We retired from our jobs on December 31, 2004. We bought a small house in central Texas,
out in the country far far away from the big cities. Our house is surrounded on 3 sides
by a lake and a river.. We average about 20-25 deer every morning and evening that we feed.
That is about 1/4 of the total deer that roam the area. We have also setup a bird sanctuary
in our back yard. We have a small water fall, bird bath, bird feeders along with hummingbird
feeders. Last summer, we had as many as 10 hummingbirds in our back yard at a time. We even
had a covered patio installed in the back yard so we can sit outside and enjoy the wildlife
without being in the hot sun and rain.
This is a new way of living. Everything is much slower. We did gave up things that you can only get in a big city, such as resturants, movie theaters, specialty stores, malls and the like. But what we have gained is so much better, no traffic, noise, sirens and friends that will do anything for us. There are some things that are cheaper and some that are more expensive. Overall, I would say that our cost of living is now less.
After we retired, we found out the cost of medical insurance. Iris had a chance to take a job at a local hospital. She still has several years yet before she reaches Social Security age (and I have a couple of years before I reach medicare age) and thus she decided to take the job so we could get medical insurance through her job. This reduced our monthly budget to an acceptable level. That job is also making it financially easier to travel more.
This is a new way of living. Everything is much slower. We did gave up things that you can only get in a big city, such as resturants, movie theaters, specialty stores, malls and the like. But what we have gained is so much better, no traffic, noise, sirens and friends that will do anything for us. There are some things that are cheaper and some that are more expensive. Overall, I would say that our cost of living is now less.
After we retired, we found out the cost of medical insurance. Iris had a chance to take a job at a local hospital. She still has several years yet before she reaches Social Security age (and I have a couple of years before I reach medicare age) and thus she decided to take the job so we could get medical insurance through her job. This reduced our monthly budget to an acceptable level. That job is also making it financially easier to travel more.