44 months to retirement.

With just 44 months and counting I am setting up monthly obligations to the preparation of another complicated move. We have decided that before we sell our home we must first purchase our retirement home. It will be an action plan where 6 months prior to retirement we will travel to the area of choice after setting up appointments with a local realtor. The house must be small as we will maintain our minimalist ways and it must be affordable. Depending on the area we will ultimately choose will most likely make the biggest difference in affordability.

I am moving my checking and savings out of a Community Credit Union to a bank that has branches in most area’s of the country where we will retire too. This can be a complicating process and things like Direct Deposits and Auto Bill Payments have to be changed. I will leave the old bank account open until I am sure that I covered everything. Another reason for making this move is to establish a minimum of at least two solid years of business with the new bank as there may be the possibly of having to take out a mortgage on the retirement home. I am saving pretty darn hard and hope it doesn’t come to that, but I want to make sure that If I do, I will be ready.

Other things this month include the reduction of unnecessary items. I built a Google Chrome Box computer last year and I no longer use it. It’s just sitting around and taking up space. I reset the computer to factory settings and will try to sell it this month and put the proceeds in the Savings account.

Each month I will be going room to room and searching out other items that we no longer use or need. I may sell those items online or just save them up for a big yard sale next Spring.

Leaving the work world behind there will be so many items that I just will not need any longer. As we are both working we both have a car. The older vehicle will be sold upon retirement. I have a lot of clothing in my closet that revolves around my career and these items to will be sold or find their way to a non-profit organization.

Our real ambition is basically getting rid of everything we own and starting fresh in retirement. The cost of moving things is just as expensive as replacing them. If it were a local move then it would certainly be worth keeping it all, but moving 3000 miles away cost us well over $10,000.00 back in 2012 and I am sure that it will be even more expensive in 2023. I have the Grand thought of simply getting in our car and driving across the country with nothing. No pressure. We can stop along the way and visit places we always wanted to see. This is the way to start a new chapter in your life.

So, September is a month of change and reduction. Only 44 more months to go.