I like this time at night on HBT

[Dland]

I guess I'll be the one to get this going again, don't want a nose hair expose' to stop an otherwise useful thread. That said, I hope JayJay's success continues.

Anyway, it seems I'm in a later than mid life reflection event, I'm really tired of my job, but I'm proprietor of a small company, three employees, four if you count me, and I work in the field a lot, as well as all the office & management isht, plus being the mechanic, equipment & cdl driver.

I know it sounds kind of windgy (austrailian for complainy), but I really don't care about my clients yards, I often detest the decisions they make for them that I have to implement. Yet I can't afford to stop, and I'm not sure if I could work for anyone else after so many years self employed.

Forty years next year since I started this landscape company, which was going to be a temporary job before I got a job with my degree or buy a farm. Never accomplished either of those. Getting dumped a gal I was planning to buy a farm with, twice (two different gals), kind of left me here on an expensive island, mostly mowing lawns, installing patios, fences, etc. My house, which I could never come close to affording at today's prices is OK, but this place has changed a lot, and not for the better, from my point of view.

My family is here and I have lost track of any friends I had off island. I'm pretty well respected in the community, but that community has been severally diluted by all the new comers, new money and their rental clients.

I'm sure I'm not the only one whose home area has "evolved", from a rural type relaxed into developed place with different values. This is has been my home all my adult life. I know a couple of friends who have sold out, cashed in (on high real estate value), and at least one regrets it. They will never be able to own a place here again unless the win a big lottery or something.

I don't expect any answers addressing my conundrum, but this is a good place as any to vent.

If you've gotten this far, thanks for hearing me out. [;

 

[Spikybits]

I guess I'll be the one to get this going again, don't want a nose hair expose' to stop an otherwise useful thread. That said, I hope JayJay's success continues.

Anyway, it seems I'm in a later than mid life reflection event, I'm really tired of my job, but I'm proprietor of a small company, three employees, four if you count me, and I work in the field a lot, as well as all the office & management isht, plus being the mechanic, equipment & cdl driver.

I know it sounds kind of windgy (austrailian for complainy), but I really don't care about my clients yards, I often detest the decisions they make for them that I have to implement. Yet I can't afford to stop, and I'm not sure if I could work for anyone else after so many years self employed.

Forty years next year since I started this landscape company, which was going to be a temporary job before I got a job with my degree or buy a farm. Never accomplished either of those. Getting dumped a gal I was planning to buy a farm with, twice (two different gals), kind of left me here on an expensive island, mostly mowing lawns, installing patios, fences, etc. My house, which I could never come close to affording at today's prices is OK, but this place has changed a lot, and not for the better, from my point of view.

My family is here and I have lost track of any friends I had off island. I'm pretty well respected in the community, but that community has been severally diluted by all the new comers, new money and their rental clients.

I'm sure I'm not the only one whose home area has "evolved", from a rural type relaxed into developed place with different values. This is has been my home all my adult life. I know a couple of friends who have sold out, cashed in (on high real estate value), and at least one regrets it. They will never be able to own a place here again unless the win a big lottery or something.

I don't expect any answers addressing my conundrum, but this is a good place as any to vent.

If you've gotten this far, thanks for hearing me out. [;

Cheers mate thank you for sharing

 

[Snuffy]

I guess I'll be the one to get this going again, don't want a nose hair expose' to stop an otherwise useful thread. That said, I hope JayJay's success continues.

Anyway, it seems I'm in a later than mid life reflection event, I'm really tired of my job, but I'm proprietor of a small company, three employees, four if you count me, and I work in the field a lot, as well as all the office & management isht, plus being the mechanic, equipment & cdl driver.

