Cute puppies. They all got adopted in a few hours at a Petco adoption event |
The puppies got bored. |
I fixed the puppy damage by gluing vinyl floor tiles to the door. |
A girl, dogs, a house, and a frugal dream.
Cute puppies. They all got adopted in a few hours at a Petco adoption event |
The puppies got bored. |
I fixed the puppy damage by gluing vinyl floor tiles to the door. |
Now that one rental house is sold, I technically have enough money in the bank to retire with a $2,000/month allowance until I am old enough to access my 401K. There are a few things that make me hesitate to take the plunge though.
1) My job has been work-from-home since Nov. 2019. I really like the convenience and so do my dogs.
2) Inflation. Now doesn't seem like a good time to stop adding to my savings.
3) The wobbly stock market. Very hard to watch the dips but I am still investing new money.
4) Health insurance. I am in the process of getting a tooth replaced. Can a handle a big medical/dental bill if I stop working? Plus, my nephew is on my health insurance for another 3 years.
5) My propensity to spend money on new hobbies and habits. I bought a lottery scratcher ticket for the first time. Spent $10, won $10. I should probably stop while I've broken even. The local horseback riding business has a "buy 6 rides, get 1 ride free". That's a goal I would like to reach but at $50/hr. I probably shouldn't. On the other hand, if I can't afford a "fun money" category in my budget, I don't think I should retire yet.
And there are a few things that make me want to quit the full time job now.
1) Time is not unlimited.
2) Both of my parents died from dementia related issues after years of ill health in their 70's.
3) How much money do I really need? Is it worth the trade-off?
4) Peer pressure from my friends in the 55+ community where I live even though I am only 50.
For now, I will keep working and do a few little things like weekend trips. First trip: Lockhart, Texas to visit my sister. She visits me twice a year (ok, so my house is kind of on the way to her vacation destinations) and I have never seen her house or met her dog. I am also stopping in Houston and dragging my college roommate with me. I haven't seen her in over 5 years and it is my turn to visit. It will be just like old times only a little grayer, with reading glasses.
After that, I want to go to Spokane, Sacramento, Portland, maybe Cincinnati, and Hungary. I am lucky that my nephew is willing to be my house and dog sitter. Hopefully he won't have too much trouble although all of my dogs are old, half blind, and prefer if someone accompanies them out to the yard.
One of my old dogs barking at the road runner who was pecking the glass. |
It's even more fun to make plans now that I am closer to my goals. My dad retired at 55. I definitely need to retire before that! Maybe 54.
It's a very windy day here in Arizona. Still sunny and 70's so I'm not complaining. My last tenants of the snowbird season arrived on Tuesday. Hopefully, they will have a great time and no problems. So far I have had a few issues but nothing major.
My big TV decided to only play Netflix. Luckily, the tenants were happy with Netflix. I was able to do a factory reset after the tenants left and it works fine now. Cost $0, well, it took 45 minutes on the phone with Vizio help desk so not exactly $0 if you count my time.
My dishwasher died. I bought a new one rather than try to get a used one mainly because the tenants use the dishwasher a lot and handymen and spare parts are in scarce supply. Cost: $550.
The February tenants forgot to lower the patio umbrella during one of our wind storms. It blew over taking the glass-top table with it and boom...glass shattered everywhere. They were really nice, cleaned up the mess and replaced the table before they left. Cost $0 for me.
One of the hose connections froze during our 3 days of winter. The drip system connection was rusted onto it and it couldn't be replaced but I figured out how to use part of the garden hose to replace the whole thing. Cost $25. I was proud of myself for figuring it out and my rose bushes will be very happy to have water. Wait time for an appointment with my plumber of choice is 5 weeks. My handyman got a full time job so he is not available either. I'll find a new handyman eventually.
A new HVAC system is still a priority and they do not have a wait list so I will make an appointment in April when the current tenants leave.
Another extra cost that I added was an exterminator to spray for bugs twice a year. I've never had a bug-guy before but after the great cricket invasion of 2021, I hired someone when the tenants saw a "bug" and bought cans of Raid. The bug-guy assured them that the house was not infested and it was just a harmless cricket. I didn't bother to tell them about the giant sewer roaches or Huntsman Spider that I saw on the ceiling in the Summer or the increase in Black Widow spiders up against the house. They don't need to know that. Most venomous stuff is sleeping in the winter.
I cleaned and set-up the house 4 times this season. Of course, I was the messiest person to clean up after. The tenants have all been very neat and courteous. The dirties thing has been the carpet in the back bedroom. I've had to scrub it twice. I don't know why people track stuff in there but I am very glad that the carpet is brown and that it cleans fairly easily. I'm glad that is the only room with carpet.
