My Luxurious Life

I find you don’t need to be wealthy or go into debt to live in luxury.  I live a very luxurious life by my standards, which happen to be the only standards that matter, and I find it costs me very little money to do so.

 

We all have those little things we do or like that just make the quality of our lives so much better.  And we should.  I like full heavy cream in my 10:00 coffee every morning.  To me that is a little luxury that I look forward to every single day.  I prefer using foaming hand soap in my bathrooms and kitchen to wash my hands.  I insist on cotton sheets and cotton towels.  No microfiber anything!  I don’t care for the feel of it at all.  So 100% cotton it is.

 

I dress for comfort and function, not fashion.  To me, it is a luxury to be able to wear comfortable good quality clothing and shoes every day after many years of uncomfortable and restrictive business attire.  Not caring what anyone else thinks about it is also a luxury all unto itself.

 

Eating well is a necessity, but eating very well is a luxury that I put a lot of effort into.  Buying fresh produce to make big salads with plus good cuts of beef, beautiful salmon fillets, shrimp and boneless skinless chicken breast rank pretty high on my grocery lists.  Having a Costco membership just because I want one isn’t a bad deal either.  Also, I don’t need to eat out to feel luxurious, I can do that at home and to be perfectly honest, that is my preference.

 

I’m living a life without complaint.  Every day I get up and thank God for everything He has seen fit to bless me with.  I make my bed, I brew my coffee, I sit and reflect and slowly begin my day.  I only go to work a few times each week because I want to, not because I have to and that is a luxury I’ve been waiting on for quite a while.  I am happy and content with what I have and eagerly looking forward to each chapter as I turn the pages in my life.  My needs are met and my wants are few.  I’m living a luxurious life.

  

Round Three Feels So Much Different

 

Since retiring in the spring of 2022 I have been steadily decluttering my home.  That first year I let go of A LOT of stuff, a lot of furniture and things that belonged to my kids, some they took with them and some we offered up for free on Facebook Buy Nothing Group.  I sold a few things, donated four various size truckloads of stuff to a nearby thrift store and even took a very full truckload to the dump.  When I was done I cleaned, reorganized with bins and labels and refurbished spaces.

 

I emptied all of these containers in my first pass

A year later I began to declutter once again as I went through every nook and cranny and gathered up an amazing amount of stuff I still did not want, need or use.  More trips to drop of donations, more full recycle bins and a bit more trash.  I took inventory of what remained.  I reorganized, consolidated, put new labels on bins and once again placed them into closets on shelves.  I felt really good about where I was at with this second trip through my entire house and the things I had chosen to keep.

 

I have debulked and used up a boatload of craft supplies

Now I’m midway through my third year of retirement and last spring I began the decluttering process once again as I was still feeling like I had way too much stuff in this house.  This time as I went through every nook and cranny in every single room of the house and the garage I felt different.  My decluttering muscles were stronger and I had more clarity regarding what I truly want my home to be.

 

I tackled the sentimental stuff and photo albums

This time I let go of a lot of the harder items I had been hanging onto.  A lot of the things from my childhood and my kid’s childhood was packed away in boxes.  They didn’t want any of this stuff and after three years they hadn’t changed their minds about that so I let it all go.  It was hard to but I was ready and I have no regrets about it.  It was time to finally close that chapter so I can begin the new ones.

 

I have downsized & streamlined my wardrobe

Along my journey this time I was more realistic about the things I was choosing to keep.  I let a quilt project go because I had an honest conversation with myself about why I hadn’t finished it after seven years.  I realized it was because I didn’t like the quilt.   Huh, how about that?  So I gathered up the topper and the backing fabric and I donated it to our senior center sewing & craft supply semiannual sale event and now someone else will get to finish it and enjoy it.

 

I got rid of boxes of boxes

I let go of things that no longer interest me, I no longer want or no longer wear.  I let go of things that belonged to other people that I had inherited and felt guilty about getting rid of for years.  I shredded documents I no longer need, I got rid of cardboard boxes (way too many boxes) that I had emptied or saved, I gave away food I knew I wouldn’t be able to eat in time before it went bad.  I used up craft and sewing supplies to make things and let go of the leftover scraps instead of saving them for a “someday” project.  It felt so good.

