Gotta Have a Goal

* I almost missed by blogiversary. I've been blogging since 2007 and started THIS blog March 17, 2009. To celebrate I am reposting my first post. I think the content will sound vaguely familiar:) Just a few changes over the past two years: I acquired a BF (exactly 1 month after I started THIS blog!); I didn't plan to buy my retirement property before I retired but am oh so glad I did, AND it turned out to be in PEI, not Nova Scotia. Otherwise I am still on track!


Every summer I play at being retired. I relax at my trailer in Bayfield by reading, snoozing, swimming, bike riding etc but then on August 1st I start to lose my focus. Being a school teacher I begin to get anxious and have recurring nightmares about not being prepared. Last summer it was so bad I got "shingles" on my right arm and hand, which sort of hindered the getting ready part being a right-handed person.

So naturally, I look forward to the summer when I am no longer whacked in the head when I rip July off of the calendar. Being a goal-oriented person I have decided to embark on a five year retirement plan (a little early)(nothing like getting a head start), which will hopefully see me retire two years early on a reduced pension. I think I can do it and will use this blog as a way to chart my progress and hopefully inspire a few others to get off the treadmill and start enjoying life.

My goals are thus: pay off my remaining debt in 2 1/2 years; increase my savings by roughly $80,000; get rid of a lifetime of accumulated stuff including my 18 year old daughter (but not in the same way!); redecorate and sell my condo and purchase a retirement property somewhere out east, probably Nova Scotia.

That should keep me occupied for the next 5 years and will hopefully provide a creative outlet for all that pentup anxiety that we teachers (among many other professions) carry with them constantly.