want to do once I'm done working but I'm not quite ready to say "done".

[seraphim]

Still bumming around Florids in the truck camper. Some good paddling around Ormond Beach and St Augustine. Lots of alligators.

ImageUploadedByEarly Retirement Forum1421132195.609233.jpg

Got drenched in the rain today. Campsite is now a pond lol. Thank heavens for gortex ...


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[pb4uski]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lisa99 ....I still enjoy what I do and I make VERY good money so I plan to take the decision to leave one day at a time until I'm comfortable with the decision. .....

I was in a similar situation. Ultimately I decided that continuing to work was only enriching our heirs since we "have enough" and while I love them dearly I would prefer to have my freedom and spend time the way I want to.

[EastWest Gal]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lisa99 Spent the entire day with my stomach tied in knots. With my recent realization that I'm not getting subsidized HI through megacorp AND learning that when I leave megacorp I can only do a one-time withdrawal of my 401k (which as a result will have to be a rollover to an IRA) there is no reason to wait until my 55th b-day to retire. I've spent all day running numbers (again) in multiple retirement planners, looking at income streams, doing proforma taxes, looking at the ACA health exchanges and scrutinizing our retirement budget. I'm within a hair of having of nervous breakdown (not literally but my brain hurts). Thank goodness work is slow The money from the sale of our rent house hit our bank acct today and I'll be paying off all but about $25k of our current house. I'm leaving a balance until we can get a HELOC in place. Frankly I'm scared to quit. I thought Sept 1, 2016 was the very earliest that I could leave so it still hasn't really sunk in that I can leave now. I still enjoy what I do and I make VERY good money so I plan to take the decision to leave one day at a time until I'm comfortable with the decision. Also there is BIG workforce reduction coming this year so I'm hoping to get let go. If I'm WFRed I get about 9 months severance. I do have a ton of stuff I want to do once I'm done working but I'm not quite ready to say "done".

You don't need a balance to get a HELOC. Just apply. They want you to have income. We got one a month before I "quit" the first time.

I've been reading for days. Worked out this AM after two lazy days. Tonight I perform at our music club. This afternoon I supervise an ex-coworker who is learning to do circumcisions (she's very good, guys).


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[rodi]

Quote:

Originally Posted by EastWest Gal You don't need a balance to get a HELOC. Just apply. They want you to have income. We got one a month before I "quit" the first time. I've been reading for days. Worked out this AM after two lazy days. Tonight I perform at our music club. This afternoon I supervise an ex-coworker who is learning to do circumcisions (she's very good, guys). Sent from my iPhone using Early Retirement Forum

Yep. I paid off my house 1 month before I quit -and applied for the HELOC a few weeks after I quit (not the smartest move to apply with no earned income - but we qualified anyway due to DHs SS and our rental income.)

I'd advise applying for the HELOC before retiring.... easier to qualify with earned income. You do NOT need a balance on your home to get a HELOC.

[Lisa99]

Quote:

Originally Posted by rodi You do NOT need a balance on your home to get a HELOC.

Thanks everyone for the tip. I didn't know that. I'll add this to my "to do before retiring" list.

[simple girl]

How large of a HELOC do you all think is a good safety net to have? We have one we set up a long time ago but have never needed to use (thankfully). It is under $20K. I am thinking we probably should look at what it takes to increase the line of credit.

[rodi]

Quote:

Originally Posted by simple girl How large of a HELOC do you all think is a good safety net to have? We have one we set up a long time ago but have never needed to use (thankfully). It is under $20K. I am thinking we probably should look at what it takes to increase the line of credit.

HELOCs typically only last 10 years - so if it was a long time ago, it's probably near it's end of term.

We set ours for $150k. We hope to never need it - but it's there if we have unexpected big expenses in one year we can use it to smooth reportable income for tax and ACA purposes. It's there so we don't get a double/triple whammy of a big unexpected expense compounded by unexpected higher tax rate and unexpected loss of any ACA subsidy we might qualify for. An unexpected expense is enough pain for me.

[Hermit]

I got the power back up and running in my motor home this morning.

A 12 volt circuit went out in my motor home a couple of nights ago. There is one circuit for the driver's side and one for the passenger's side. The driver's side, which runs the house lights on that side and the furnace fan is the one that went out. I had checked the fuse the night it went out and it was good. I figured I had a wiring problem because the lights slowly bled off when it quit working. I had church and errands that I needed to run the last couple of days so I finally got around to looking into the problem this morning. I have been using a couple of small electric heaters and the motor home has been getting down in the low 60s in the mornings while it has been in the 20s outside so I thought I better get this fixed before we have a cold spell up here. The power panel is under the bed so I had to move all the stuff in the bedroom out to the living room to take the mattress off and get to the wiring. I had the furnace out at the beginning of the heating season and knew the power wire was yellow, but the wire from the fuse was black. Not too unusual for this motor home. I have seen all colors of wires tied together in here. I have a cable tracker that chirps when you put it close to the wire you are tracing. I could follow the black wire under the night stand next to the bed, but I couldn't pick it up on the other side of the wall. Pulled the bottom drawer out of the night stand and pulled on the black wire and there was wire nut connecting black and yellow wires. When I pulled it, the chirping stopped. I tightened the wire nut, put the fuse back in and all is working fine. The chirping stopped because the 9 volt battery was powering all the lights and pulling all the power out of the battery so the thing wouldn't chirp.