I am about to retire. A bit early by some standards, but not by mine. We built a home in a desirable location and have worked our posteriors off to make it sweet. My dad made it to 75. He was relatively functional until his last 6 months or so. I'm not waiting until somebody walks by my office, hears beeping and finds me face-down on a keyboard. Life is far too short. I gotta do the things I have always wanted to do NOW before they become physically impossible. So, with that in mind, I would say this to you over a cold beer in a cool place. Sell the business. If nobody wants it, sell the equipment. Sell your house. Take that money and buy that farm you've always wanted. In the real sense and not the figure-of-speech sense. <knock on wood>. You are younger today than you will ever be again. 10 years will spin past like water down a toilet. Screw leaving stuff to other people when you're gone. Go. Do. Live. I'm going to sail and fish and brew and ride motorcycles and camp and canoe and chase giggling grandkids around swingsets and grow hair and chase my gal around hotel rooms. Futz everybody. That's my plan and I'm sticking to it.

 

[DonT]

I'm in the process of selling my business so I can retire next year when I turn 65. I thought for a long time I would just die under a car (I'm a mechanic, shop owner). My wife retired last month and is now waiting for me. We have to move, we can't afford to stay in this community, as we don't own, and rents are sky-high.
Personally, I can't wait. I kinda hate cars now... lol. I'm gonna do all the stuff I don't have time/energy to do nowadays...

 

[passedpawn]

Hmm, this thread has taken a turn.

I'd suggest for anyone older than 60, get busy with your end game. You might have 50 more years of life, but you won't be able to go on like you did before, so don't kid yourself. You know what that means for you. Big house -> small house, house -> apt, big apt -> small apt, get on with it. Stop kidding yourself. Obviously, if there's money in the bank, that changes the equation.

Anyway, accept change, it's necessary. Do it while you're still able.

For your late nite soundtrack...

 

[Kent88]

 

[Kent88]

 

[Dland]

If we're giving out sweeping advice; whatever your age, try to avoid and pay down any debt you have. It is very hard to get ahead or even stay afloat when the banksters have you in their clutches.

Debt can be a good thing if it is to leverage your position with capital you don't have, but only if it is buying something will make you more money than your paying in interest, with ability to pay off principal, or improve your life substantially.

Besides a $1,500 small business loan I took out 38 years ago, the only interest bearing loan I had was my house mortgage. I re financed a couple of times for house addition, then shop building, and then once or twice just to lower my rate. Paid it all off by the time I was 60.5 years old, only 6 months past my goal.

I've never had a new car or truck (though I have around 10 vehicles now) and all the new machinery I've bought has been with zero interest loan promotions.

On the down side, I've not taken a vacation since my current gal moved in 27 years ago with her kid & then we had another one. Perhaps that is why I'm a little wired. I've been thinking about it a lot lately, but I've almost lost the ability to take it easy, unless I've "signed out" at the end of the day with some beers . I know I used to have it, but is has been decades, I was raised with a good work ethic, and it kind of took over.

I'm not sure of my end game, but I told my two long term employees they have until I'm 67 to buy me out, which they say they want to do. I have to finish my 30 year old house if I want to sell it not as a "fixer upper". I still have some plywood floors and stuff, a barn door on the living room, etc. Plus I feel I should stick around as long as my 94 year old mom is living in town.

Major life choices are often not simple ones.

 

[balrog]

"We have too much space"

"Men don't have enough space. Ever."

Truer words were never spoken.


Says the man who is actively moving from 2000 sq ft house w full basement to 1200 sq ft condo. You will all be witness and unwilling recipients of many much the updates on this.

 

[Kent88]

If we're giving out sweeping advice; whatever your age, try to avoid and pay down any debt you have. It is very hard to get ahead or even stay afloat when the banksters have you in their clutches.

Debt can be a good thing if it is to leverage your position with capital you don't have, but only if it is buying something will make you more money than your paying in interest, with ability to pay off principal, or improve your life substantially.
...

Major life choices are often not simple ones.

I have a recent example of when it might not be a terrific idea to pay down your debt ASAP. Shh! Don't tell Dave Ramsey.

... Ok, so this actually pertains to recent events in my life, recent enough that I've tried typing them out several times without giving too many clues about who I am, what work my family does, etc, etc. but I don't feel I can tell much of the story without potentially (low chance it happens, but risk isn't worth reward here) doxxing myself.

