To start with, the 30 Day Decluttering Challenge we embarked on for the month of May, required an extra full 15 days of June. That said, it is complete! And we over-delivered the number of items that needed to be decluttered by a wide margin. The challenge started last month with this POST. The goal was to eliminate a set number of things each day … Continue reading Decluttering Challenge – Complete! (Late)
When it comes to trips, I agree with the saying that the journey is as much fun as arriving at the destination. Likewise, there is something fun about thinking about your future and imagining how you might want it to look. The visioning part of any effort is where we fall in love with our goals and are free to imagine anything we want to … Continue reading FIRE Station Fun – Up Your Imagination
The one thing, as much as anything, that consumes people’s thoughts when they think about early retirement is money. How’s the market doing? How are my savings doing? Will I have enough? Have I estimated well enough? I was no different over the last 25+ years as we saved for early retirement. I have a spreadsheet that goes back to 2002 (14 years!) in which … Continue reading Money Money Money?
It is amazing to me that this is the 200th post I have made on MrFireStation.com since launching the site 18 months ago. I started the blog as a way to capture my journey to early retirement and share the experience with others. I hoped to meet some like-minded strangers and have a place for close friends to get the low-down on my secret escape … Continue reading 200th Post
I often tell people that my decision to retire before I turned 50 is either the smartest or stupidest decision I ever made. I am not sure which it is yet. The fact is, there often is a razor thin line between absolute brilliance and utter foolishness. Only time will tell which side of the line you are falling on and by then it is … Continue reading FIRE Station Fun – Taking Life’s Risks
My mind has been thinking back to school days lately. Three weeks ago, I had the opportunity to visit my old elementary school in Michigan for the first time in over 38 years. This past Friday, our son graduated from high school with a big ceremony at the Cathedral and and enjoyed his all-night senior party at school. He went to the same high school … Continue reading Summer Break – Class of 2016
I’ve never claimed to be a member of the frugal-living path to early retirement. I have a TON of respect for those folks, but I didn’t retire until we were sure we had MORE than enough to maintain (and even improve) our relatively luxurious lifestyle. As a result, this post may rub some folks the wrong way, but one of the things I have been … Continue reading Zipping Into Early Retirement
Not long ago I had lunch with my recently early retired friend Russ, who gave me the inside scoop on snowbirding from wintery Minnesota to sunny Florida. Russ and his wife, Tracey, are new to the lifestyle, having bought a condominium on the gulf coast of Florida last year, which they can enjoy now that he retired from MegaCorp at the end of January. They … Continue reading Early Retirement “Snowbirding 101”
Today is the last day of my son’s Senior year in high school. School ends at noon on Friday, and he is off for the summer before leaving for college in the fall. He is a terrific kid and it has been a great joy to watch him grow up. Last night, we had a wonderful time attending a an event in the park to open … Continue reading FIRE Station Fun – Aging Richly
One of the benefits of early retirement is that you have extra time to look back and reflect on your life. I have already an intense habit of this and have always spent a fair amount of time researching and remembering “days gone by”. It’s a curious trait. I have read that in the early 1900s, ‘nostalgia’ was actually classified as a form of depression. … Continue reading Retirement Reminiscing – My Old School
