Early Retirement Extreme Forums

It sounds like your husband is looking out for you, and you're also thinking clearly for yourself, so I'll stop worrying. ;) Marriage certainly eases the whole process of sharing your life legally and financially. I'm glad you were finally able to have that. It's funny that you mention the dream of ...

6. Oddly no points given for the massive forest preserve that backs up to my townhouse. I'm guessing that the walkscore has less to do with "can take relaxing walks" than "can obtain life-sustaining supplies without a rifle or a fishing pole." ;) I just looked up our score for f...

That was a really run down house! We looked at a couple of houses that were pretty close to that quality but not that bad. After doing all this work on my house, I'm thankful I bought what I did. :) It would be neat to see more photos. @cmonkey, I'll try to find more photos. I know I said this alre...

THE HOMESTEAD/ACCUMULATION YEARS Farm animals. I blame Mother Earth News for this, along with about a zillion books DH had compiled on the joys of homesteading. I already mentioned that he had calves and dogs when we met, but together we were downright dangerous. Within a year or so, we’d added chi...

McTrex,

Comments like this keep me going. No point in telling a story that no one wants to hear. Thank you!

@Did, I suppose one of the benefits of the written report, is that if the surveyor omits any critical information they (or their insurer) are liable. Having it in writing helps in this regard. It's probably different everywhere, but in this US state (Washington), a written inspection can be given t...

Greetings, sfchristo! Your story struck a chord with me, and I appreciate that you shared it. Preparing for change without fear is a great accomplishment. Without knowing the details, it sounds to me as though eventually selling the house is a good idea. This should give you a great deal of financia...

THE HOMESTEAD/ACCUMULATION YEARS page 5 Other challenges in bypassing the electric grid included cooking and hot water for bathing. We started with a 2-burner propane stove, but life really looked up after we bought a wood cookstove. This sweetheart had been owned by an old lady (really) who used i...

THE HOMESTEAD/ACCUMULATION YEARS page 4 Next order of business: heat and light. Heat was relatively easy with a wood stove and 20 acres of trees. It’s only sweat. The electric lines running through wetland and forest to reach the house hadn’t been active for decades. When DH first bought the place ...

THE HOMESTEAD/ACCUMULATION YEARS page 3 Backing up a little: this property was an abandoned farm, and the farm had a well. As often happens with unoccupied properties, it had become a bit of a party place. The well was repurposed as a depository for beer bottles, because any yahoo knows that a hole...

I think that most kids currently lead horribly sheltered lives. I feel so sorry for them. I grew up riding my bike all day and barely getting home for dinner, camping, canoeing, using axes/knives/combustible fluids, cooking over a fire and getting hopelessly lost in the woods. Okay; the last one was...

George the original one, One of DH's dogs was a female weimaraner. She had staked out DH's favorite chair as hers, and the war never ended. If DH had possession, she would start barking at the door as though someone were trespassing. When DH got up to look, she would run around behind him and occupy...

Holy smokes!! That guy must have been really charming He was (and is) smart, funny, inventive, resourceful, rebellious, driven, capable, loyal and romantic. Charming...not so much. He told me once in all sincerity: "You look very good for your age group." :lol: On the other hand, when I a...

THE HOMESTEAD/ACCUMULATION YEARS page 2 April 1980. I had been living in a Seattle apartment, but just before my date with future DH, I found the perfect place to move to: the top-floor *turret* (really!) of a grand old house all to myself. One huge windowed room with a sink/toilet and a clawfoot t...

C40 & Gilberto de Piento,

I appreciate the coaching. I followed the link and created an Imgur account. Now I'm going to try putting photos into my upcoming post.

saving-10-years wrote: Pole dancing would require a lot more strength I feel. And a different body in all.

Oh, I'm with you there.

@C40, Maybe you can help me since you post so many photos (or anyone else, please). I'm trying to figure out how to add a couple of photos to the next part of my story. It looks like I have to use a URL? Does this mean that I have put the photos somewhere online first? If so, can you recommend the e...

@C40,

I'm so glad you're hooked! The "move in with me" offer was dead serious. DH is an all-or-nothing kind of guy, and I'm a hopeless romantic.

Thanks, Farm_or_! Comments are crack. Currently trying to get practice in at not being so reliant on right hand. and being more succinct. ERE type solutions? I may report on one armed spinning in my journal. I tried googling "one-armed spinning" and got a bunch of sites about pole dancing....

Thank you, saving-10-years! A broken wrist sounds pretty miserable; one of those things designed to make you appreciate a body function that you always took for granted. Can you use some sort of speech-recognition software to write? I know absolutely nothing about this, but my DH's Windows 10 laptop...

1. Agree with Jacob: an electric toothbrush. Change the heads on a regular basis and clean out the accumulated toothpast that can slow down the vibration where the head connects to the base. Don't press too hard against your teeth. Also floss, of course. Tooth issues can be expensive, painful, socia...