So I'll just say that sometimes one can think they're pretty clever prepaying a bunch on their mortgage, but if you don't maintain a good emergency fund it adds difficulty if one wants to move to pursue new opportunities.

In my case, it ended up working out surprisingly well. But that lack of an emergency fund added a noteworthy amount of stress for a week or so.

 

[Dland]

I agree it is not good to be bereft of funds. An emergency fund or in the case of any small business owner, at least a couple of months working capital. Some bills need to be paid whether the cash is flowing or not. For instance, I have never missed a payroll, doing so would be more than bad for company moral, it would shake my crew's trust in me.

Oh my goodness, it is Monday morning. "Back to work you slug", I say to myself, ;]

 

[Dland]

"We have too much space"

"Men don't have enough space. Ever."

Truer words were never spoken.


Says the man who is actively moving from 2000 sq ft house w full basement to 1200 sq ft condo. You will all be witness and unwilling recipients of many much the updates on this.

Best of luck, I admire people who can do that, I'm not sure it is in me to downsize spacewise. In fact, if I ever do move, it will be to a place with more acreage, not less. I don't need a big house, but garage or a barn and land for garden(s), hopefully a pond, yeah.

I assume your condo assn doesn't have a place for shipping containers, they are a lifesaver. Of course only if you buy them, renting them for anything other than temp construction projects or moving foolish, same with storage units.

 

[balrog]

Best of luck, I admire people who can do that, I'm not sure it is in me to downsize spacewise. In fact, if I ever do move, it will be to a place with more acreage, not less. I don't need a big house, but garage or a barn and land for garden(s), hopefully a pond, yeah.

I assume your condo assn doesn't have a place for shipping containers, they are a lifesaver. Of course only if you buy them, renting them for anything other than temp construction projects or moving foolish, same with storage units.

I can only imagine the pearl clutching that would ensue were I to install a rusty Maersk shipping container off my back deck. That made my day.

 

[Kent88]

I'm at a different point in my life, 2 under ten. We bought our first house a couple months before our oldest was born, and my in-laws had saved a bunch of their old baby stuff. My wife and I are both the youngest of our siblings, so we got tons of hand-me-downs, which I appreciate. But there was so much stuff that it was difficult to find time to see what everything was. We have boxes of maternity and baby clothes we probably never opened.

So now we're wondering which niece is going to get knocked up first. We have a couple who are in their 20s, and one of them has a serious boyfriend. I've made the suggestion that we get a storage unit by my wife's hometown and just put all the maternity clothes, the clothes our kids have grown out of, and the baby toys in there and pay ahead a couple years, and I think she's taking it seriously.

I can't wait to give all that junk away. At this point I wonder if it really saved us any money to get those hand-me-downs, since we've been paying to store it, or if it just reduced what ended up in the landfill.

 

[Dland]

I can only imagine the pearl clutching that would ensue were I to install a rusty Maersk shipping container off my back deck. That made my day.

How about 8 of them? haha. But no reason for them to be rusty. It's really worth it to pay a little more for the "one trip" units, they are pretty much new. A gallon and a half olive drab industrial enamel (or other green of your choice) goes a long way to mellow out the brightly colored ones. The last few new ones I got have all been a rather unoffensive tan, so there is that too.

 

[sibelman]

for anyone older than 60, get busy with your end game.

FTFY

if there's money in the bank, that changes the equation.

Get out of debt (I know, easy to say...) and save (also easy to say). If you can get a job with a 401(k), do it and maximize your savings.

If there's no money in the bank, any little thing can be a catastrophe.

I'm painfully aware that this super-obvious advice isn't actionable for a vast and presumably still growing portion of the population.

 

[OakIslandBrewery]

Enjoy the present (within reason), prepare for the future, learn from the (your) past.

If one looks hard enough most of this can be obtainable, perhaps not without some struggles but over time it can usually be done.

