Hello all!

[rnmom]

Thank you for the welcome everyone!

I'm in Michigan and yes, I am an RN, I have been for almost 28 years now. I work in a hospital and for about the first 20 years or so I did direct patient care, bopping around and finally settling on cardiac. I actually really enjoyed it but I will say, floor nursing was getting hard. But it was awesome scheduling wise because for years I was able to work occasional on the weekend so I didn't have to put my young kids in daycare.

About 5 years ago I went to part time and about 3 years ago I landed an office job and was able to leave the floor. While I miss some aspects of patient care mostly I am just grateful to be in the position that I am now. I'm truly hoping to retire early in about 5 years, but we shall see. My kids are only 12 and 15 right now.

Thanks again for the welcome, I hope that I have something meaningful to contribute!

[GeorgeParker]

Thanks again for the welcome, I hope that I have something meaningful to contribute!

Momma always said, "If you can't be useful, at least be interesting." So jump right in with whatever is on your mind.
I certainly do.

Is your family onboard with whatever simplifying you intend to do? That's often the biggest hurdle. And with two teens you're up against their natural tendency to proclaim their independence and power by acquiring stuff, expanding into new interests, and not wanting to follow any of the K.I.S.S. rules they might have willingly embraced when they were younger.

In my experience the key to simplifying, or almost anything else, is making one small change at a time. Introduce one small habit. Organize and declutter one small area. Pick things you know you can stick with, and if possible sort of sneak them into your normal routine without your family noticing, the same way you would introduce a new food to your kids by adding a little bit at a time till they think they've always eaten it.

And welcome aboard!

[dado potato]

Welcome rnmom.

I retired from the paid workforce at 50. I see your goal is to retire early, if you are able. In my experience, life was much simpler without the daily deadlines and role overload that were mandated by my employer. Furthermore, the quality of communication at my workplace was not "Non Violent Communication" (Marshall Rosenberg's term). So my workdays were taken up by interminable conflict and griping. I might have hung in there a few years longer, if I had a couple of kids who planned to be engineers or something like that... anticipating the cost of university.

Be Well!

[Tradd]

rnmom, what general area is Michigan are you in? I’m a downriver Detroit area native and graduated from EMU. In the Chicago area due to job reasons since 1996.

[rnmom]

Is my family on board?

Hmmm, only somewhat. Hubby likes to keep a lot of stuff "just in case" and in his defense, he has used a lot of repurposed items on home projects that have saved us some money. We live on about 30 acres so he always has some sort of project going. He has a polebarn that he keeps most of his treasures in, so as long as I don't have to deal with it or see it, I don't care too much. I only get upset when he starts stacking up stuff outside that I have to look at every day.

The kids are actually pretty good because I'm been making them help me declutter their whole lives. As soon as they got old enough to help in the decisions as to what stays and what goes, I had them help me decide what they wanted to keep. Of course they never like going thru outgrown clothes, etc. but I grudgingly make them do it once or twice a year. It's not quite as bad now that they are older, they don't accumulate nearly as much stuff.

Tradd- I am in the middle of the state, the Tri city area.