 

The junk drawer isn't so junky now

Decluttering my home will continue on a regular basis because I don’t want to fill my house back up and I know I currently have things that in the future I will no longer need, want or use.  I will continue to keep a bag or a box in the corner of the garage and make regular trips through the house collecting items to add to that bag or that box.  When it is full I will drop it off at the thrift store.  Papers will continue to get shredded and recycling will go to the curb as the wheelie bin gets full.  I will continue to focus on using what I already have before purchasing anything new and being really mindful about the things I do choose to buy.

 

The garage got a BIG decluttering this year

The beauty of all of this work is that my home functions so much better and, as a result, so do I.  It is much easier and more efficient to complete projects and my daily tasks and I’m saving money and time.  Instead of fearing Swedish Death Cleaning I embrace it.  I’ve been able to complete some of the more difficult projects like my end of life documents because I had a clearer understanding of what I ultimately want in that regard.  I also know that by the time I’m ready to sell my home and move I’ll actually be ready and that excites me.

 

 

Fun & Leisure Spending – Beverages

When it comes to my monthly grocery budget postings you’ll notice there are virtually no beverages listed and with good reason.  Nearly all of my beverage choices are part of my Fun & Leisure budget, which typically would include alcohol (wine, beer, liquor), ground coffee, any sodas or carbonated beverages, etc.  It also includes things like ice cream, chocolate and other fun and unnecessary (or are they?) treats.

 

On a daily basis I mainly drink filtered water and coffee.  Now that the price of seltzer or sparkling water has come back down a little bit and I can purchase it in twelve packs at my Winco Foods grocery store I have been purchasing it again.  As part of my attempt to get as many good nutrients into my daily diet as possible I started purchasing pomegranate juice at Trader Joes and will often mix a quarter cup of that into my seltzer.  It is delicious.

 

My favorite flavor

I started including beverages into my Fun & Leisure budget many, many years ago because these were items that I did not consider to be necessities.  While raising my children I made sure to have plenty of milk, which was part of my grocery budget and still is, as well as clean tap water for them to drink, sometimes juice if it was on sale.  During those years my Fun & Leisure budget was miniscule, sometimes nonexistent, because I focused more on the grocery budget and feeding my family.

 

The budget also includes these guys... 😍

Now that I’m an empty nester my Fun & Leisure budget has grown (yay!) and I am able to add more things to my life which is a luxury I really appreciate.  If you haven’t tried adding pomegranate juice to your seltzer water, you may enjoy it like I do.  Anytime we can add extra nutrients and anti oxidants to our healthy eating plan well, I think it’s a good thing.

 

My Tireless Retirement – Week 183

 

Hello my friends!  It was another wonderful week for me.  Likely while you are reading this I am in McCall, Idaho taking a group of seniors for a fun Fall daytrip adventure in the mountains.  It is a sweet little tourist down so restaurants and shopping are the main focus of this little jaunt.

 

I picked up 3 frozen pizzas and 3 blocks of cheese on sale at Fred Meyer

Albertson's had the great meat deals I was after!

Last weekend I was able to get a really good jumpstart on my October grocery shopping with the focus being to fill up my deep freezer in the garage as well as any gaps I had in the pantry and my LTFS.  With such a busy week ahead of me I felt it was a good idea for me to use my weekend just for this purpose and it was very successful to say the least.  I found a good deal on marked down meats at Albertson’s and was able to restock my ground beef which was starting to run low.

 

Winco for produce and a few pantry items

I stopped at Winco on my way home from work on Monday for the bulk of my shopping and was thrilled to be able to get the rest of my list completed and still have plenty of money left in the grocery “envelope”.  So far I have only spent my monthly budgeted amount and have yet to touch the rollover amount from previous months.  Go me!

 

A little meal prepping

Stuffed bell peppers

One of the things I really wanted to do was find a good deal on bell peppers and make some pepper halves stuffed with my meatloaf mixture for the freezer and use up some of the older ground beef I had in the deep freeze.  I was able to just that and now I have loads of delicious stuffed bell peppers to enjoy in the upcoming months.

 

Kitchen freezer is full 😁😁

Garage freezer is well stocked too

I managed to get outside and do a little yard work starting with trimming the shrubs and a little pruning on the big sycamore tree, very little.  The weather has cooled down quite a bit now, our mornings have been a bit chilly and Fall is definitely in the air.  Leaves are just starting to change colors too.