 

[Dland]

Another bit of free advice, which applies to me anyway;

It is good to consciously try to be optimistic. Some are naturally that way, and they are generally good people to be around. I have to work at it, and remember to appreciate what I've got. I'm not religious in that I'm not in any church, but I was raised that way, and some of those teachings are useful. For me it is good to remember to be grateful for what I have, it helps keep things in perspective when I look around at many with much worse situations.

Not saying one should be a pollyanna, sometimes things really suck, and then it is good to take action, make tough choices and move on or deal. But for me anyway, it could be a lot worse.

It is also easy to fall into the trap of; if I only had this (__________) everything would be peachy. That thing may or may not improve your life, but it ain't going to solve any problems with your mind or soul.

I'm think I'm actually getting some benefit typing this out on this forum, I don't get out much. If any of my ditherings are of use to anyone else, all the better.

 

[Snuffy]

I think the secret is getting out of the habit of living your life a week at a time (working) and get back to living every day one at a time. I am going to be one of those people who don't give a crap what day of the week it is.

 

[passedpawn]

Howdy-hey late niters. Hope all is well. Things can seem bad, but it could be badder. I could give you some examples, but why ruin the mood. So, if you're breathing, you're in good shape. For your late nite soundrack...

 

[sibelman]

why ruin the mood

Hear, hear!

 

[balrog]

It is also easy to fall into the trap of; if I only had this (__________) everything would be peachy.

As a quick aside, not to take anything away from your worries, but this phrase is pretty much how I treat my brewing equipment purchases

 

[Dland]

As a quick aside, not to take anything away from your worries, but this phrase is pretty much how I treat my brewing equipment purchases

I agree, if I had a nice set of kettles, I'd have to worry about denting them or otherwise messing them up. They will never look as good as when you unpack them. If I daydreamed about that sort of thing, I could see a jacketed fermentor, but they are heavy, so first I'd have to put a sink with a kick pump in the cellar. That's the sort of reality that keeps dreams at bay, I suppose.

My daydreams involve contemplating rural real estate. Dare I say;

 

[sibelman]

I used to imagine that having better instruments would make me a better musician. Not so.

 

[balrog]

A wee bit early for the thread’s title, but just stopping by to say I made a dry Irish stout today, and there is nothing, I say nothing, that beats the smell of walking back into the brew space (my garage) a few hours after brewing that, and having a wall of beautiful roast barley scent smack your nostrils around.

At least to me.

 

[passedpawn]

A wee bit early for the thread’s title, but just stopping by to say I made a dry Irish stout today, and there is nothing, I say nothing, that beats the smell of walking back into the brew space (my garage) a few hours after brewing that, and having a wall of beautiful roast barley scent smack your nostrils around.

At least to me.

I've got one of those on tap right now. Mine is lovely, probably like yours.

Good evening, late niters. I'm sitting here watching the sunset, and the clouds drifting in from the gulf of mexico. Interesting how so many of them look like the dog I buried yesterday.

For your late nite soundtrack, a sad one from the possum.

 

[day_trippr]

Sorry for your loss, PP.

 

[Airborneguy]

Sorry pal. The dog I met I assume?

 

[passedpawn]

Sorry pal. The dog I met I assume?

No, that one you met was probably a German Shorthair Pointer - she's doing fine. This was a vizsla, my daughter's. I now have two of that breed buried in the back yard. (I think I've buried 4 dogs and several cats back there! it's a danged graveyard)

 

[balrog]

it's a danged graveyard)

Never let them build on that.


I’ve seen that movie.

 

[Jayjay1976]

Dirtywater dogs, Chicago style.
I ate so much coleslaw, I'll be a firehazard tomorrow. love me some sloppy slaw.

 

[balrog]

Dirtywater sloppy slaw.

Great Name for a Blues band.

 

[DonT]

Great Name for a Blues band.

Dirtywater Dog and the Slaw?

 

[Snuffy]

Dirtywater Dog and the Slaw?

Dirtywater Dog and the Firehazards
Sloppy Slaw and the Chicago Style