Life in Early Retirement

8 Months and 13,409 Miles Later... Our RV Adventure is Over

8 Months and 13,409 Miles Later… Our RV Adventure is Over

19 Comments / Road Trip, Life in Early Retirement, Spending, Travel and Vacation / /

After 8 months of living in an RV (with a couple of small breaks in between), our RV adventure has come to an end. It’s a little bittersweet in a lot of ways. We saw so many incredible places that we never would have had the opportunity to do otherwise. We got to do so many cool things during our life on the road. And we saw several old friends we usually don’t get the chance to see very often. […]

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The Next Mission… Free Cruises Through Casino Status Matches!

The Next Mission… Free Cruises Through Casino Status Matches!

22 Comments / Travel and Vacation, Life in Early Retirement, Spending / /

I love going on cruises for vacation – it’s my absolute favorite vacation. I know that some people hate ’em and think they’re nothing but a big old petri dish ready to spread disease to whoever gets on board. Some people don’t like the idea of being on a ship in the middle of the vast ocean. Others don’t like that you might only get 8-9 hours in port to explore other countries. Guess what… I don’t care. I love

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The World’s Largest What??!! 7 Months of Our RV Road Trip Complete, 1 To Go!

The World’s Largest What??!! 7 Months of Our RV Road Trip Complete, 1 To Go!

22 Comments / Road Trip, Life in Early Retirement, Travel and Vacation / /

It’s pretty crazy to think that we’ve now been living in an RV for over 7 months. Yes, we’ve taken a couple of breaks and stayed at my mother-in-law’s house for a few weeks twice in that timeframe, but our home has been the RV… for better or worse. Around this time last year, we brainstormed a way to do something different to escape the winter blues and cold of Ohio for one winter season… and this was what we

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Why Our Daughter Chose Homeschooling for High School… and Why I’m Secretly Happy About That

Why Our Daughter Chose Homeschooling for High School… and Why I’m Secretly Happy About That

14 Comments / Kids, Education, Life in Early Retirement / /

We’re now on the third and final loop of our 9-month monster RV road trip – it’s about time! This is the leg of the journey we’ve been looking forward to from the onset… the trip out west! We’re hopeful that we saved the best for last. We had a lot of fun doing our road trip out west in 2020 and the one we took in 2022 – and those were just sleeping in the back of a Honda

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The Art of Aging Well: Navigating Friendship and Mortality

The Art of Aging Well: Navigating Friendship and Mortality

8 Comments / General Thoughts, Health and Fitness, Life in Early Retirement, Motivation / /

Who woulda thunk it? I’m a little over a year from turning 50 and I couldn’t have imagined that I would be posting about aging well! I guess time flies when you’re having fun, right? And indeed, I have been having fun. Life truly is what you make of it and most of you know that we’ve done some unusual things that have opened up a new world that we never knew existed before… These things might not be the

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A Travel Nightmare: Free Airport Lounge Access to the Rescue!

A Travel Nightmare: Free Airport Lounge Access to the Rescue!

8 Comments / Travel and Vacation, Here's Why I'm Liking..., Life in Early Retirement, Spending / /

We had a travel fiasco last summer on our way back from a month-long stay in Boquete, Panama. One small element of bad weather caused a delay that turned everything into an overnight mess. Exhausted, both physically and mentally, we ended up finding some sort of redemption the next morning thanks to a free credit card perk we have… airport lounge access. If you’re not aware of how nice airport lounge access can be when traveling, you’re missing out. But

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Unveiling the Pros and Cons of ACA Healthcare in Early Retirement: Our Story

Unveiling the Pros and Cons of ACA Healthcare in Early Retirement: Our Story

36 Comments / Insurance, Financial Independence / Retire Early (FIRE), Health and Fitness, Life in Early Retirement, Product and Service Reviews / /

There are likely thousands of blogs and websites dedicated to pursuing financial independence and early retirement if desired (FIRE). These can be extremely beneficial for the motivation you’ll likely garner and for the potential of finding new ideas to streamline your approach. That said, there aren’t a ton of blogs from folks who have made it to the point of reaching early retirement. Figuring out the math and how to get there is one thing, but knowing what actually transpires

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Our RV Trip Was Quickly Becoming a Florida Flop… Until We Shifted Gears

Our RV Trip Was Quickly Becoming a Florida Flop… Until We Shifted Gears

20 Comments / Road Trip, Life in Early Retirement, Travel and Vacation / /

“Head to Florida for the winter during your RV trip”, they said. “You can enjoy the sunshine and be like snowbirds! It’ll be wonderful!” Yeah, well, guess what – we disagree. Making Florida part of our RV trip was quickly becoming a source of frustration for all of us. And when you have three people in a small 22′ RV travel trailer, that frustration can easily become a nightmare. Lisa, Faith, and I were at that point and everyone was

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Our 9-Month RV Adventure: The 55+ Essential Items We Bought for the Road

Our 9-Month RV Adventure: The 55+ Essential Items We Bought for the Road

8 Comments / Road Trip, Life in Early Retirement, Product and Service Reviews, Spending, Travel and Vacation / /

It’s crazy to think that we’re already 4 months into our 9-month RV adventure around the country. We completed our first loop (of 3 planned) and went from Ohio to Texas and back. We’re now on loop 2 as we head toward the south for a couple of months and then make our way up the east coast when we smell spring getting near. Then we’ll be making a massive trip out west for loop 3 throughout the spring and

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Wellness, Wealth, and Wanderlust: Paving the Way for 2024

Wellness, Wealth, and Wanderlust: Paving the Way for 2024

18 Comments / Life in Early Retirement, Financial Independence / Retire Early (FIRE), Health and Fitness, Investments, Kids, Motivation, Road Trip, Spending, Travel and Vacation / /

In the blink of an eye, 2023 has come and gone. Whether you had a great year or not, it’s time to decide if you’re going to make 2024 a better one! Our 2023 was something truly different and not anything I would have imagined. Our wanderlust took over and we ended up buying an RV, letting the lease lapse on our apartment, putting our stuff in storage, and set off to travel the country. We’ve been learning the RV

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