ANOTHER WEEK CLOSER TO RETIREMENT

Took another step this week towards our retirement. I made arrangements to put more towards the principal of the truck, so it will be paid off 1-1/2 years sooner. Have a meeting with our investment service this month. And we are attending some classes on Ed's pension plan on the 26th. Slowly but surely whittilin away at the debt. Should only have the RV payment left when we hit our projected date of retirement. Got to get a handle on the Grocery budget though! I saved about 25.00 in coupons this week, total was still 71.00 after coupons(96.00 before coupons).Of course with us still working, we tend to get "quick foods". Not getting home until 6pm makes it hard to cook a meal. Have started back to the gym and eating smaller portions. We'll see tomorrow if we did a decent job on our points(WW). Plan on going to the RV Supershow in Tampa Saturday. Just to see whats new and get some ideas.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Well we had a little get together on our property for New Years Eve. A bonfire & lots of bar-b-que!

Had a good time, just can't stay up that long anymore. Spent most of Saturday cleaning up & napping. Today a little cloudy and drizzle now & then. Found out one of the bloggers is about 3 miles away.Donna & Stu(2 taking a 5th). Hope we can meet them! Got to go back to work tommorrow, Yuk!!! Took down some of the X-mas decorations, just got some lights out side to get some time this week. Got to go finish laundry, and make dinner. Happy New Year again to all my fellow bloggers:)!

MORE ABOUT US!

                             Christmas Decorating!!!

 



Check these windows out!



I have added a picture of our "house". I'm slowly learning how to utilize this blog. Our coach has what is known as an Arizona Room (all windows, including the ceiling area of the slide) a sun room of sorts. Has anyone out there got the type of windows shown in the picture? We would like to get a window awning for that slide without actually putting it over the top ceiling slide windows. As you can see there is not much room over the top edge of the windows (about 3"). We keep trying to see if anything new has come out to shade these type of windows. We eventually would like window awnings above all the windows. As you can see it is time to do a little outside cleaning. We clean and condition the roof every 6 months and wash & wax this baby too. Of which it gets harder as we get older! Our son is going to help this next month to get her clean & spiffy looking. Hopefully it will warm up a little as it is 48 right now,Brrrrrrr. This is Florida right? We had a good Christmas, played with the grandson.He loves to drive the truck. Overate at dinner and took a nice x-mas nap! I guess it is hit the gym after new years again. Another resolution to destroy!!



"Lil T wants to drive Poppas big truck"



DECEMBER 21,2010

I have already chatted with a few fellow bloggers. Dee (Tumbleweed) is not to far from us and has a Carriage Coach also. We are going to try and get together and compare some notes. I hope everyone is geared up for the holidays and with friends and family. We will have a little family get-to-gether here at the property. No cooking for me, we plan on going out to eat. My son's in-laws are having a thing together for dinner.Then some time to play with the grandson. Call all the relatives too! Then just chill!! I would like to try and post at least every week. I've also added at the bottom of the page some tips that I've used.

2010 IN A NUTSHELL

We have settled in our new location, nice to be close to the grandson. These economic times tend to change some plans or postpone them somewhat. In order to help out our son and his family we help, that's what parents do right! Our nest egg took some hits during the downturn but is slowing recovering, being with our son also has its upside for us. We no longer pay rent, but still have utilities to pay. But through all this we are still managing to save. We had an episode during the summer where our filter came off the basement wall and flooded the basement compartments(including all the underbelly fiberglass). Luckily it was covered under warranty and LazyDays came out and did all the repairs. All though it did take a while because we had to wait for the rain to let up so they could replace all the fiberglass insulation.Thank goodness I had all our stuff organized in plastic tubs. That made it easy to empty out and kept it from getting wet.That is one of my greatest assests in a RV. I'm the queen of cram as my husband calls me. My job requires lots of organazation, so when it comes to organizing I'm at my best. We have managed to pay off a few more bills this year. On to paying off the truck next! We will be talking to our financial advisor as to how our investments are doing this year. Anything to get closer to retirement. We did replace the recliners with new Lazy-Boys (much more comfortable).

