Selling house, Quitting Jobs, Simplifying and Moving to Rural Vermont

[flowerseverywhere]

Wonderful story. Especially in finding a place where you fit in.

[Teacher Terry]

WE are living on half of what we did when working. We still go out to eat 1x/week, take a big trip 1x/year & some small weekend ones. Some years we go to Europe for 2 weeks & some like this year we will slow travel in our used motorhome for 5 weeks. Glad to hear the updates & that things are going well. I moved here 18 years ago & this is the nicest place I have lived so we are staying put.

[Tussiemussies]

I've been reading along and it sounds like such an exciting major turning point in your life. Hope your move goes easily.

[SteveinMN]

Popular articles always say one needs 70-80% of current income to sustain lifestyle in downshifting or retiring. I have a sense that it will be much less than that as we have no interest in maintaining the working lifestyle of traffic, clothes, stress,...

The plural of "anecdote" is not "data", but I can tell you that, when I walked away from my job almost three years ago, we said "goodbye" to about 60% of our income. We did have a "war chest" of savings from which we've drawn for big-ticket items (major repairs, property taxes) and we have not contributed much to that (though DW continues to contribute to a health savings plan and deferred comp at work and both of us continue to fund Roth IRAs).

Our lives and DW's job simply were structured so that we did OK with that. And that included taking a cruise last year, DD's wedding last fall, and paying off a car loan. We're no longer the couple our friends ask about new restaurants. We're foregoing a trip to the Holy Land in 2016 being led by a priest friend of ours simply out of the expense. But we don't think of our lives as any less happy for leaving that money on the table. I think the 70-80% figure is one of those "conventional wisdom" figures heard so often no one bothers to verify it anymore.

[ctg492]

chauddog,
Way to go, I am so glad it is working out!

[chrisgermany]

Interesting stories.
I have relatives who moved to Southern Vermont for similar reasons.
I also have visited Quadra Island in BC which is not so far from Powell River.
So many memories.
All the best to you!

[danna]

My husband and I finally made the move to downsize and live the simpler life without the soul sucking jobs when
I was 62 and him 65.....he was diagnosed as terminally ill within the next 6 months and gone within 2 years.

I am so thankful that at least we had that time without the pressure of jobs (and had saved enough to do it),
but I also, regret we had not done it sooner.

I am now living well sharing my house (receiving rent) with Dd and 1 grandson...it works well (most of the time...lol) for
all of us. The shared expenses of car, food, skills etc make it a good arrangement financially and emotionally.

Our situation is a little different because our economies are found by living on a small lot in the city with close proximity to all our needs.
It is wonderful to read here how others are doing their downsizing and living simplifier lives.

Of course the first and ongoing best thing is getting rid of stuff.......................

[chauddog]

So sorry to be delayed in my response! I did not realize I had any responses until I checked. (I am sure there is some auto-notification of postings I am unaware of.) That is awesome for you. We love Oregon as we had lived in in Washington State and spent a lot of time there. It was a big reason for our move to Vermont because it is similar in so many ways to rural Oregon! By now, you probably have had your estate sale...I hope it went well. For us, the big thing was just letting go. We ended up giving so much away and selling things for far less than they were worth. That was hard at the beginning and we were hesitant to give our stuff away for a song or in some cases for free. However, when we reminded ourselves we were trying to simplify and part of that was getting rid of things, we forced ourselves to do it and it became easier. In the end we used CraigsList a lot and really the people who came from Craigslist were some really nice folks and we really felt the furniture and everything were going to a good home. We even put a Craigslist ad letting folks know that we would be putting random stuff out all day for free...and you know what..almost everything went almost immediately even old buckets, broken lamps, etc. The rest all went in a dumpster we had rented. Our fancy ornate four poster bedroom set (which could not fit in our new bedroom), our custom upholstered Victorian furniture, our fancy dining room table...we don't miss them at all. Best of luck. You will not regret it! Less is more!

Hi chaudogg,

Any tips on how to keep the energy flowing during these last laps? We are having our final estate sale next week - I really am feeling that this is just impossible.

On the upside, coming back has just confirmed for me that moving was absolutely the right thing for my family.

Cheers

[chauddog]

We had a friend who is always telling us we cannot retire without a minimum of a million dollars in the bank. We believe that it is hogwash. With a simplified life, we really we believe we can live on much much less. Also, and this is really a new lesson for me..I am starting to enjoy working for possibly the first time in my life. Now, that we work when we want and doing what we choose...it is a totally new liberation. We are working with multiple streams of income now which are changing by the month and it is so exciting. I think now that I will probably work (in this new "liberated" way) well into retirement because it can be enjoyable and exciting! As far as the health care, we figured out what the minimum income needed to disqualify ourselves for Medicaid and told the state we expect to earn at least that much and now we will be able to purchase a real health care plan through Health Care Exchange and receive a subsidy based on our estimated income. If our business ventures are successful, our subsidies will go down or disappear which is great and absolutely fair and expected. We just need to be sure we are constantly updating our income estimates with the state frequently. Even though we have never received government help before and still feel a little weird about it, our businesses, if successful will be a boon to our local and state economy so it is really beneficial for everyone!


[QUOTE=pinkytoe;200675]We are planning a similar escape. Popular articles always say one needs 70-80% of current income to sustain lifestyle in downshifting or retiring.

[chauddog]

Thanks for the response Kally! It is so great to hear from others following a similar path. We also have moments when we think...ooh it would be great to have that gourmet kitchen, an unobstructed view of the mountains, and waterfront property. However, just like you said..we remind ourselves about why we did this and it passes..,.and we often remind ourselves that some of our friends who do have these things are stressed out, unhappy, unhealthy and in debt. As the old saying goes, the grass is seldom greener...,.


Thanks so much for your insight!