September has opened up surprisingly cool, and with the right amount of luck and prayer I hope to never see mid-80's again this year. I also received a $200-something refund check for paying too much into my mortgage escrow account, and that is free money in my book. And since stocks are still playing low, I went in for another $200 Dow, $200 Paychex, and $400 Intel. With banks paying less than 1% for 2-year CDs, you might as well take a shot at the stock market. Again, this is money to finance my years from 60-62, so I'm looking for a nice 10-year payoff. As it stands right now, those two years would be running at about $23/day. And I can always tap the stocks early if I need to. With interest and growth, maybe I'll actually have a few extra bucks to kick around...get one of them fancy old-people scooters. * * * It rained half of the Memorial Day weekend, and I love lying in the truck and listening to the rain, and imagining I am far away from the life I live now. The other half of the long weekend the temperatures soared to 90, and I did my best to stay out of that aluminum oven. Nevertheless, I managed to put up more wire shelving along the interior side. Paid off another credit card. Not much else as far as the truck goes. I took a good look at the 3-battery electrical system, and it's going to need a major overhaul. In fact, one battery cable is so corroded, it disentegrated. I think sometime in the next few months, I'll take it to the RV shop and tell them to fix everything, which will probably include three new batteries. If I stayed employed that long, of course. The company I work for announced 400 layoffs would happen before the end of the month. This could change everything. It will probably be a quiet month for me - as far as posting progress - simply because I am waking up every day wondering if today is the day I get laid off. What a miserable way to go through life. I suppose the only answer for me in this instance, would be to put the house on the market a year earlier. It will mean working a WHOLE LOT LONGER than I had planned. But that's how plans go, I guess. This month also marks the first month I could literally finance my hippie-gypsy-life if I could only sell my house for what I paid back in 2006. We're still not in any kind of housing recovery where I could expect that kind of money, but with a little luck on the employment-thing, the light at the end of the tunnel is closer and brighter. I paid $295k for the house, and what I need to hit the road - as you can see below - is finally below that. You know, when April 2012 rolls around, I might only need about $280k, and I'd still have guitars, baseball cards and my other crap to sell - or take to a larger city to sell. Assuming I'm still employed at the same place, it will be quite tempting to jump the gun in Spring 2012, and get on with things. And yet, seeing these numbers, it's obvious 2012 could be the year I sit tight and put a considerable amount of money away. And be far ahead of $22/day. But first, to survive the job cuts (and the murmerings of another at year-end). * * * My Zero is $256,099.36. My Dream Sale Price for all my possessions is $293,717.68. October 2011 "Eighth Year In Dreamland" Monk Gets A Box |