Chapter 16 - The Budget

We have hit the motherload of snow this week. In fact, most of North America felt this system. Truthfully, it wasn’t that bad for us. The snow came down for close to thirty hours, and we received a foot or more, but it was a very light fluffy snow. We did not receive the freezing rain and wind experienced by other areas, so I would consider us lucky. It has also been extremely cold. We’ve had wind-chill in the minus thirty range and nothing will zap your energy quicker. I haven’t left the house in three days, and any ambition has pretty much gone out the window. I find myself in a period of hibernation.

We are about seven weeks away from our next adventure. This time we will travel to

Mexico and enjoy some warm weather and cold drinks. This is a bit of new experience

for us. We have rented a villa and will not have our own transportation, so will have to

find our way around on foot. Fortunately, we will have friends who have done this before

close by to show us the ropes. We are hoping this will be a good experience and

something we will plan to do again. There are other southern destinations we want to

explore in retirement too. It is a big world with so much to see and do.

I wrote last week about moving toward the creation of a weekly budget. Over the past

year, I have worked to reduce our number of monthly payments. For some smaller

things, we have moved to one annual payment. We have set up most of our monthly

bills on a credit card that I pay weekly. I reached out to our internet provider and

negotiated a better rate, and we have also been able to reduce our spend on cell

phones. Sometimes it is just a matter of making a call and asking the question.

Something else we have done is to consciously monitor our grocery and gas spend, and

to read the weekly flyers for deals on grocery staples and dry goods. We have built a

healthy pantry by doing this and greatly reduced the number of items we buy each

week. Having a better handle on all these things has taught me that we don’t need an

excessive weekly income. We are still doing all the things we did before I retired but

now have a better understanding of where our money is going. I’m also encouraged by

the fact that we have been living on one income for three months without issue. The

money set aside to cover my former income until my wife retires and we move to our

retirement savings hasn’t been touched. The trepidation I’ve felt about retiring early is

fading. I’m feeling great about this decision.

We are now about six weeks away from no longer having regular deposits dropped in to

our bank account and being on our own financially. Feel free to follow along to see if we

make it. Until next time.