Anyone have this weird fantasy?

[DawgMan]

So, about 3 yrs from FIRE and have been fortunate enough to have my DW at home while we raised 4 kids (2 still in college, 2 off the payroll), good income, always LBMM, stashed away $ that should allow me to live a pretty good lifestyle in RE. While our standard of living is pretty fat and I am as guilty as my DW in enjoying many of the better things in life (i.e. Nice cars, restaurants, trips, wine), I am blue collar guy at heart and if I really admit it, while all this "good sh!t" is nice, I often find myself envying those on this site who seem to be living very fulfilling lives on significantly less than I plan on/think I want. One of my plans prior to RE is to try and really simplify and start stripping down garbage I don't need, regardless if I can afford it. Will I do it... hope so, but old habits are hard to break sometimes, particularly if you don't have too. None the less, I am a "value" guy and hate waste and definitely indulge in pleanty of waste in my lifestyle today. My weird fantasy is living a happy fulfilling life on significantly less than I do today. Am I the only weirdo out their?

 

[cooch96]

The grass is always greener...
I'm sure there are plenty of folks afflicted with the same longing.

 

[GalaxyBoy]

I can identify with that. Will I really do it? Probably not.

My cousin, who's a flight attendant of 35 years, lives quite happily and IMHO well on $27k a year. But he'll likely not retire until he drops. OTOH, he works his own schedule now and looks very semi-retired, even though he doesn't consider himself such.

 

[Car-Guy]

My weird fantasy is living a happy fulfilling life on significantly less than I do today. Am I the only weirdo out their?

Probably many on this site do. But it's not for me.

 

[NW-Bound]

Get yourself a small RV, or better yet a camper van. Then, take a road trip through the US, staying in public campground or boondocking in the national forests, or Walmarts while in transit.

You don't have to fantasize. Just get away from your "stuff" for a month or two to detox, and go from there.

 

[GrayHare]

I've had similar thoughts and believe them to reflect a desire for decluttering and simplicity.

 

[Hermit]

I am about 2 1/2 years into living in an old motor home. Nothing fancy like slide-outs or a dish washer. Before RE I had a 2500 sq ft home in the burbs. I still have all my "stuff". It is in a storage unit about an hour away. I don't go down there very often. If this were permanent, I would add a porch and some amenities, but it would still be a simple life. I am building a house, so when I move in there, I will have a bit nicer life style. It will still be a lot simpler than when I was in the rat race and needed to pay for things I do myself now. If the late DW were still with me, there is no way I would be living this simple and rustic life style.

 

[aja8888]

Every time I try to simplify our lifestyle, DW picks up the slack I create. Is this entropy?

 

[audreyh1]

Simplifying is good. We did a lot of that the first 5 years of retirement. We even ended up selling our house and most of our stuff and living in an RV for 5 years. We didn't skimp on the motorhome, but our other expenses those five years dropped quite a bit.

Now that we are back to home ownership, we have a smaller place and less stuff (partly enforced by the smaller place), and we tend to buy less stuff. But we don't skimp on experiences or travel spending.

Simplifying, streamlining, establishing priorities - those are good things to do when retired. We just try to make sure that what we spend money on is important to us.

 

[daylatedollarshort]

We didn't downsize but we are decluttering and trying not to buy too many new things unless we really need them. We have gone through every expense and optimized many, like renegotiating the cable bill, lowering the grocery costs, dropping most of the cable TV channels, replacing the landline with Ooma, etc. I think overall we live better than before and spend much less. We still have a lot of relatively painless projects we can do to lower our run rate like insulating the house and xeriscaping so we just keep chipping away every month.

 

[Sunset]

I've had the same nagging thought...

Just the other day I was telling the butler that perhaps he and the maid could take the afternoon off as I would simply eat the left-over pheasant for dinner.

 

[audreyh1]

I've had the same nagging thought...

Just the other day I was telling the butler that perhaps he and the maid could take the afternoon off as I would simply eat the left-over pheasant for dinner.

LOL!

 

[donheff]

I have no interest in simplifying. But I am in awe of how well some members seem to live on very small incomes. Some of the old threads showed peoples' houses and I was blown away by how nice some were when I knew the posters were also making Roth conversions to stay under 15%.

 

[travelover]

While I lived below my means while working, I found that once retired, I realized that a lot of the extra money I did spend while working was to relieve the stress of working. "I know it sucks, but at least there is this expensive reward coming to make up for it". You may not find this to be true in your case - just my experience.

 

[Carpediem]

Have you shared your fantasy with DW or significant other? Getting them on-board might be the challenge you face.

 

[MichaelB]

So, I have to admit, the thread title had me thinking this thread would be much different.

