I now have a sign that hangs over my monitor that says "What are your intentions? Start Forest" That reminds me that every time I sit down at the computer I should be 'doing' something and only for a limited amount of time. It worked okay yesterday until I had my 3 hour Zoom. So I ended up on the computer for 3 hours, many times with nothing to do and so I ended up on Facebook. Not great but I did grow a couple of trees so that's good.
I feel like I'm finally on the mend. I don't really feel sick, though I still have a cough, and my knee is finally starting to feel normal. It's still not perfect, but so much better than it was. Which makes me wonder what will happen when we return to work. Will it get bad again because it's not getting as much rest? Oh well, can't let future possibilities ruin my now.
On another note, it's New Year's Eve. Definitely time to get this shitshow over with. I'm looking forward to it just to get out of this year. It's had it's moments that's for sure. I've started my 2022 planner and am looking forward to recording a whole year in it and it's going to be an amazing year.
On a personal note, we sat down yesterday for a major budget meeting and to kind of find out where we both stood with our goals and desires. Turns out we are pretty much on the same page so that's good. And that we are both being very realistic about our goals. We want to get the addition done, but honestly right now is still so bad for construction with supply issues and people shortages. One thing I definitely do not want is to get it started and then be stuck for months waiting to get it finished. So we generally agreed that 2-3 years is good time frame for that.
The next topic was what to do with our lives. We are a few years from full retirement, actually I'm thinking about 7ish. At that point my students loans will be forgiven, also I will get the higher social security and retirement. That should leave us in really good financial shape. Also, the house should be paid down mostly and that should be our only real expense.
We also want to travel. That was the main point for moving to the mainland, to get to travel more. We agree on that but we also agree that with Bella and Lola that is just not possible right now. Both of them are old, can hardly walk, and are near the end of their lives. So we will sit tight for the next 2-3 years until they are gone and then we will travel. Which leads us to the dogs, I'm thinking that Mavy is our last dog. There are things we want to do and having a dog makes it difficult. So if we get another dog, there will be only one and it will be on the smaller side. No 120# beasts anymore. Those dogs are for young people.
Which then leads us to the finances. We had a lot of money sitting in a saving account, granted making good interest, but not really doing anything for us. We have a couple of large bills, car loan and a personal loan, that we could use the money to pay off. Since we aren't planning the addition for 2-3 years, that's what that money was earmarked for, why not pay off those loans and then start saving up. In 2-3 years things will be very different for us. The market will most likely have risen even more, currently this house is worth about $425,000 I'm sure in 2-3 years it will be worth close to $500,000. That will allow us to pull even more money out for the addition. Also, since we are wiping out two pretty good sized payments every month, we can up the payments to the mortgage and the home equity loan. This will result in them being paid down even faster and then when we do a cash out refi we'll have even more money for the addition.
So it was a good summit meeting and I feel good about our choices. That's about all I have for today. I need to get another cup of coffee and go read for a bit. I'm trying to decide what to do today, work or just enjoy the last day of 2021? I guess it will reveal itself to me.
I'm off, time to bid 2021 a fond farewell.
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