APRIL 2006 - APRIL 2010

Well we settled into RV resort living quite easily. We have great neighbors that winter here for about 4 -5 months. During the summer its pretty open only about 20 couples left in park. Don't get a west facing lot during the summer in Florida the sun bakes our door side windows like an oven!! Had our awnings break! The large awning & one slide awning broke, but extended warranty to the rescue. Crystal lake RV came to our site and did all the repairs. Mostly quite during our stay here. Took some weekend trips to Griffin State park with some RV friends. And also to Wilderness Resort in Silver springs, and Ocala Resort. Slowly adapting to life in a RV. Have experienced a blowout on trailer tire. Did do some damage to entertainment slide & wheel well. Progressive Insurance absolutley great on repairs & accomadations. Been in the Presidential for 3 years now, have learned I don't like overhead cabinets above island(hit your head a lot), hubby would like a more private bath not open to bedroom, I would like a chair in bedroom for TV watching while hubby watches football.Getting to old to lie on bed for to long to watch TV. We found that the chevy 2500 strains pulling Presidential, hubby opted for new 2008 f350 diesel crew cab 4X4.We decided that it is time for our new RV. Know what we want now that we have lived in this one 3 years. Went to RV show in January 2009 to look at some new layouts, found what we looking for at LazyDays. 2009 Carrige Carri-Lite w/ 30' wall slide and windows in the Living area to enjoy our views. Has seperate bath, king bed, washer/dryer sideXside, fireplace two A/C heatpumps, dishwasher(I hate dishes)all cherry cabinets, and chair in bedroom w/footstool. Got great deal on our trade,(more than we paid for Presidential) and 1/4% less with 7-year warranty. Another bill to pay-off! Only truck & RV bill now other than living expenses.
New plans Son has wife of 2years and a baby on the way. Apartment to small for them, and can't stand to see them pay 8-900.00 for 2 bedroom. Came up with plan to buy property 1-1/4 acre and put new mobile home on it for the kids(They are paying the Mortgage) Will use address as home base. Set-up pad for RV. Nice view of pasture. No more rent. Saving more now!!

BACKROUND 12/2005- 4/2006

We have been discussing our retirement plans. We want to go full time in an RV across the country. We have researched RV's and have decided for our lifestyle we would prefer a fifth wheel. After going to countless RV dealerships and shows we have a good bead on the layout we would like to try. On the advice of another full-timer we decided to buy used until we get into what our actual needs will be on the road. My husband came home one night and said "Why don't we sell the house now and start living in the RV to save more and retire earlier?" After some discussion,(we had to consider our 22 year old son still living at home). Well our son got an apartment, and we put the house up for sale by owner first of January 2006. We started downsizing, giving our son the furniture he needed and some household goods. I started having some yard sales to get rid of the misc. stuff!  At one of the yard sales I had a women interested in the house, she brought back her husband and after some negotiating the house was sold. We now had a closing in early April, so we had to move on buying an RV, and finding a local campground for year round set-up. Luckily a saleswomen we had talked to called in late February with a trade-in that we might be interested in. It turned out to be a 2003 Presidential 4-slide 37' pretty well decked out. When we saw it that afternoon the previous owners were still moving from  this one to their new one. So we got a good walk through, and loved it. We got a great deal and added a few small upgrades and extended warranty. The dealer let us store it on site until we got down towards the closing. After many yard sales and furniture sales we were down to our belongings and household stuff we needed, but also the sentimental THINGS, what to do with this? The Presidential did not have a large basement like the newer models. Luckily we found an RV resort that takes yearly set-ups, with an extra large pad and we were allowed a 6X10 shed. The proceeds from the yard sales paid for the shed and outdoor furniture, etc. that would be more condusive to RV living. So on April 14th 2006 we moved into our RV and settled in at the RV resort (The Good Life RV Resort, Bartow,Fl).