preretirement thoughts

I'll been reaching my toes into the 'pre-retirement' phase of life.  

It's something that has been on my radar for a while.  My financial planner and I have talked about this - and the how to plan for becoming a snow-bird with two houses - one here in Wisconsin and another someplace warmer for the winter.  We've talk all types of possibility.  My expectation is that I'll move from my single family home within 4 to 10 year into a condo-- probably being closer to 5 or 6 years than 10 years - but anything is possible and (so far) there is no driving need for the move.   The condo will give me a lot more freedom by taking away much of the outside maintenance and upkeep.  Right now I don't mind the grass cutting, snowblowing, etc.   Those tasks reduce my freedom to take off.  My job can be done from almost anywhere with good internet and phone connections and it would be easier to leave a condo than my house for a couple of months at a time.  With a condo, I wouldn't have to get coverage for the snow removal, grass cutting, etc - things are needed to make the house not look abandoned and ripe for thieves.

Over the next couple of years I plan to rent a place in the February and March time frame.  Rent for at least a month and maybe 6 weeks or the full 2 months.   Time to try out living in some of those areas while still working my job full time - basically with no changes except the contact phone number.  Be there long enough to check out the tourist /key activities and also have enough nights and weekends when nothing special is going on - rent a movie, take a neighborhood bike ride, etc so that you can get the full feel of how it really would be to live there.

I've started the search, although not very effectively for Austin, TX for the spring of 2014.  That area makes the most sense because I have family there, it fits my warm weather requirements, etc.   I hope over the next couple of year to also do this for Columbus, OH; where I have lots of friends that are like family to me. I also would like to do this in some vacation spots for me - Canyon country in Utah, Lake Norris in Tennessee, Washington DC are Virginia area.   Most of these locations make more sense for me to do after I've moved into a condo here in Milwaukee.  

The dog also impacts this.  This plan started when I had Wally.  And then all I had to check was that the rental place allowed for cats.   With dogs its a different story, or at least with Zeus it is.  I'll need to have an area to take him out multiple times a day, need to find a dog kennel and dog day care place for him, and frankly he is more destructive than Wally ever was so I'm not sure about leaving him alone in a place he doesn't know.  May need to create him like when he was a little puppy.   And it changes what type of rental I'm willing to take - with Wally I would have been comfortable with an apartment style, but with Zeus and his barking it make me nervous to be that close to other people.   Not sure what to do, but Zeus changes my plans.

And even with all this plans - the most critical task (to me) is reducing what I own.  I have too much stuff.  I need to reduce and declutter what I already have - it will make it easier to move and downsize into a condo, and it will help make the house more attractive to buyers.

It's also easier said than done.   Reduction and decluttering have been on my list for a while and honestly have been some of my top desires - but its to a point where it is so overwhelming that its hard to start and hard to make enough progress to make the process motivational.   Plus I really do have a zen-budda personal philosophy deeply ingrained in me that I have a very hard time throwing away things that are still usable - and this stretches to giving these items to a Goodwill type place - if I don't think someone will appreciate the items then I don't want it to go there.   I really want to 'use-up' all the excess I have - have it lead a good life, thank it for its service and let it go in a respectful way.   Now how many people think about that when considering pens with more than half their ink gone?   I know I feel too much.  But this is hard for me.  And I need to start working on it now to have the retirement I want.