<p>edad, thank you so much for starting this thread. Our oldest will be starting college in the fall, and after many months of feeling very sad about the impending empty nest it is wonderful to be reminded of the exciting possibilities that lie ahead. </p>
<p>Of course, with a jaw-dropping EFC and a younger child still in high school, retirement is looking like it will be a looong way off.</p>
<p>CD–we don’t have local taxes beyond the property tax, so my S. jersey 3K is it. As far as state income tax, when we retire, we anticipate low income, so we’re not worried too much about that one.</p>
<p>dkitty–I think this area is just about perfect. Y’all are more than welcome!</p>
<p>In our case, we’ve been in our same ‘starter’ house since 1983 in Morris County.
It was modest then, it’s modest now. Unfortunately (?), it’s in an established town with great services, mostly wonderful schools, terrific safe neighborhoods, which I guess require lots of tax dollars to produce?</p>
<p>The tax bill when we bought was $1800/year and seemed/felt very reasonable.
Now, the $9000 just feels exorbitant.</p>
<p>Better than $20,000 though!</p>
<p>Love Cape May but love Lewes DE and Cape Henlopen more…grew up on Dover AFB. :)…taking the ferry to Cape May is a ritual for those of us in DE looking for new scenery.</p>
<p>I would probably love that area too, but like I said, i’m a Jersey girl, and my psyche wants to stay here.</p>
<p>Sometimes, I think it is best to try something new. There is nothing wrong with liking what is familiar but we all need new experiences and growth in our lives.</p>
<p>Our naughty scheme would be to retire early a year before youngest starts college. Then at a much reduced income maybe, just maybe she could get financial aid.</p>
<p>No, we wouldn’t really do this unless we lose our jobs but it is a scenario we dream about.</p>
<p>Our future early retirement home will probably be a trailer somewhere in the Southwest.</p>
<p>In two years, we will have a one-year overlap with both kids in college. My husband wants to retire after that year, but the idea scares me.</p>
<p>We could have a CC trailer park. Think of the fascinating conversations we could have.</p>
<p>Faline–was chatting with my H and mentioned the idea that the other side of the bay is great, too. Except he then pointed out to me–we were at that moment kayaking in the sunset on the Del. Bay, the water and sky going all rose and gold all around us. Our sunsets are priceless and our best kept secret.</p>
<p>You’ve motivated me to start dejunkifying my house! Edad - keep those updates coming. They are of great interest to many of us. We are still a few years away from retiring, but this year marks a turning point; last college payment will be December because DS graduates in May. 7 long years of paying for college are done, and we will turn our attention to paying off the house. I need to work 7 more years until I can retire and receive a pension from work, but I will probably need to work even longer than that since the pension will be small… or maybe we will take a lesson from Edad, sell the house and buy a small RV? But how do you all handle the kids/grandkids issue? Our house feels too big for just DH and me (1900 sq. ft.), but just right when family or friends are visiting. I’m afraid that if we downsized much more, we wouldn’t have enough space for visits from kids, family, and hopefully grandkids!!!</p>
<p>Partly in response to thinking about this thread, and partly because D leaves for New Haven in less than a month, I started cleaning out and posting for sale hundreds of dollars worth of motorcycle stuff . And this was just from my “high dollar bags I never use” collection. I still have my “bike parts that almost fit” collection, my “parts that fit bikes I no longer own” collection, my “motorcycle clothes that used to fit collection”…and…and…and…</p>
<p>anxiousmom, there is not much to update. The nightmare of getting the house ready just continues. We got a punchlist from the realtor. I started on my portion at 6am and quit at 8pm yesterday. I painted the kitchen trim and door and the laundry area in the basement. I shredded piles and piles of old medical and financial records and hauled a half dozen garbage bags to the dump. For fun, I added some coat hooks and a CO detector to the camper. Today I get to spray the house with house wash to remove the mold and discoloration on the siding. I get to finish the laundry area and then paint the entire crawl space with drylock. We need to do a library run with more books to donate and we have several bags of old clothing to drop in one of the charity donation containers. The lawn should be moved again. I am feeling sorry for myself, but the end is in sight, I think.</p>
<p>That’s great that your library is taking books. I’m finding many aren’t. It’s getting harder to find places to donate them.</p>
<p>The Goodwill stores in our area take books and resell them. I often buy paperbacks fr. Goodwill, esp. for vacation trips so if I forget them, spill a drink on them or get them wet at the beach, it’s no big deal. Paperbacks at our GW are less than $1.</p>
<p>edad, you might not realize what an inspiration you are!
