In the last two years, January 2020 through December 2021, my wife and I have received $3,200 each in stimulus money or a total of $6,400 and since we did not need the money, we simply put it in our savings account in the Credit Union... but, it was really nice for our Federal Government to give us that free money and if they want to do it again, then we will gladly accept it and eagerly put it in our savings account again...
My wife and I have been retired since 2015 and live off of our Savings and our Social Security income which is around $3,000 each month and our current lifestyle has us spending about $4,500 each month so we are depleting our savings by $1,500 each month or $18,000 each year... however, because I am being treated for two different cancers simultaneously, my cancer insurance which we took out 20 years ago on a whim pays me $10,000 each year, so I actually only need to reduce our savings by $8,000 each year.
Over the next 20 years, our savings will be reduced $180,000 and the current value of our completely paid for home is somewhere between $200,000 to $250,000. At 74 years old, living for the next 20 years is questionable but entirely possible, even with cancer.
Did I plan for this?
Not really... it just sorta happened...
In 1990, I left NC for TN because I was going to add somewhere between $12-15,000 to my salary but I did not think about TN not having a state income tax which adds 7% to your take-home pay. Nor, did I realize that the cost of living was about 13/14% less (on average) than anywhere else in the USA...
Where we live in East TN:- the Knoxville airport is 50 minutes away
- The Knoxville hospital is 40 minutes away
- Walmart supercenter is 2 miles away
- Weigles Convenience store (gasoline) is 1.5 miles away
- Interstate 40 is 7 miles from the house
- Gatlinburg, TN (Smoky Mtns) is 1.5 hours away
- Bristol Motor Speedway is 2 hours away
- Nashville, TN is 3 hours away
- Atlanta, GA is 4 hours away
- Myrtle Beach, SC is 6 hours away
Because of the Cumberland Plateau on the west side of us and because of the Smoky Mountains on the east side of us, all the major storms either in the winter or in the summer have a tendency to shield the TN Valley from adverse weather conditions.
Life in America for my wife and I is pleasantly satisfactory... I would say that we look for deals and never spend our money unwisely. We purchase year old leased cars with low mileage when we need to replace our vehicles. Our lifestyle is simple and we have controlled our greedy desires that plague so many Americans. We have no desire to try and live like the wealthy nor do not do what we want to... - We have been on 12 cruises
- We have been to Europe twice
- We have been to Hawaii three times
- We have been to Alaska
- We have been to the Caribbean often
- We have been to Mexico several times
- We have been to Canada
- We have been to Vegas three times
- We have been to the Gulf Coast/Florida often
- We spend most of our summers at Myrtle Beach, SC
What has helped more than anything else was the fact that we became debt free 15 years ago and have never gotten into debt since. We use credit cards, but always pay them off at the end of the month so we never pay interest.
We don't fly around in private jets nor are we members of a country club or spend a lot of money on clothes and accessories. We typically go out to dinner once a week but never pay more than $30-$50 for those meals including tips.
Instead of an inground pool, we have an above ground pool but with a deck that completely surrounds the circular pool. The deck is large enough for a 15X15 gazebo along with a 6 person hot tub. Both the hot tub and the pool are over 10 years old because we make sure we properly take care of them with proper preventive maintenance.
It feels nice to live like this... and, it feels nice to live in a conservative state... and, it feels nice to live in an area where there is hardly any crime and violence... I am glad for the convenient location of our home... and I am glad that I live between two relatively large man-made lakes... and, most importantly, I am glad to be a SOUTHERNER...
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