The one room with carpet. |
Summer |
Winter |
My little princess was having issues walking so I made her an appointment at a new vet office. 5 week wait for an appointment. 2 weeks before the appointment she starts crying and holding up her front paw. Of course I rushed her to the emergency vet. 7 hours later, all the tests were negative. She was on pain meds for a few days and was better than before. I think she sprained her shoulder when her feet slide on the polished concrete floor. She won't tell me where it hurts. Then, her brother's eye swelled up. I got him some ointment from the feed store and it was better after 5 days. I decided to take him to the long-awaited appointment. They said it might be a tooth infection but his bloodwork showed high kidney values so he is not a candidate for sedation and dental work. He's on special kidney food now. My pets like to remind me that I need to have enough money in my pet budget before I retire.
The princess and the pea |
My retirement spreadsheet is looking pretty glum. It's doing the one step forward, two steps back dance. I suppose most people's investments are doing the same. Except for the housing market. That is still going up but it means nothing because I am not selling. Current projected retirement date is still 2 years away as it has been for the last 3 months.
Another year full of hope and promise. So far this year I have gotten a raise, my sister agreed to let me buy her half of my house and my neighbor, who I live with during the winter, adopted a new dog. Of those three things, the one that affects me on a daily basis, is the dog. He is young and energetic and, of course, too cute. So far the other dogs are annoyed by him.
I am thrilled to be able to own the whole house. Although the paperwork isn't complete yet, it will greatly simplify my retirement calculations. Trying to manage a hybrid rental home with partners was too complicated. I should have known better since I don't even like the property management company that I have for one of my rental homes. I like making decisions alone.
This is a good time to review my properties:
1. House near the airport - rented through a property management company.
2. House near downtown- rented out by me.
3. Nephew in mobile home on 4.5 acres in the desert - I banished him there.
4. House that I live in but rent out in the winter- rented through VRBO.
5. Tiny house next to mobile home in the desert- currently unfinished inside. This is my emergency backup housing.
So, the exciting news is that I added up my account balances and I could safely retire in two months. The bad news is that I raided both of my maintenance funds to pay for half of the house so it wouldn't be prudent to quit yet especially since the house needs a new heat/AC unit ($6k). I must focus on replenishing those accounts and keep working towards my backup funds of $1500/month. My spreadsheet says in 2 years I could do it. I bet I can do it quicker!
Hello from the downhill side of 2021! It's been a generally uneventful year, just the way I like it. I have been keeping busy with my regular job, doing eBay sales for our animal shelter and working on puzzles with the neighbor. Add in home improvement projects and dealing with rental house issues and I don't have a lot of spare time left over.
I bought some seeds from the local Native Seed/SEARCH company and grew these lovely Mexican Sunflower bushes. Both yellow and orange grew but mostly orange. I have never had so many butterflies in my yard! It wasn't only the flowers, it was also the extra rain we got this summer which caused a boom in the butterfly population. My sister bought me a hammock chair and I hung it off the back porch and watched them frolic.
One of my house projects was to paint the enclosed porch (aka Arizona room). And since no project is ever simple, I hired a handyman to replace the bottom 6" where it had been water damaged and crickets had taken up residence under the bottom of the wood siding. Much better now and I am really tired of painting but I am not finished yet since I haven't painted the side with the white door.
Both of my rental houses are rented with good tenants who pay on time. One of them did fall behind last year when she lost her job but caught up again with the help of the eviction prevention funds. One house needed painting because the HOA said it was time. It was faded so, yes, it needed it. It took me 4 months to secure a painting company because the first guy strung me along and then got overwhelmed with the rain delays. The other company was faster and cheaper so in the end it worked out. Then the A/C started having issues and I paid a lot for those repairs. It's a good thing I have a maintenance fund for those houses.
Regarding my early retirement plan, well, I'll be 50 next May so if I keep working like this my "early" retirement plan is just going to be a regular retirement plan. According to my calculations, I am still at the 1 year 10 month mark. It never seems to get any closer. I blame lifestyle inflation which is completely within my control.
I did not do anything with my tiny house. I think about it often, designing and redesigning the interior in my head. My nephew still lives in the mobile home next to it and reported a big rattlesnake at the front door. He doesn't maintain the fence that I built to keep snakes out and isn't too concerned with keeping the gates closed. He might be a little more concerned now. I found a baby rattlesnake in my walled yard a few months ago. I hadn't blocked off the drain holes and there was also a gap under the gate. I'm glad that I saw it before the dogs did. The fire department came and took it away.
In two weeks I will move in with my neighbor again and rent my house to snowbirds from December through March. The eBay stuff and packing supplies make the move a lot more difficult. I will have another two weeks to clean the house and finish up my projects before the first tenants arrive. I hope there won't be any surprises like the leaking roof of last spring or Covid of the year before. Nice and predictable, that's what I'm hoping for.