eytonxav
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
You could save even more by feeding one of the 6 cats to the 5 dogs.
I am not sure whether Sarah is best described as a pet lover or zoo keeper
Crazy expenses in first year
- Thread starter BellBarbara
- Start date
I am not sure whether Sarah is best described as a pet lover or zoo keeper
HighRoller
Recycles dryer sheets
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You could save even more by feeding one of the 6 cats to the 5 dogs.
I think there are more dogs within a mile of my house than people. I saw a cat a few times about 6 months ago, but no more
.
Live And Learn
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
My one time expense buckets include 1.5k for medium sized home repairs / replacement of things that break down, 3k for bigger home repairs / car replacements and 2.5k for extraordinary out of pocket medical - giving me a total of 7k / year. Probably a little short but considering the 95k held aside from my portfolio I hope its enough.
Like the OP I'll probably freak out a little when I actually need to spend from that 95k !
Like the OP I'll probably freak out a little when I actually need to spend from that 95k !
Katsmeow
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
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Yes, we had crazy expenses in the first and second year.
The bad
First year - we sold our existing house at a large loss. We had expected to break even based upon feedback from our real estate agent. She had thought it would actually sell for more than we had paid for it and that we would walk away with money. Being more conservative, I projected to break even.
In reality, we had to bring money to closing.
Year 2 - we had bought an older house that needed remodeling as part of our downsizing. We paid cash for it and had budgeted a significant sum to remodel it. Making a very long story short, the remodeling was not feasible, the house developed a foundation problem and we decided to demolish it and build new. After looking at that for a time, we realized that building new was way more expensive than buying an existing house so we sold the property. The net effect of all of that was a loss of about $100k. I'm not happy about it. The only good news is that had we carried on with our idea of building a new house this would have been a $200k loss.....
The good
DH retired, but I semi-retired and arranged to continue working 1 day a week. During the last 2 1/2 years I've worked 1 to 2 days a week and earned enough money to more than cover both of the above losses.
It made me happy that I had decided to continue the part-time work.... When I started I wasn't sure how long I would do it, but with these events I was glad I had that option.
The bad
First year - we sold our existing house at a large loss. We had expected to break even based upon feedback from our real estate agent. She had thought it would actually sell for more than we had paid for it and that we would walk away with money. Being more conservative, I projected to break even.
In reality, we had to bring money to closing.
Year 2 - we had bought an older house that needed remodeling as part of our downsizing. We paid cash for it and had budgeted a significant sum to remodel it. Making a very long story short, the remodeling was not feasible, the house developed a foundation problem and we decided to demolish it and build new. After looking at that for a time, we realized that building new was way more expensive than buying an existing house so we sold the property. The net effect of all of that was a loss of about $100k. I'm not happy about it. The only good news is that had we carried on with our idea of building a new house this would have been a $200k loss.....
The good
DH retired, but I semi-retired and arranged to continue working 1 day a week. During the last 2 1/2 years I've worked 1 to 2 days a week and earned enough money to more than cover both of the above losses.
It made me happy that I had decided to continue the part-time work.... When I started I wasn't sure how long I would do it, but with these events I was glad I had that option.
Mulligan
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
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Ouch Kat! My sympathies... I assume the downsizing wasn't to save money, but a lifestyle change?
Katsmeow
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
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Basically. The larger house was a great house when we had 6 people in it, but by the time we were down to 4 and will be down to 2 in the next few years it was just way bigger than we needed. It was not very energy efficient and was expensive to maintain (on acreage, with a pool, lots of trees, etc.). We could have kept it if it had been important to us, but we just didn't have a need or desire to spend each year what it would take to maintain living there.
I guess the best way to put it was that downsizing saved money and that resulted in us having more money for the lifestyle that we prefer.
Sarah in SC
Moderator Emeritus
I am not sure whether Sarah is best described as a pet lover or zoo keeper
Ha! Our house sitters for this summer title their emails to us about the logistics of their stay while we drive the bus To Mongolia: "Your Zoo"! At least they will be prepared!
