While I am certainly ready to be done with Winter, as I always am at this point, I will miss the excuse it gives me not to do anything. With warmer weather on the way, I am now obliged to get things done.
Yard work. I need a fair amount of yard work done including a couple of small landscaping projects. I'm hoping my current landscapers will come through -- I have called already in an attempt to get on their schedule -- as last year they barely had the manpower to keep my lawn mowed.
More importantly…
Wrapping up the house. It's time for me to sell my house. Actually it will be in three years or so. I am 61. I was almost forced into retirement last year, but in a stunning turn of events I was granted more responsibility and money in my day job. This was very good for me. I needed a few more years to pad my retirement savings. Still, it is undeniable that I have limited lifespan (at work). When that day comes I am Florida-bound. The plan is to live down in FL, hopefully near the Gulf, and vacation up north during the hottest months. That means the house goes on the market. (Per Zillow, I should make a solid profit.)
That also means somehow disposing of 12 years of accumulated junk. I have had a long term house guest for nearly five years now and that is ending sometime in the Fall. That will be my trigger to start clearing things out. I believe the best thing for me to do is get one of those dumpsters that you fill up and they haul away.
Also with that there comes the question of whether to do any renovations. The kitchen is hopelessly dated and the appliances are on their last legs. The master bathroom is worse. The window blinds are falling apart. All this stuff has been on my list to fix for ages. Now with a sale coming, does it make sense to even do them? Probably not. Real estate people will tell you that renovations are never recouped in sale price. Still, I have to live there for a few more years.
Part and parcel with that is finding a retirement home. That search has been ongoing, but I'm still not comfortable with making a commitment. That is almost certainly the wrong way to look at it financially. Housing isn't going to get any cheaper. I should commit now and sell at a likely profit if I change my mind down the road. But a home is more than a house. I really don't want to spend my waning years moving around like I did when I was in college. I really hope where I settle for retirement is the end of it.
Given all this, sell-everything-I-own-and-get-a-one-room-shack-on-the-beach sounds awfully appealing right about now
