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Thread: FIRE

  1. #21
    Senior Member SteveinMN's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Teacher Terry View Post
    Steve, I know you and your wife agreed that she would work and you would retire but now it sounds somewhat unfair that if you guys want to go on vacations, etc she must keep working. What about a compromise where you both work p.t.?
    Oh, we still can go on vacations and the like. Being frugal is helpful but we are not pinching every last penny and I perhaps should have been more clear about that.

    We have money in our budget for vacations. But they're longish weekends in new places or maybe 2-3 consecutive weeks visiting friends and relatives. A 12-day cruise from a port halfway around the world would require a different arrangement. It just is not in the budget we've agreed to.

    And I will note that though I may be retired from a career-type job, I am working. I do the housework. All of it. Inside, outside, DIY repairs, our finances, .. DW does the laundry because she enjoys doing it, but if she didn't, I would be doing the laundry as well. I think every woman on this forum would agree that housework has a value. It's not like I'm spending afternoons at the casino or golfing. DW still is happy to go to a job she still loves and then come home to "play". I'm still happy to not be filling out four-blockers and warding off Pointy Haired Bosses.

    With the closing of my photography business last year (another job but, admittedly, not much of a time sink), I offered to get a McJob this year. DW and I discussed it and agreed that it likely would wreak havoc on our weekly schedule, which would make it more difficult to get errands done, to watch the grandkids as needed (I'm first call in case one of them gets sick at day care), etc. We also figured we would not net as much income as we'd hoped because the job likely would require more use/fuel/maintenance on my car, a work-suitable wardrobe, etc.

    Not at all ruling out a change in this arrangement. It's just that right now it suits both of us but big changes in expenses will -- as it will for most of us -- require some changes in income.
    Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome. - Booker T. Washington

  2. #22
    Senior Member catherine's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by victoriarose1945 View Post
    To me YMOYL is a set of tools for observing the flow of money and stuff through your life and asking "Is the money I'm spending buying me a life I love?"

    Would love to have you take a look - at the book and the platform. Same 9 steps but lots of new ideas.Attachment 2133
    Vicki, thank you so. much for stopping by and adding your insight to the overlap between the two concepts: YMOYL and FIRE. That central question is key--and prevents FIRE from being some kind of marathon of deprivation.

    My copy of YMOYL is dog eared and worn. I'll definitely have a look at your new platform.
    "Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it--every, every minute?" Emily Webb, Our Town
    www.silententry.wordpress.com

  3. #23
    Senior Member Teacher Terry's Avatar
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    We signed up with Royal Caribbean and have found some great deals. They sent us email once saying if we could cruise within 40 days it would be 500/person for 8 day cruise. Also repositioning cruises are much cheaper too. Taking care of the home front and childcare definitely has value)

  4. #24
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    cruises do a lot of nickle and dime-ing though, that is to say that $500 each cruise could be twice that when they're done adding a charge for this and a charge for that ..
    Trees don't grow on money

  5. #25
    Senior Member Teacher Terry's Avatar
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    Basically you decide what you will buy. We always take excursions because we want to see places and not just walk around town and shop. We never eat at the upcharge restaurants because the main dining room food is excellent. Some people on Early Retirement .org have found better deals then we have. Some of them have been gone for a month with spending a total of 5 k for both people.

  6. #26
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    But if you are really careful, you can shop around and get many things included with the fare.

    Tips could be included as an incentive. Could be $17 per day and up per person. If you drink alcohol consider getting the packages if included as an incentive. Could be $40 and up per person and if one wants it sometimes everyone in the cabin has to pay. Shore excursions are way way overpriced.

    I can usually go on a cruise and maybe buy some coffee, a couple of drinks, and pay tips. I know the alcohol packages are not worth it for us. We totally enjoy the ship when all the other passengers get off to go on their expensive shore excursions. It is all in what you want to pay.

    I always check consolidator sites for great deals. vacationstogo.com has an easy to use excell type searchable database of sale cruises and a search site for anything else you want. Since checking with them, I am now aware of the huge markups in cruises from normal locations.

  7. #27
    Senior Member SteveinMN's Avatar
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    Our rule of thumb on cruises is that under $100 a day each for the cruise is a pretty good deal. Maybe not a smokin' deal, but at this stage of the game there are cruise lines on which we'd rather not cruise and places we've already been (so why repeat)?

    That $100 a day, though, is per person, so it's really $200 a day. Then add flying there and back (we live nowhere near a cruise port); a hotel (and meals and transportation) near the port the night before the cruise (because weird things can happen in air travel); excursions (we don't always go on shore trips but even planning your own costs some money); travel insurance (we get it for the bigger trips); and so on.

    We don't get the drink packages, rarely eat at the premium restaurants on board, and have been on one cruise line enough that our status gets us some useful freebies (like Internet access or cheap laundry). But a 7-9 day cruise still typically totes up to $3,000+ all told. So we pick our spots. We actually have a cruise budgeted for 2019 with a group of college friends with whom we've cruised a few times before. But the way things work for us meant that the 2019 trip happened only by not cruising in 2017 and 2018.
    Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome. - Booker T. Washington

  8. #28
    Member organictex's Avatar
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    "And I will note that though I may be retired from a career-type job, I am working. I do the housework. All of it. Inside, outside, DIY repairs, our finances, .. DW does the laundry because she enjoys doing it, but if she didn't, I would be doing the laundry as well. I think every woman on this forum would agree that housework has a value. It's not like I'm spending afternoons at the casino or golfing. DW still is happy to go to a job she still loves and then come home to "play". I'm still happy to not be filling out four-blockers and warding off Pointy Haired Bosses."

    kinda funny how housework and such is still undervalued even if the man
    is doing it

  9. #29
    Senior Member SteveinMN's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by organictex View Post
    kinda funny how housework and such is still undervalued even if the man
    is doing it
    Oh, I get that, at least at some level, everyone has to mind their own store (so to speak). When I was single I still had to keep my place clean, wash the dishes, and balance the checkbook (though everything was simpler and smaller back then). So in that sense, housework and such is not as distinctive, transformative, and highly-valued as, say, brain surgery even if there's now twice as much of it.

    But it does seem to be an assumption made by many people (all over) that retired folks don't work. Based on the number of people I know who are my age and older and are busy maintaining farms, remodeling homes, active in non-profits, raising grandkids half-time or more, or still caring for adult children who can never be independent, I'm thinking a new definition (or perception) of "retirement" is in order.
    Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome. - Booker T. Washington

  10. #30
    Senior Member Rogar's Avatar
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    I could probably look up work and get a technical definition, but it may be in the eye of the beholder. I'm single and do all the house chores. I consider much of it work because it does not especially appeal to me and gets in the way of things I'd rather be doing. I'm physically active and hope to do so until I'm unable. Certain hard physical activity is probably considered work by some and recreation to others. I brush painted my home exterior last year and sort of enjoyed it. For me the lines between work and fun became hazy. I consider real work sitting at a computer screen for much of the day doing mindless things for the ever present boss. Or actually just sitting in front of a computer screen all day for any reason.
    Last edited by Rogar; 4-22-18 at 1:04am.

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