Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Our count down has ended. We fly to our Naples forever home today, the first of winter.
Temperature high in New Jersey today will be 60F Naples 69F funny how things work.
Wife is very, very stressed out due to us flying with our two cats for the first time.
A co worker told us about these cat whips that are used to clam the cats by whipping inside the carrier.
We shall see hate to be that guy everyone's looking at with crying kids. Yes I will have a double bloody Mary willy nelson inserted. The pod container days are a killer 30 stairs up and down. You find out how many friends you really have. Seems I did not have many friends after all .
Time to make new ones. I have an up beat attitude and making an effort to slow down .
Merry Christmas form family thank you for your wisdom This has been a life changing year.
On the lighter side company took me to Atlantic city for a over night send off, including comedy club
the last guy on stage was making fun of everyone until he went to work on me. Mistake . I got more laughs than he did . Always remember if you can't laugh at your self- make fun of other people .
We got rid of 2/3rds of our stuff. We donated it to 3 places taking the max tax write off. We sold a lot through the best high-end consignment shop around near our home up North, we gave some to neighbors, and we threw a lot away.
We took our favorite/best stuff w/ us to FLA in a 24' rental truck (I packed & loaded everything I could lift, then hired labor to load large items. I drove the truck to FLA and did same in FLA. We sold 1 car, and drove just 1 into FLA.
We knew these furnishings would not look great in a Florida home, but instead we looked upon it all as functional, and still useful until we had a chance to build a new home and re-furnish it based upon the space we'd have. We are still using it on our newly built home 2 years after loading it into the truck, so it helped defer some costs and spaced out our to-do list.
We rented a unfurnished Villa that was larger than we'd need so we could use it as a temp place to live AND as a mini storage warehouse for stuff we'd need in the new home, but not in the villa. We filled up 1/2 of a 2 car garage, and 1 entire bedroom with boxes and other stuff. The rest of our stuff we used in the Villa while shopping for our new home. This all saved us an added move, and the cost of mini storage warehouse, and deferred the cost of new stuff, and avoided buying new stuff for our temp FLA place that might not fit in the new home we had built.
I wrote in to the 1 year Villa lease that we had the option to go month to month thereafter, and that turned out to be a life saver. It took us longer to find new home and have it built than we thought it would, so we wound up in the Villa for 18 months instead of the 12 months. This 6 months of month to month saved us from having to move all of our stuff 3 times instead of just 2.
We are just now starting to replace the non FLA looking stuff we brought down 2 years ago w/ FLA themed furnishings. We can do it at our leisure since we still have our old stuff to use instead of having to rush around to fill a totally empty place. We can wait for sales, order from catalogues and wait 6 weeks for it to arrive, and make sure we get exactly what we want at the price point we want to spend. We didn't want have to rush this replacement phase.
Each decision you make is dependant upon how much you are able and wiling to do, budget considerations, how much stuff you just cannot let go of, and how much time you have to complete each step in the process.
I hope some of this is helpful. We are younger retirees (in our 50's), so packing, loading, driving truck, unpacking, unloading, was not an issue for us. If we were 65+, we would have disposed of everything we couldnt fit into 1 SUV, and replace all new down here. We'd have rented a furnshed Vila instead of unfurnished.
We got rid of 2/3rds of our stuff. We donated it to 3 places taking the max tax write off. We sold a lot through the best high-end consignment shop around near our home up North, we gave some to neighbors, and we threw a lot away.
We took our favorite/best stuff w/ us to FLA in a 24' rental truck (I packed & loaded everything I could lift, then hired labor to load large items. I drove the truck to FLA and did same in FLA. We sold 1 car, and drove just 1 into FLA.
We knew these furnishings would not look great in a Florida home, but instead we looked upon it all as functional, and still useful until we had a chance to build a new home and re-furnish it based upon the space we'd have. We are still using it on our newly built home 2 years after loading it into the truck, so it helped defer some costs and spaced out our to-do list.