 

I remove the fronts & backs

Then I soak them in hot water and degreaser before I give them a good scrub

The last item on my list I wanted to get done was to gather up and take apart all of the box fans I use to keep my house cool in the summer so I could give them all a good cleaning.  It isn’t a particularly fun job and an easy one to procrastinate about because it is a process, but this year I decided to just do it and be done with it.  Now that they are all clean and put away for the season I must admit I am feeling pretty darn good about it.  I have a solid sense of accomplishment because with that my summer “To-Do” list is officially “Ta-Done!” and that feels amazing!

 

They get pretty grimy

I put these 3 away until next year

Spiffy clean!

October is off to a really good start and I couldn’t be any happier about it.  I am super thrilled with all of the grocery bargains I managed to find and the fact that I am well stocked with both groceries and household supplies for the upcoming winter gives me tremendous peace of mind.  I am nearly stocked with the pet food and supplies I will need before winter hits too with only a few items left on that list.  Right now however, I am feeling extremely blessed and grateful.  How are things going for you?  Are you working on preparations for the upcoming winter season too?

 

Contentment = Happiness

 

I am a very happy individual and I believe that is due to the strong feeling of contentment that I enjoy on a regular basis.  A few years ago I talked about how gratitude leads to contentment and as someone who is grateful every day for all of the things that I have and my experiences, even the less than stellar ones, I truly do believe this.  When we feel content because we are grateful it only leads in one direction - Happiness.

 

As I have settled into retirement life I do find that because I need less and less than I used to and want far less than I used to in my earlier years that I am much more content and happy with what I already have.  I no longer feel that desire to acquire more or do more.  I no longer have that need to work myself silly with hours of productivity.  I still enjoy productivity and prefer it to idleness, but I don’t need to be super productive anymore.  I am just as content now with smaller projects and shorter amounts of daily productivity.

 

I think I appreciate the simple things much more too.  Just going outdoors and pulling the weeds, emptying the trash or washing my car can really make my day.  I really do enjoy homemaking, I always have.  I love preparing my own meals or spending an hour or two of my time meal prepping.  I still love to go grocery shopping.  Even vacuuming my own floors and cleaning the bathroom makes me feel good.  I think the reason is because long ago I learned to replace the words “I have to” with “I get to” and just doing that one thing made a huge difference in my attitude.

 

Practicing simple gratitude is an amazing way to live life.  It leads us on the path of contentment and then you realize how happy you are in your daily life.  NO Bad Days.  When we are happy we feel better, we look better, we are healthier and our lives are better.  I am grateful to be able to continue my retirement journey along this path.  I like being happy.

 

 

Crunching Some Numbers

 

Early on into my planning and research of moving into a new home I also did some number crunching to see if condo living would be financially feasible.  I live very small and modestly and do a lot to keep my overall expenses low each month so I was rather surprised with the results of my calculations.  Especially given that condos come with homeowner association (HOA) fees, which I currently do not have.

 

Most HOA fees cover the exterior and common area maintenance and upkeep, water, sewer and trash, hazard insurance as well as landscaping and snow removal.  Some, for a higher monthly fee, also include heating (you pay electricity and internet) while others include all utilities.  I decided when I crunched the numbers to look at both – with and without utilities included.

 

As a homeowner I pay for everything – water, sewer and trash, electricity, internet, insurance, maintenance and upkeep both inside and out, repairs and replacements of whatever fails or wears out, and it all adds up.  Even though I am a do-it-yourselfer and I am super thrifty when it comes to my utilities and my projects I was really surprised by the results of my calculations.

 

It turns out that regardless of whether I choose a condo with basic amenities and lower HOA fees or a condo with the works and a lot of inclusions with the higher HOA fees I will be able to cut my monthly living expenses literally in half.  And!  The lower HOA fees versus the higher ones made very little difference overall.  Knowing that makes it easier for me to go into choosing my next home without worry.  Not to mention my do-it-yourself responsibilities would be greatly minimized.

 

As with any home purchase I will be asking a lot of questions and reading the fine print.  I won’t be going at this blindly.  It is nice to know all of the particulars ahead of time, especially the financial ones.  So once again, condo living is making more and more sense to me.  Now I just need to find the right one.  In the right place…. Hmmm, sounds a bit daunting doesn’t it?

 

 

This Month's 2025 Grocery Spending – September

 

After a successful two month pantry challenge in July and August I approached my grocery shopping this month with a carefully crafted plan – a list!  I had my list mapped out by the stores I planned to shop at and with winter readiness in mind as well.  I was ready!

