Entry #1
This blog will be a record of the biggest decision I and
my wife, Nancy, will ever make.
Now that we are retired, Nancy and I began looking at
condos and apartments. The cost would
pretty much be the same as what we are presently paying on our spacious 4
bedroom, 2 bath, 2 1/2 bath, finished
walk out basement home. Yes, our home takes a lot of work, but at least I
always have some sort of project going. The thought of staring at the walls in
a small apartment wasn’t very appealing. Then it occurred to me; if we are
going to downsize, why not downsize to an apartment on wheels?
Nancy has always wanted to live where the winters are
mild. I’ve always wanted to live where the summer is mild. I started doing the
math.
The cost of our mortgage, insurance, taxes, and utilities
comes to around $2000 a month. By paying cash for an RV, our cost should be
reduced by half, and that extra $1000 a month can be spent on traveling or
hoping on a train or plane. Nancy had concerns. She thinks we should we should
keep a home base, whether it is the one we have, or a smaller version. I said I
didn’t want to get one of those phone calls, “Your grass hasn’t been mowed for
three weeks now,” or “Your pipes froze and then busted…,” or “The storm blew
off your front porch last night.” Let’s try hitting the road, and after a year
or two if we don’t think it is fun, we’ll get a small place.
Nancy also didn’t like the thought of getting rid of the
items she is emotionally tied to; her mother’s dishes, some pieces of
furniture. She had always hoped to pass them on to the next generation. I
pointed out someday our kids will walk through our home and decide what things
they would like to have and which things should be hauled off. Wouldn’t it be
nice to be alive when they do it?
“How about keeping our things in a storage unit? I’d like
to keep our king size mattress we just bought, said Nancy. I said, “Well a storage unit would cost
$50.00 a month. We paid $1000 for the set. If we subtract what we’d get for
selling them, and add the storage fees, the cost will exceed us buying a new
set within the first year.
When we first discussed the idea Nancy was 40 percent in
favor of fulltime RVing. Now, a month later, she is 70 percent in favor of the
idea. I am 95 percent sure I want to do it, but I don’t want to talk her into
it. After all what could be worse than living in 400 square feet with a wife
that doesn’t want to be there? I must add though, Nancy is the only person I
think I could ever live with in such a small space.
