Early-retirement wannabe

Marine_life

gfplux wrote: »

Congratulations marine life.
2500 square feet is as you know large by UK standards but normal by some EU country's. Does that floor space include basement and garages or is just the living space.

It includes a cellar which is actually an appartment plus the garage which is built into the house. The house is built on a slope (well, its Austria ;-)) so the apartment leads out directly onto the garden. I'm guessing the apartment is about 35 sqm (375 sqft) so we are planning to rent it out for vacations. The garage is also part of the lower floor which means the top 2 floors are for living.

Marine_life

mark88man wrote: »

Well done ML - at least you will be manage the move out in a leisurely fashion as befits a man of retirement.


You may even be able to make better choices about disposition of items not coming with you - and possibly for those that are sold attract a better price by not being a rushed seller

Yes, that's what we're hoping.

Actually its a bit of a strange situation in that the couple who moved out have a large house in Holland so they have sold the house fully furnished....and I mean fully funished (all the white goods, sofas, beds, wardrobes, lawn mower etc etc.....plus four TVs!) so we now have far far too much "stuff" (we already had five TV's so now we own nine - which is utterly ridiculous). So we will be working out what we want to keep over the next 6-7 months (our aim is to be fully in by next summer) and start selling the surplus and / or throw some things away. One of our goals will also be to minimize removal costs.

It is amazing how much junk can be accumulated in a relatively short space of time .... and how transient that stuff is.

kidmugsy

Marine_life wrote: »

We need to get rid of our current house to fund our retirement but that is now on hold until early next year.

Very courageous, Minister.

tootallulah

Many congratulations, the Austria house sounds lovely although I feel your pain re the neccessity to get rid of stuff. Looking forward to hearing you actually finishing work and then seeing how quickly you pick up new work.
I was retired for all of six weeks and now am back at 4 days a week in an interim role.

mark55man

kidmugsy wrote: »

Very courageous, Minister.

For those not of a certain age -

Yes_Minister wrote:

[How to guide ministers to making the right decisions]Sir Humphrey: If you want to be really sure that the Minister doesn't accept it, you must say the decision is "courageous".Bernard: And that's worse than "controversial"?Sir Humphrey: Oh, yes! "Controversial" only means "this will lose you votes". "Courageous" means "this will lose you the election"!

atush

My vacation home in FL came fully furnished too. Saved me loads as I didn't have to buy much at first (3 TVs, tv stand and a chest of drawers) and I have slowly replaced a lot of things (such as linens, masterbed furniture, BBQ, patio furniture).

My stuff was too old to sell, so I gave it to charity shops. I didn't have stuff to move there from the UK apart for a few knic nacks pillows etc.

ManofLeisure_2

Marine_life wrote: »

Big events this week.

Last weekend we completed the purchase of our retirement home which was a little bit surreal. The property was owned by a couple who had retired and built the house for themsleves six years ago....but I swear they had never been there as the house is almost completely brand new. Its a big house (about 2,500 sq ft) but one of the prerequisites of retiring early has been that my wife refuses to downsize. Ah well....at least it is an eneergy efficient building.



54 days to go.

Your new home in Austria sounds wonderful - hope you enjoy many happy times there together

AlwaysLearnin

Marine_life wrote: »

... so we are planning to rent it out for vacations.

Any plans for preferential rates for your MSE forum 'friends'?

Congrat's on being another step closer. It sounds great, and appears that you're coming to terms okay with the transition from theoritcal to actual; a journey I've very much enjoyed/am enjoying via this thread.

gadgetmind

Marine_life wrote: »

we already had five TV's so now we own nine - which is utterly ridiculous

As it happens, I did today move daughter into a student house that is sans TV. If one of your spares was about 30" with HDMI, then a deal is possible!

Marine_life

I am aware now of how quickly the clock is ticking down as we get down to 41 days before my 50th birthday and only 28 business days. Passing into September was a big milestone as it feels like the summer is over (certainly that is the case loking out of the window today!) and its time to really start looking forward to our extended holiday and what comes thereafter.

Finding it is quite hard to focus on work as the day of reckoning approaches but am also looking at my calendar for the next couple of weeks and seeing that it is getting quite full which will keep me busy and keep my eye firmly on the ball.

A big milestone this week as we finally became empty nesters. A real mix of emotions as our son headed off to university and our daughter to her first job. Of course we will see them and nowadays it's easier to stay in touch with Skype but it feels like a big event has happended especially as my wife started clearing all the sweets out of the cupboards and reminded me that we will need to buy veg in individual portions rather than bulk packs.

Its all starting to feel a little real. Excitement and trepidation is a funny mix of emotions.