 

During the past two months I had made a few dents in the deep freezer.  The kitchen refrigerator and freezer were looking pretty good too.  I had used up a few items that had been languishing, gave away and donated some food, did some meal prepping along the way all to make sure and stave off as much potential food waste as possible.  At the beginning of this month the crisper drawer was pretty empty as I had run the refrigerator down to the bare minimum.  The chickens are keeping me well supplied with eggs now so I had that well handled, but the dairy choices were getting pretty slim.

 

Needless to say, I was craving a Costco rotisserie chicken in a very big way, but vowing not to make any meat purchases this month I put that idea on hold.  It made it much easier when I got to Costco and discovered they were doing some remodeling so there were no rotisserie chickens to be had anyway.  Bullet dodged!  However, straight out of the chute and without even thinking, I picked up a package of uncured pepperoni for pizza (oops!) as well as some diced canned tomatoes I found at a very good price (50¢ per can) at Grocery Outlet.  I put the tomatoes in the LTFS and used the pepperoni for meal prepping pizza for the freezer.  I also grabbed a jar of mayonnaise on sale for $2.99 at Fred Meyer to add to my LTFS replacing one I had removed from there to use for potato salad and macaroni salad as well as some salad dressings I made this summer.

 

I forgave myself for the pepperoni purchase and got busy next by refilling the kitchen freezer and the deep freezer with a bonanza of frozen vegetables I bought on sale at Albertsons for 99¢ a package!  I picked out fifteen packages of various veggies that I really enjoy eating – peas, corn, green beans, vegetable blends and a lot of broccoli florets.  After refilling the veggie bin in the kitchen freezer I repackaged and vacuum sealed the rest and tucked them away in my deep freezer.  I was super happy to get that buy on vegetables.  Loss leaders for the win!

 

Costco haul!

During the past two months I had put together quite a list for Costco so that ended up being my next shopping trip.  I wanted to get one of their large bags of frozen berries for my smoothies which I ended up dividing and using my vacuum sealer to repackage the majority of and put away in the deep freezer.  I was able to get almost everything on my list, but some items were not available as they had a little less inventory on the floor while they are updating the store.  I had priced facial tissues at the stores so when I got to Costco and discovered their large 240ct Kleenex boxes were on sale (10 boxes/$16.99) I couldn’t pass that up.  I had initially hoped to add four boxes of store brand 160ct to my stock whenever I found a good deal, but the ten pack with more tissues per box at Costco was exactly the price I was looking for so I snapped it up.  I should be well supplied far into 2026 before I’ll need to buy more.

 

Digital coupon offers led me back to Fred Meyer to pick up a bag of delicious plums as well as three jars of peanut butter for 99¢ a jar, haven’t seen that price in a good while, and two 80 count boxes of unscented dryer sheets for $1.99 each.  I put the peanut butter away in my LTFS as I tend to give it away to anyone in need and I didn’t have any on the shelf for that purpose.  I put the dryer sheets away in the linen closet and shouldn’t need to buy anymore of those for at least two years.

 

My next trip a week and a half later was Winco for fresh dairy and a couple produce items as well as a couple jars of green olives, one for now and one for later.  I don’t consider green olives a “need”, but I do enjoy them especially on my salads, so since I had wiggle room in the budget I restocked.  The subject of nachos had come up one day so I also picked up a large bag of tortillas chips that were on sale.

 

We also found that Albertson’s is now stocking and selling Hero low carb bread products and they are really good.  They are expensive, but the quality ingredients and the taste are enough for me to justify the cost.  I stopped in at Albertson’s on my way home from Winco and picked up a loaf of bread as well as a package of the hamburger buns and a package of the bagels to try out.  I was given a $5 OFF digital coupon for my birthday so I used that to help take the sting out of the overall cost of these items.  Moving forward I plan to just buy one item at a time so I don’t blow my grocery budget.

 

My nonfood purchases came in at $20.97 and right now I can’t think of another thing I need so, unless I come up with something, this might be the last of my nonfood spending in 2025.  My total spent on food came in at $133.83 and I still have money left!  Considering I did a shop at Costco and splurge on the Hero bread products I was amazed.  I’ll be rolling over $75.74 to add to next month’s budget which will set me up to do some more stocking up and holiday prep shopping.  I’m pretty pleased with the end results and very glad I did the two month grocery challenge in July and August which allowed me to do this bigger shop and restock.

 

Are you doing any winter stockpiling or holiday food shopping yet?  Any great deals you just couldn’t pass up?