Profound Happiness and Enjoyment

One of the decisions that my wife and I made during the last few years of working before retirement was for me to take some consulting and teaching jobs since whatever income I generated would not impact or reduce my Social Security since I waited until age 67 to claim Social Security.  We decided to use that extra income to refurbish the house, especially the kitchen and bathroom...  but also to put in a 26 foot round pool, surrounded by a large deck with a gazebo and hot tub.

We knew that we could make this financial commitment because 5 years earlier, we achieved our financial freedom by becoming debt free 

Looking back at our paperwork...  all of this was done 10 years ago and I have been retired 6 years.  There have been some repair bills on the hot tub but that is because we were advised to use powder chemicals when we should have been using liquid chemicals...  and just normal wear and tear.  However, the pool has never needed maintenance but we have had to purchase a new motor.  During the summer months, the motor operates 24/7, so replacing only one motor is not that bad.

I am in a state of PROFOUND HAPPINESS AND RELAXTION every time I lower my body into the hot water of the HOT TUB.  Out hot tub seats 6 people, so there is plenty of room for me to extend out my entire body with my arms over the sides to hold me up.  I close my eyes and remain in that position for a good 30-40 minutes.  Then, I turn on the jets that massage my upper and lower back which is especially comforting when I have overworked in the yard.   I have lower back issues anyway so the massage is just a good way to keep my back relaxed.

I would say that I am in the hot tub every other day/night out of 365 days for a total of about 180 times a year and I get in the pool during the summer weeks about once or twice a week and typically that is for exercise purposes because I walk around the perimeter for about 20-30 minutes...  after 4-5 revolutions one way, I turn and walk in the other direction against the water currents that my movement created.

This past summer, when we could not go to MYRTLE BEACH because of COVID, our backyard pool and hot tub got a workout and while others stayed inside, we were outside enjoying ourselves either in the sun or the shade, it did not matter.

This was money well spent...

BTW...

most hot tubs last 10 or years and most pools last a little over 7-8 years...

my wife and I made of point of taking good care of both...

and, it has paid off.

At 73, I figure I only have 5 good years left maybe 7, but after 80, it is going to be a little difficult getting in and out of the hot tub.

Since my wife no longer enjoys the hot tub (for reasons that only her own), if we ever need to replace this one, I will invest in a 2-3 person tub as I really don't need all the extra space.

Just Relaxing a bit...

About 12-15 years ago, after my wife and I paid off our mortgage on the house, we decided to renovate the outside of our house in case we did not have enough money to afford to go on a vacation to Myrtle Beach, SC which is where we both like to go in the summers.
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Our first order-of-business was to install an above ground about 24-26 feet in diameter, then build a deck around the pool big enough for me to completely walk around to clean and wide enough to add a 12 foot by 12 foot gazebo along with a 5-person hot tub next to the wall of the house since the pool proper was about 10-12 feet away from the house. 

During those 12-15 years, we have had to do nothing to our pool or pump (except add a new motor) but our hot tub (a Hot Springs Prodigy) has required maintenance twice at a cost of about 1/2 of what we paid for it.  Part of the problem is that we were using powders to clean the tub and that was causing problems even though powders is what the seller recommended we use.  Once we switched to liquid, our only issues has been replacing the heating elements. 

A month ago, our hot tub stopped heating the water and we called the technicians expecting a $2,000 bill and decided that we would use our COVID-19 stimulus money from the Government but it was just a bad switch in the electrical box which cost us substantially less except for the huge labor fee.

My wife sits under the gazebo most every day in the summer when it is not raining or lays in a lounge chair soaking up the sun and if she gets too hot, cools off in the pool.  I use the pool on a daily basis but have to wear long sleeves because of my Melanoma and the sun, but what I do is walk around the circumference of the pool for exercise.

As far as the hot tub is concerned, I use it at least every other night all year long, remaining in the 104 degree water for about 30 minutes each time.  The jets are pre programmed to only last 15 minutes for health reasons.

Our investment in our backyard was the best money we every spent and those monies did not come from salary or savings but from consulting fees that I earned on-the-side as a second job.  If I had remained in NC, my skill set would have been a dime-a-dozen and no consulting would have ever come my way, but in TN I was unique and consulting gigs were easy to acquire.