I’ve been a little quiet here on Starrs Aboard lately.
Not because I’ve lost any excitement about our upcoming adventure. Believe me, I’m still counting down the days!
But lately, I’ve found myself spending an awful lot of time thinking, planning, rethinking, and questioning just about everything.
And the question that keeps coming back is…
Can we really pull this off?
I’ve spent months researching what it takes to live and travel full-time. I’ve looked at budgets, estimated expenses, compared different scenarios, and probably driven Ed a little crazy with all my questions and ideas.
And after all that research, I still believe we can do this.
But there’s one little problem.
I can’t seem to get our financial advisor’s words out of my head.
“It just won’t work.”
Now, I respect his professional opinion. That’s why we have a financial advisor in the first place!
But I also believe we’re looking at retirement from two very different perspectives.
His job is to help us protect our financial future, and I understand that. But Ed and I aren’t necessarily looking for the traditional retirement.
We want to travel, explore, make memories, and have the freedom to decide where we’re going next. And yes, we’re willing to make some sacrifices to have that lifestyle.
That doesn’t mean throwing caution to the wind or pretending money doesn’t matter. Quite the opposite. It’s probably why I’ve spent so much time trying to figure everything out!
But here’s where I think our perspectives differ.
We’re not necessarily trying to preserve every dollar we’ve saved. We saved that money so we could enjoy our retirement.
Of course, we need to be responsible about how we spend it, but we also recognize that we’re not getting any younger. There are places we want to see and things we want to do while we’re still healthy enough to enjoy them.
And yet…
It’s scary as hell!
There. I said it.
For months, this has been an exciting project. Something to research, plan, and look forward to.
But now we’re getting closer, and suddenly all those little doubts that were so easy to brush aside six months ago are getting a whole lot louder.
What if we’ve underestimated our expenses?
What if something unexpected happens?
What if our money doesn’t stretch quite as far as we think it will?
I’ve even been spending a good bit of time lately exploring ways to bring in some additional income while we’re traveling. Having a little extra financial cushion would certainly help me sleep better at night!
Unfortunately, every time I think I’ve found a promising direction, I seem to run into another roadblock.
So I regroup, rethink, and try something else.
It’s been frustrating, to say the least, and has taken up a considerable amount of my free time.
And Then There’s the House…
Oh, and did I mention we still have an entire house to go through?
I had this brilliant idea that I would tackle one room or one section of the house every weekend. Just chip away at it a little at a time, and eventually we’d have everything sorted, organized, sold, donated, or thrown away.
Sounds like a great plan, doesn’t it?
Yeah, well, that plan went right out the window!
What I apparently failed to consider is that going through years of accumulated belongings is practically a full-time job in itself!
I work 40 hours a week, and with an hour’s drive to work and another hour home each day, that’s another 10 hours gone just getting back and forth.
That’s 50 hours of my week already spoken for!
And somehow, I thought I could tackle an entire section every week?
Ha!
Some days I’m lucky if I make it home and don’t collapse in the recliner!
And it’s not just deciding what to keep and what to get rid of. It’s figuring out what to do with everything afterward.
Do we sell it? Donate it? Throw it away? And if we’re selling it, there’s taking pictures, writing descriptions, answering questions, and arranging pickups.
By the time I’ve finished all that, the weekend is over!
So much for my carefully planned schedule. I’m definitely going to have to rethink that one.
One Step at a Time
I guess what I’m realizing is that planning this adventure and actually preparing to leave are two entirely different things.
I still have a million things to figure out, and some days it feels like there just aren’t enough hours to get everything done.
But I’m not having second thoughts about wanting this life. I’m just wondering whether we’ve thought of everything.
And I know we haven’t. How could we?
The one thing I keep reminding myself is that none of this is written in stone.
If we discover we’re spending more than we anticipated, we’ll adjust. Maybe we’ll travel a little slower, stay somewhere longer, or change our plans altogether.
I’m sure we’ll make mistakes and encounter a few surprises along the way. That’s part of doing something we’ve never done before.
And despite all the worrying, I still can’t wait for the day we finally pull out of the driveway and say…
We’re really doing this!
So if I’ve been a little absent from Starrs Aboard lately, now you know why. I’ve been so busy trying to get ready for this adventure that I haven’t had much time to write about it.
There’s still a long list and a whole house to go, but we’re getting there!
Until next time, the Starrs Aboard Adventure Continues!
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