Please keep posting.</p>
<p>LOVE this thread!</p>
<p>We just had a mini-fight earlier today, about cleaning our basement and what to throw away ;-)</p>
<p>We talk about downsizing, but never do anything about it.
For those of you who have made the leap, or at least started to downsize, how do you convince yourself to get rid of some things?</p>
<p>Most paperwork and shelf art (nick knacks) are easy to eliminate. It is the sentimental things that are so hard. So much of our “stuff” have stories attached: Gifts from the children when they traveled, or family members long gone, trinkets from my grandmother’s home that remind me of her, piles and piles of photographs, slides, old 8mm and even 16mm movies, dating from the 50’s, furniture from 2 generations ago (not valuable, but all in decent and very usable shape). How do you just give that stuff away? I treasure many of the pieces knowing they have been lovingly used by my family members for several generations. I’d love to share that with my own children. If any of the “stuff” is lost in a hurricane, I’d live just fine, but I have a very hard time knowingly giving it away.</p>
<p>Then there’s the items that “we may need someday”. Our fight? A travel dog kennel! (our beloved pet died last year). I don’t want another dog yet, but someday, who knows. Yes, we could buy a new one if that day comes, but they are very expensive, and we bought ours at a garage sale for pennies. We’d never be able to find that bargain again 
I’ve kept many of my children’s favorite toys and books, and baby furniture, hoping I could pass it on to their children someday. (Yes, we’ve asked them, and they seem interested in receiving it someday – but they’re still temporary nomads themselves, so it is stored here). The “need” may never come, but there is always the hope. So we hold on to much of this stuff “just in case”. </p>
<p>How can you convince yourself things are no longer needed – or wanted? We could always give things away, and buy new, but that goes against my “green” side of wanting to keep, cherish, and pass things to the next generation, rather than throw away and buy new (esp. when new is often not as high quality).</p>
<p>b.t.w. I just pulled out our 1970’s fondue pot, and plan on having a retro dinner with my college D. ;-)</p>
<p>I just read this thread from start to finish and, edad, you are such an inspiration! You are sounding weary and I do hope you’re taking care of yourself and finding joy in something each day as you go through this rather overwhelming process. I’m sure it will all be worth it in the end! With D1 just starting sophmore year and D2 and D3 in high school, along with the fact that DH and I aren’t near retirement age yet, this thread has me thinking. We haven’t decided what retirement looks like yet but the 4% figure referred to early in the thread was an eye-opener…a house on a lake sounds heavenly! Please keep sharing your progress edad!</p>
<p>Re/ the 4% rule, a friend of mine asked if that included chipping into your principal, and if so, how old does it assume you will get? I realized I was not sure on either question. Because it is so tricky these days to get even a 4% return on your investments, I figured it did include use of the principal. So. I love the simple “you need a million to use 40k” rule but what is it based on?</p>
<p>Thanks.</p>
<p>edad - thanks for starting this thread. I’m really enjoying it although with a rising HS freshman it is vicariously! I do admit that with our older child at college now our house is already starting to feel too big for 3 of us and I have started to think about “what next”. We are only 53, so retirement is several years away for us but the downsizing is very appealing.</p>
<p>Please consider posting with updates. Many of us are interested.</p>
<p>Best wishes and enjoy!</p>
<p>I too hope that edad continues to keep us all updated, and wish him and his wife the very best in their adventures.</p>
<p>We were forced to “de-clutter” to some degree last fall when flooding rains caused about a foot of water in our very full basement. Lots of stuff was just ruined. Plus, we have given a good bit of stuff to our three adult children as they acquire their own places to live. We still have a ridiculous number of odd musical instruments around here, though. From tubas to trombones to old organs to a harpsichord my father made for me, lo these many years ago.</p>