Dreaming of Retiring? Get a Countdown Clock!

 

Dreaming of retiring? Or maybe taking a break for a couple of years? Want to go sailing off into the sunset … literally or figuratively? Does it seem too far away to even contemplate? You know what? It's never too early to start planning. You have to work at making your dreams come true, or they just remain dreams. Here's some tips on how to start.

1. Spend some time deciding what it is you really want to do.

Do you want to sail and live aboard a boat? Go RV'ing across the country? Travel? Start a little business? Put time aside to sit down, relax and really think about where you want to go and what you want to do. Whether you're 30 or 60, there's no time like the present to do this. You'll be 30 or 60 + one day older tomorrow. Get moving.

2. Put those dreams on paper.

Write it all down. For many reasons, when you take the time to make a plan and write it out, it becomes more concrete. It's more than just a dream. Make this a fun exercise for you and your partner. Get a special notebook … give it a name...your Dream Book, Retirement-R-Us book, We're Outa Here book, make it your own. Tweak your plan as things change. Write, rewrite and get it right. Set up a file folder (hard copy or on your computer) and keep relevant articles, links, and ideas close by

3. Assign a time frame to your plan.

Start with a biggie. “I'd like to retire in 2015 or 2020 or whenever and then I want to ...”

Then what? Sailing, travel, RV'ing, what? Actually assigning a time frame makes the dream more and more real. Now you know when. Wow!

4. Figure out how to get where you want to go.

After you decide the “what” and the “when”, figure out the “how”. Assuming your dream is not so out of the ballpark that it's unobtainable, start to determine how you'll achieve your goal. What about the finances? How much money do you need to retire or take a 2-year hiatus from work? Can you earn money while you're living your dream? What are the logistics of heading down the road you want to travel?

5. Research your plan.

This isn't work. This is the stuff your dreams are made of. What kind of boat? What kind of RV rig? Where will you go? What are the restrictions...financially, health-wise, family-wise? Maybe one of the passage maps from the blogsite?

6. Set milestones for yourself.

What needs to be done by what time in order to meet your goals? A savings plan? Getting the kids through university? Selling your home and downsizing? Make a list as part of the original plan and cross off the milestones as you meet and complete them.

7. Celebrate along the way.

Reach a milestone? Congratulate yourself! 1000 days left? Have a special dinner. 500 days to go? Half way to your savings goal? Decided what boat you're interested in buying or which RV rig makes sense? Make it a point to celebrate in some small, but significant way. The time goes by faster if you've got lots of big and little milestones to achieve and celebrate along the way.

8. Buy a countdown clock.

It might sound crazy, but we received a countdown clock as a gift from my sister when we made the decision to sail off into the sunset. It was nearly two years till we actually took off. We loved it as we watched the days, hours, minutes and seconds tick off. Everyday brought us just a little closer to making our dream a reality. We liked it so much, we recycled it and gave it to my parents when they were planning their trip of a lifetime to Hawaii.

Already retired? Out cruising or RV'ing or living your dream whatever it might be? How did you plan for it? What did you do in advance to make sure your dream became a reality?

Rocker Power

 

We had a layover in Charlotte, North Carolina on our return flight from Denver recently. We'd been there before, but had forgotten the rocking chairs that are spread out in the lobby area. Every single chair was occupied. People of all shapes, sizes, and ages, were calmly rocking and chatting or working on their laptops. Rocking is a soothing kind of exercise.

My Mom's rocking chair sat desolate and lonely on her patio for awhile when she was away. She used to sit in it daily for a little rock … and truth be told, to have a cigarette, although she has COPD. Some habits die hard. Winter or summer, she spent some time everyday in that chair. Everyone in the neighborhood stopped by on their way past to say hello. No internet or Facebook for her. The rocker was her social media vehicle.

She bought the rocker for $20 at Salvo's (Salvation Army Thrift Store for the non-thrifters among you) when she moved back to New England five years ago. It had a worn rush seat and she had it varnished back then, but it was showing its age. The rush had rotted and the wood was quite weather worn. David spent some time rejuvenating it over the past few weeks, put in a new rush seat and it's looking almost new again. Since she's given up smoking and relies heavily on her walker now, she doesn't spend as much time in the rocker, but it's there waiting for her.

I read that the idea of the rocking chair probably evolved from rocking horses or cradles. They just added rockers to common straight-back chairs and voilá … a rocking chair. Why should kids have all the fun? By the 18th century, there was a rocking chair on most everyone's porch. They continued to gain popularity and became a sort of status symbol for the elderly. There's nothing like an old-fashioned rocker for calming, soothing and nursing your children.

I had a musical Howdy Doody rocker when I was a little kid. It played “It's Howdy Doody Time” every time you rocked back and forth. Sometimes I turned it upside down and just pressed the little button that played the tune. It used to drive my mother nuts which, of course, gave me all the more incentive to do it. Maybe that's where this rebellious nature of mine all started. Have a listen to the tune!

Nomophobia

 

Yes, yet something else to worry about: nomophobia. It's a fear of being without mobile phone contact … NO...MObile..PHOne...phobia. The term was coined in the UK when it was determined by a study that people who lose their phones, run out of battery power or don't have network coverage, suffer the same anxiety that folks suffer when heading to the dentist's office or getting married. Yikes!

More than half the people (in the study anyhow) never ever turn off their mobile phones. Really? More often than not, we forget to turn ours on. I've been using my mom's phone since I got back into the States. When I do remember to charge it and then turn it on, I forget to take it with me when I go out.

We buy a new mobile phone in pretty much every country we visit. They're pretty much disposable … $20/phone and then pay-as-you-go service. We never get fancy phones … no iPhones for us. No, we get the type that still require you to use the “1” key for either ABC, “2” for DEF, etc. We must tap it until the proper letter appears on the screen. We seldom send a text that's error-free and sometimes the messages are rather bizarre. We buy them in order to contact vendors, marinas and other cruisers when the VHF radio won't suffice.

There is hope for all the nomophobes out there. There's a Mobile Phone Anxiety Advice Center.

I think if we were land folk full time, we might succumb to the constant need to be in touch. As it is, when we're at sea, we figure we're lucky to be in touch with the world once a day via SailMail (radio signal) and then mostly for weather forecasts. As for mobile signals, they're few and far between at sea and so far, we've managed without a satellite phone. Perhaps, we have mophobia... a fear of having a mobile phone and too much contact or perhaps it's just not important to us.

What about you? Are you a nomophobe? Can you go without your mobile phone for long periods of time...like say, 48 hours?? Would you want to?

Days and Ways to Celebrate

A daily list of mostly obscure holidays and fun ways to celebrate them.

Patriot's Day

Celebrated primarily in Massachusetts, this is a state holiday and commemorates the Battles of Lexington and Concord and the "shot heard round the world". Read up on the American Revolution or watch PBS's Liberty! Check out our photos from Minute Man National Historic Park.