Earlier this year I mentioned that in order for me to retire one year earlier than my original early retirement date it would mean I would need to live the first three years on an uber tight, super thrifty budget. At the time I felt it would be worth it. So how am I feeling about it now that I’m nearing the end of that frugal three year plan? Pretty dang AWESOME!
Before I retired I had saved up what I felt I would need to live off of until I could start accessing my retirement accounts. I divided it up into quarters so that each quarter I would add a certain amount to my checking account for living expenses leaving my emergency fund intact. The first year I used it as I had planned. The next year I only used just over half of it. This year I challenged myself even more by trying to live off of just my earnings from my part time job I got in October 2023.
Surprisingly, I found I was able to live rather comfortably on just what I had earned from my part time job working nineteen hours or less per week. It was a bit of a test for me to see how I would do once I start collecting Social Security. Since my Social Security will be more than my take home pay is currently, I found it really gave me great peace of mind to know that I will be just fine without having to dip into my savings or my retirement accounts on a regular basis.
This year I began 2024 with my quarterly allotted amount and I did not need to add anything more to it for the remainder of the year. However, knowing this, I did decide to use one of the quarterly allotments to pay for some tree trimming and a tree removal at the beginning of last month. It was a great use of the extra money I had on hand and now I have the peace of mind that I have safely maintained the trees in my yard and I won’t need to worry about any possible property damage. No one wants a tree falling on their house or a limb landing on their vehicle.
This year wasn’t an inexpensive year for me. Along with the big tree company bill in November (planned expense), I had to replace my refrigerator (semi-planned expense), I took a birthday trip to Las Vegas (no money in the travel budget this year so I got creative) and I needed to fly down, rent a car and get a hotel to see and help a family member in October (not planned). Nonetheless, I did it. And I’m thrilled that I was able to do it without incurring any debt or adversely affecting my finances. Emergency fund remains intact and I did not need to touch it.
With only a little more than three more months left in my super thrifty three year plan I’m going to go ahead and declare it a roaring success. I feel that good about it and I’m sure I will be able finish it off successfully. Then we’ll see what I decide to challenge myself with next.
Sounds like all of your careful planning really paid off!
ReplyDeleteHas it been 3 years already?
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