Knee-jerk and expense-tracking

[Koolau]

Remember watching the kids on Oahu going to school in heavy coats, mittens and sock caps. Temp was 68F.

Haole life in the islands is unique.

That's for sure!

Heh, heh, you forgot to mention that many of them still wore shorts! Of course, if they're like me, I have one (and only one) pair of long pants. Only time I ever wear long pants is if I'm "official" at church (greeter, usher, etc.) In the seats, I'm wearing shorts.

 

[Retired Expat]

Does anyone else have a knee-jerk "think again, you can't afford it" reaction to the thought of spending any money? I have to laugh at myself, because I do though we could afford anything, pretty much, we could need, or even want. It seems to have come from my sweet husband, who has never told me I should't spend anything I wanted (he is our "business manager", not a "head of household" nor my lord and master) but we have been married almost 35 years and he has tracked every single penny we have ever spent. It really does have a magical effect to look at the spreadsheet "on track to spend this year..." figure every few days.

It was very much like that in the beginning. Retired at 53 with not enough planning. Now 11 years on… living off the income Stream. Net worth 3 times what it was when I retired, and SS still on the horizon, I don’t question my spending but have to stop myself sometimes to say, “Yes you can afford it”. Wife wanted to add a couple of days to the trip to see the daughter and new grandson. Flight changes, hotel etc was a few hundred dollars, she said No! Too much money (I love my wife) but I was the one to say do it. Won’t impact us at all so enjoy.

In the end Daughter said don’t waste the money but come again in a few months. So subconsciously we remain careful…

 

[mickeyd]

Our largest monthly expense (by far) is our monthly CCRC fee. That is more than covered by our monthly income stream. Once that biggie is taken care of, the rest is just extra stuff or travel.