It’s been a hot minute since I’ve posted here. There has been a lot going on in my personal life, and I’ve had to deal with some hard issues. I’ve also had some time to contemplate the financial direction I want to proceed with for the remainder of 2022. And the No/Low Year Challenge no longer fits into my goals.
Let me explain.
The main goal I’ve had for this challenge was to be able to put together enough cash reserves to pay for all of 2023’s expenses so that my husband had the choice to retire in one year. We have more than enough in our retirement accounts to retire now, however, my husband wanted more cash reserves not associated with the market. I agreed. We are now on track to meet this goal by June 1st.
Another reason was that the No/Low Buy Yearly Challenge started to feel like punishment. When I wrote the post about our upcoming cruise vacation, it felt a bit disingenuine. We took that 7-day cruise and it was a beautiful week. We ended up switching to a nicer hotel (pre-cruise). Although there was no free breakfast or happy hour offered, we avoided the college students on Spring Break. Priceless. We decided to book an excursion and enjoyed a catamaran/snorkeling adventure in St. Maarten. We played slots in the casino. We won and we lost but had fun playing. We tipped generously. We did everything we wanted to, and we figure we paid an extra $250 – $500 without feeling like we missed out. We had the money in our travel account, so why not enjoy?
So what does this mean for my blog? I will continue to track my expenses, but there will be no restrictions on what I purchase. And for those that were interested in the updates, they will most likely be monthly instead of weekly.
I will continue to make this about our future retirement and how we will be preparing, but it won’t be solely about saving money. There are so many things to prepare for retirement, including where we will live, what we will do in retirement, healthcare, etc. Because there is definitely more to life than money.
I thought I would share a YouTube channel that I came across a while ago. Susan is a single woman in her 60’s, and her beautiful spirit inspires me. With so much garbage on the internet, I thought this might bring a little inspiration your way too. Enjoy.
JOURNEY TO RETIREMENT 
I am excited at your change. We have been retired for seven years. The first few years I really worried about money. We finally settled into a routine.
We save for trips – but that is all about the planning,right? I know inflation has taken off, but we are in a good financial spot.
You have worked hard, saved, taken care….time to enjoy (in between variants – had to say it 😉). We are headed for Hawaii in a short bit and the allowance is generous. Yellowstone for our 40th this summer – hosting our wedding party. Woo Hoo. Get going while the going is good! If things get out of control later, we will figure it out.
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Janette!! My feelings exactly. It just took a bit to figure out. At this point in life, happiness, joy, and contentment are what I will strive for.
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Good for you. You have balance in your life. You’ve worked hard, planned well and it paid off. As they say you can’t take it with you. If the pandemic has taught us anything is life is precarious, do things when and if you can. I didn’t save well, that’s my fault and I accept that but I was lucky in that I did work hard in a tough but great pension job. That saves me. I have to be frugal but will enjoy life as to what I can. I only have a hard time with the blogs that are blaming everyone else for their status in life when they’ve really not worked, held steady and persevered . This does not include those whose life events such as medical events, deaths lack of access to education etc. happened, it’s interesting that some even think that those doing well are just pretending but actually hanging on by a thread. PS I’m not a teacher but statistics show the top four categories of everyday millionaires are teachers. Working, saving, planning give you the retirement that allows you to do these things. Enjoy yourselves you’ve earned it.
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Hi Je, Thank you for your kind comment! I have a very hard-working husband who did most of the work! He started in the mailroom and worked his way up and his firm was generous in salary and 401K match. We were fortunate not to have any major events cause us to pause savings. But you are so right, life is precarious and we must enjoy each and every day!
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