We rented a unfurnished Villa that was larger than we'd need so we could use it as a temp place to live AND as a mini storage warehouse for stuff we'd need in the new home, but not in the villa. We filled up 1/2 of a 2 car garage, and 1 entire bedroom with boxes and other stuff. The rest of our stuff we used in the Villa while shopping for our new home. This all saved us an added move, and the cost of mini storage warehouse, and deferred the cost of new stuff, and avoided buying new stuff for our temp FLA place that might not fit in the new home we had built.
I wrote in to the 1 year Villa lease that we had the option to go month to month thereafter, and that turned out to be a life saver. It took us longer to find new home and have it built than we thought it would, so we wound up in the Villa for 18 months instead of the 12 months. This 6 months of month to month saved us from having to move all of our stuff 3 times instead of just 2.
We are just now starting to replace the non FLA looking stuff we brought down 2 years ago w/ FLA themed furnishings. We can do it at our leisure since we still have our old stuff to use instead of having to rush around to fill a totally empty place. We can wait for sales, order from catalogues and wait 6 weeks for it to arrive, and make sure we get exactly what we want at the price point we want to spend. We didn't want have to rush this replacement phase.
Each decision you make is dependant upon how much you are able and wiling to do, budget considerations, how much stuff you just cannot let go of, and how much time you have to complete each step in the process.
I hope some of this is helpful. We are younger retirees (in our 50's), so packing, loading, driving truck, unpacking, unloading, was not an issue for us. If we were 65+, we would have disposed of everything we couldnt fit into 1 SUV, and replace all new down here. We'd have rented a furnshed Vila instead of unfurnished.
Perfect plan. When we built our house in GGE 20 years ago, we did a very similar thing. We didn't get rid of a lot of our stuff, though, because we were moving 5.5 miles away, and didn't have too much heavy furniture yet.
We were living in GGC, and sold our old house before they even knocked down a tree on the new lot, so our realtor found us a rental house a few blocks away. We negotiated a 6 month lease with month to month afterwards, which, like you, was a life saver. Of course, the build went longer than planned, and we ended up staying there for a little over 8 months.
We left all of the stuff we could do without packed and stored in the garage and a spare room in the rental, including a non running, mostly disassembled '66 GTO project car .
We were in our early 30's at the time, so with the help of a few friends, we moved everything from the old house to the rental house ourselves, making multiple trips. When we moved into our new house, we hired a mover for the heavy furniture, but moved all of the boxes etc. in my pickup, again making multiple trips.
We're planning a move out of Naples in a few months, and I've been going through (mostly hobby related) stuff in the shed and garage for the last month or so. I've given away a bunch already, sold some stuff, and tossed even more. It doesn't look like I've even made a dent yet! The scrap metal guy is my new best friend, as he's hauled away at least 1000 lbs of stuff in the last few weeks.
We're not 100% sure where we are gonna end up, but we're gonna try not to rent this time, and make it one move. We're looking at the outskirts of Orlando, so it's close enough that I can make multiple trips with my pickup and cargo trailer for my hobby stuff and tools that I am definitely gonna keep.
We'll definitely have movers for the few large, heavy furniture items that we're gonna keep, which is basically a MBR set, dining room set, a curio cabinet I built, kitchen table, and a few end tables, chairs and couches etc. Everything else is gonna be donated, given away or tossed.
Last edited by Tripower455; 12-23-2018 at 09:31 AM..
Doesn't it make you wonder WHY did we buy all that stuff in the 1st place? I think we all got caught up in the materialistic society of consumption a bit too much. Now, before we buy anything non-consumable, we think long and hard about that purchase. Unless its an appliance, I won't even consider buying anything I cannot move or lift.
I suggest keeping the hobby stuff. There's a lot of time to fill in retirement, especially after you settle in. That's why I participate on C-D, and picked up a new sport down here. I still do my own yard work too which saves $, helps to keep me fit and consumes time in a fullfilling way. meeting new friends is a lot of fun too.