 

[NW-Bound]

So, I have to admit, the thread title had me thinking this thread would be much different.

If you were thinking what I think you were, men tend to have fewer of these fantasies as we get older. No?

 

[bradaz2488]

I can somewhat relate to the OP's desire to simplify our lives. Not that it has ever been complicated or full of drama. Since I retired 3.5 years ago I find myself thinking that all my "stuff" is weighing me down like an anchor. Not sure where this is coming from since we have less "stuff" then most of our friends and family. We have always LBOM and have never been the type of shoppers that buy things for instant short term gratification. I have had "fantasies" of selling everything and moving to Key West to live in a small one bedroom house. We love Key West with its laid back lifestyle. The thought of hanging out all day meeting new people that are there to have fun is very appealing. Then when I really think it through I realize that I would probably be dissatisfied at some point. They say never live in paradise only visit it as you will appreciate it much more. Currently I not ready to give up our 2600sft house with pool, 3 car garage with a Porsche in one bay. At some point even this "stuff" will weight too heavy and we will move to simplify our lives.

 

[Breedlove]

I understand exactly what is being said . I grew up in a small house with mother father and 2 brothers and one bathroom . Today our house in the burbs is 2800 sq ft ,2 bathrooms and 4 bedrooms for 2 people . We both plan to retire January 1, 2018 to max SS . A few years ago we bought land from the state ( foreclosed ) As a kid I always built cabins and forts . So Texas rural being as it is I built my own house in the country . I did my own sewage no code , did use a licensed electrician . Our retirement home is a 920sq ft 2 BR 1 bath metal building. We built it our way. I made many mistakes along the way but the house is built lie a bunker . All Led lighting 3.5 inches closed foam roof and walls . All PEX plumbing . This spring I am changing my HVAC to Solar Mini split . I have a 900sq ft . garage/ workshop for our toys . Another metal building. NOW most of our friends want to retire to larger homes in the Houston and I understand that . We plan to travel some and enjoy our little ranch. Nothing like sitting in your Hot tub on a cold December night and seeing deer and coyote roaming around .

 

[Breedlove]

Don't talk Key West , LW would move to KW in a heartbeat ...To many Fantasy Fests !

 

[Danmar]

Never have had this thought. Maybe when I get older, 66 now. I have seen how near the end of life, things "close in on you" and your life gets very "simple". Not something that appeals to me at this point.

Having said that, DW and I abhor clutter or junk. If we don't use it, or wear it within a reasonable period, out it goes. Have a few "near hoarders" " in our family and am glad I don't have to deal with all that "junk" that they have.

 

[FUEGO]

I guess I'm living the dream already with a family of five on less than $40k per year. Happy as a pig in $hit!

 

[Sue J]

When DH retired we realized we could live quite well on less than $2500/mo.

I'm quite content without a lot of stuff. DH is the retired one and what he enjoys about his retirement is the freedom to make the rounds of all the thrift stores and pick up things that need to be rescued. It's mostly electronics and crap from the 60's and 70's. He also enjoys shopping on eBay for all kinds of things.

Lately, he's been acquiring various Raspberry Pi components. These are very clever, very small computer components. At least the stuff is small.

Some people just have the need to acquire things all the time. I personally don't. DH enjoys this a lot and keep all his stuff in the upstairs rooms where I don't have to interact with it, so this works ok for now. It's what he enjoys about his retirement.

The other day he took a few donation boxes to Goodwill (YAY!!!!) but came home with a coupon for a discount on a future purchase, so the net effect was negligible.

If we ever want to move he'd have to deal with all his stuff. If I die first I'm certain he'd occupy the entire house with his stuff. If he dies first I'm having a blowout garage sale and then donating anything left back to the mothership of Goodwill.

 

[OneDay]

Wow DawgMan, for a minute or so I thought you were describing me. Most people would think I've got it all and got it made, lol. One of my neighbors asked my other neighbor if I was a drug dealer, lol. I've got a stay at home wife who is very hard working but also very pampered with a nice car, extended vacations, etc. Me, I've got plenty of toys, two farms and make a really good living, I also put a lot of money in to retirement and could retire in the next 5-8 years or possibly sooner if I really cut back on spending and lived a simpler lifestyle and these days I keep thinking on how nice it would be not to get up and dread going to work or how great it would be just to get up and do whatever I wanted to do.
Anyway I think there are a lot of more weird people than you realize. Best wishes to you.

 

[FIREd]

I understand the fantasy. In my case, it has to do with the fact that the vast majority of the people we hang out with live very simply (most by necessity). They seem content enough and it helps to keep things in perspective. We downsized our household in 2012 and most of my hobbies are almost free now - walking/hiking, writing, playing video games, etc... But this is not for everyone.