The weather man says it is supposed to be snowing, but it is warm and sunny. Maybe I will get some framing done on the house this afternoon.

[daylatedollarshort]

On the HELOC front, our credit unions count transfers from savings or a retirement account to a checking account as "income". We would just have to show enough assets to cover three years worth of "income".

They are formula, not logic, based.

[splitwdw]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hermit I got the power back up and running in my motor home this morning.......... .........I tightened the wire nut, put the fuse back in and all is working fine. The chirping stopped because the 9 volt battery was powering all the lights and pulling all the power out of the battery so the thing wouldn't chirp. The weather man says it is supposed to be snowing, but it is warm and sunny. Maybe I will get some framing done on the house this afternoon.

Sounds like you had a lot of work but at least it was an easy fix. Is this your home or guest home? Are you the one that's building a home?
A friend of mine use to live in Colorado, trying to remember the name of the company. She sent me some pics from her office window; she faced Pike's Peak. She and her husband loved it there. Think her husband got transferred and they moved to Mississippi. She's an engineer and works in R & D.

[Hermit]

Quote:

Originally Posted by splitwdw Sounds like you had a lot of work but at least it was an easy fix. Is this your home or guest home? Are you the one that's building a home? A friend of mine use to live in Colorado, trying to remember the name of the company. She sent me some pics from her office window; she faced Pike's Peak. She and her husband loved it there. Think her husband got transferred and they moved to Mississippi. She's an engineer and works in R & D.

Yes. I'm building my home and living in the old motor home at the job site. I had hoped to get it dried in before winter, but it didn't happen. Now I spend a lot of time sweeping snow off the sub-floor. I get a little work done on nicer days. BTW, I have a great view of Pikes Peak looking at it from the northwest.

[Walt34]

Called to make the appointment for the annual eye exam and they'd had a cancellation so I got that done this afternoon after the gym and a grocery run. For three years running my eyesight has been getting better. The doc laughed when I told him that was the only part of me that was working better than three years ago.

[splitwdw]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hermit Yes. I'm building my home and living in the old motor home at the job site. I had hoped to get it dried in before winter, but it didn't happen. Now I spend a lot of time sweeping snow off the sub-floor. I get a little work done on nicer days. BTW, I have a great view of Pikes Peak looking at it from the northwest.

Are there any photos of your build on this forum? If not, I understand if you want to keep things private.

[rodi]

I didn't sleep well last night so was grumpy when I set out to get the kids to school and take the dog for my daily walk on the beach.

Got home and realized my drivers license wasn't in my pocket. Tore apart my jacket, purse, car.... nada. Yelled at DH because I was grumpy and he crossed my path. Got back into my car and drove back to the beach... Asked the old guy who's there feeding the birds every day near where I park my car - he hadn't seen/heard anyone finding a license. Knocked on the life guard tower - no one turned it in. Walked to the approx. spots on the beach that my dog had done his business... figuring it might have fallen out when I was getting bags out of my pocket to clean up the mess. Nope. Grumpiness continued.

DH calls - he said he found it UNDER where I park the car in the garage... It must have fallen out of my pocket when I got home - and I must have accidentally kicked it under the car.

Lots of traffic going home - not good for my grumpy self.

Get a call from older son's math teacher - he didn't turn in an assignment. She sounded like she was having a grumpy day too.

I'm going to bed early. Hopefully sleep will help cure the grumpiness.

[Aus_E_Expat]

Today went to the Statue of Liberty - frigid weather but had to be done.

Lunch at Chelsea Market in New York and then walked the Hi Line - again frigid!!

[Hermit]

Quote:

Originally Posted by splitwdw Are there any photos of your build on this forum? If not, I understand if you want to keep things private.

A thread called "Pikes Peak or bust" has a couple 3d drawings. Here are a couple pictures of where I am now.

The friend who was going to help me with construction fainted and hit his head on the pavement pretty hard when he and his wife were going for a walk. The only thing the doctors could guess for the cause was that he was short of oxygen because he has sleep apnea. He is OK, but I don't think it would be a good idea for him to be climbing around a construction site at 8700 feet. So I have been doing the framing by myself. It is fun, but slow.