You'll love it down here. Just don't talk politics...that's why I do all that here...ananomyously
Doesn't it make you wonder WHY did we buy all that stuff in the 1st place? I think we all got caught up in the materialistic society of consumption a bit too much. Now, before we buy anything non-consumable, we think long and hard about that purchase. Unless its an appliance, I won't even consider buying anything I cannot move or lift.
Most of the things I am getting rid of are just things I've collected along the way for the last 30+ years. The car stuff alone weighed close to half a ton. I've also donated a bunch of my old PA gear (I have a band). I still have to unload some guitar amps, but I am not sure if I want to!
Quote:
I suggest keeping the hobby stuff. There's a lot of time to fill in retirement, especially after you settle in.
I am definitely keeping my hobby stuff. Unfortunately, I've got another 11 years before I retire, which is one of the main reasons we're leaving Naples.
Quote:
That's why I participate on C-D, and picked up a new sport down here. I still do my own yard work too which saves $, helps to keep me fit and consumes time in a fullfilling way. meeting new friends is a lot of fun too.
You'll love it down here. Just don't talk politics...that's why I do all that here...ananomyously
I used to love it down here. The unfettered growth has killed most of what I liked about living here. It used to be worth the commute, but not these days. It's definitely not gonna get any better, so we're punching out of Naples after 30+ years here. If I could comfortably retire, we'd probably just stay here and deal with it, but the commute to MCO is killing me these days, so we're moving closer.
Merry Christmas or which ever holiday tradition you celebrate Tripower455.
Sorry, I misunderstood. I thought your were moving down, not up.
We looked hard at Naples, but there were too many people, cars, traffic, and the home prices per square foot seemed too high compared to Sarasota County where we are now. I still work some, but luckily I can work from anywhere.
My wife lived in Orlando as a young career striver (~30 years ago) in banking, and thought it was okay, but didn't care to look there when we started exploring Florida for our return (I lived in Florida 2x prior so this is my 3rd return). We love the beach.
Anyways, it sounds like the growth of Naples and having to drive to MCO has worn you down. Best of luck on your next chapter, and let us know how it goes.
Merry Christmas or which ever holiday tradition you celebrate Tripower455.
Merry Belated Christmas to you too!
Quote:
Sorry, I misunderstood. I thought your were moving down, not up.
No worries. Most folks on here do just that.
Quote:
We looked hard at Naples, but there were too many people, cars, traffic, and the home prices per square foot seemed too high compared to Sarasota County where we are now. I still work some, but luckily I can work from anywhere.
My wife lived in Orlando as a young career striver (~30 years ago) in banking, and thought it was okay, but didn't care to look there when we started exploring Florida for our return (I lived in Florida 2x prior so this is my 3rd return). We love the beach.
Other than when I was in college in PA, I've never in my life lived more than 8 miles from salt water. We used to do a lot of kayaking, fishing, beach camping etc., but the last 10 years or so, it's been getting so crowded on the beach and in the water, that you can't get away from it like we used to.
The red tide this year has kept us away from the water since May, which is definitely a record for us and was pretty much the straw that broke the camel's back, WRT the decision to move.
Quote:
Anyways, it sounds like the growth of Naples and having to drive to MCO has worn you down. Best of luck on your next chapter, and let us know how it goes.
Yup. The commute has never been easy, even when we had flights between RSW and MCO, as that brings its own set of issues.
It used to be that the only consistently sticky parts of the drive were from Winter Haven to MCO. With all of the development (without corresponding improvements in the road infrastructure) in the last 4 years or so, with the exception of the "middle" part of the drive up 17, it's all bad, especially in the daytime.
I loathe Orlando, but that's where my job is. As I said earlier, living in Naples was worth the commute for many years. Nowadays, not so much, and all signs point to it getting nothing but worse. If I am going to have to deal with unfettered growth ruining my quality of life, I might as well drive under an hour vs. 2:45-5:00 hours each way I am doing now.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
. 
