Dreaming of traveling

[Troe]

I've been watching Bob and all of you on Utube and I really think this is what I want to do. I am too young to retire, but I really don't want to wait till I'm 67 to retire! I'm currently 56 and tick tock we are not promised tomorrow. I want to see this country...and live FREE. I am spoiled and feel I must have AC..so I'm going to take baby steps and learn as much as possible FIRST.
#1 I'm going to downsize NOW. Going to have yard sales etc and get rid of everything I don't "need" and put in a FREEDOM fund.
#2 NO more buying "stuff"...I'm a huge collector of "stuff" so I'm done...in fact...I'm so convinced I want to do this...I'm going to sell my dearest collections! I have just kinda woke up...who needs all this crap! My kids won't want any of it anyway! SELL SELL SELL my new motto
#3 I'm going to continue to LEARN as much as I can about solar and boon docking..I have NEVER done that.
I just bought a cheap used popup camper before I found you guys...I just had itchy feet...so I think I'll use it to "practice" then sell....I'm going to go camping as much as possible (I still work). I have a great job...but I'm just tired of all the stress...I am a professional and earn a good living. I have savings and 401K...no debt on my home or SUV. I know I'd have to sell my home (scary) and live off that $ for several years before I can start getting SS. 
**One question that keeps haunting me...is does anyone carry health insurance?? One bad illness or accident and I'd lose my savings if I didn't have some type of health insurance..is there a company that covers nomads or travelers that is reasonable?

 

[eDJ_]

Welcome to the CRVL forums.  

I think you are doing all of the right things right now.  You are studying/researching and finding qualified people to talk with on a forum.   I would advise taking some paper and writing down a beginning plan of attack, like a business plan,  aa you are already off to a good start with that  in your post.  From there you can go to a calendar to optimize your yard sale events.  (good locations on big week ends having things in those sales that anticipate the coming season....fall/winter s.  If you start your sales in mid morning you may avoid the very early pro shoppers who will try to cherry pick your sale to stock their Flea Market Stalls they run each regular weekend.  It is a good idea not to put out all of your best stuff to start but rather hold back this good stuff and put some of it out each hour to keep your yard sale fresh....otherwise your good stuff will be gone and you'll have people wanting to give you $10 for everything that's left, they are the second wave of yard sale pro's.  Pros are often seen hovering around talking on their Cell's to others in their shopping network.  Don't forget to promote by word of mouth that you are going to have a sale so that the Pro's don't see Advertising signs and make their plans)   You want to make as much money as YOU can to have the life you want. Pro's & Chiselers won't help you meet those ends.

Otherwise if you just want to dump the stuff consider a charity.  They will come pick it up and it is a lot less work and hassle. 

As for your Health Insurances,  at 50 you can join AARP and they offer a host of policies.

AARP Health insurance

Good luck with your plans :thumbsup:

 

[Elbear1]

Its not living free. It costs money like any other life. Living free would be much better done if you go on foot.

 

[highdesertranger]

Welcome Troe to the CRVL forums! To help you learn the ins and outs of these forums, this "Tips, Tricks and Rules" post lists some helpful information to get you started.

Most of our rules boil down to two simple over-riding principles: 1) What you post should provide good information (like your introductory post), and 2) Any response to someone else's post should make them feel glad they are part of this forum community.

We look forward to hearing more from you.

highdesertranger

 

[RoamerRV428]

We did the same as you....had that 'stuff is choking us to death' moment and we were full time farmers with tons of livestock and crops and full time jobs!! We woke up one day and said OMG! DONE!

Sold the farm land, in bank for future, sold livestock, shut it all down.
We are still selling tractors and more.

Luckily for the house I am a minimalist anyway so the house doesn't have a ton of stuff. My collection of porcelain etc. horse statues and more I am giving away to horse friends who love to get them I hand my friend my $800 beautiful statue and think....why in the hell did I waste my money on that? but of course it served it purpose for my enjoying it in my life but now I wish I had like the 10K spent on my statues back LOL HA oh well

When the 'less is better' mindset hits you almost can't stand all the crap around ya anymore.
You crave the opposite of clutter which we have been downsizing like crazy from all the farm equip. etc.

We are getting closer and closer to true freedom when we sell the house and own nothing other than our bank accounts


For us since hubby took early retirement a few years ago at age 52 we could not afford the Cobra insurance at $1,800 per month for a family of 3...….so we researched like mad. ONLY insurance we could afford and keep our money was Christian Health Ministries. $450/mo plus added $275 ( for extra high all inclusive coverage) per year for family of 3 for monster great coverage. Haven't used it yet but we have 'the faith' of it all After researching them like crazy we felt this was our answer to move forward (your mileage may vary of course and not plugging this in anyway, it was OUR option to make life work)….no other ins. coverage was affordable to us out there but this one so we took the jump and said what the hell of it all......This coverage is anywhere we go. SO TIRED of being controlled by the almighty dollar and system out there so we went rogue.

So anyway, kid thru high school, 4 yrs and we sell it all. Get her set in college and away we go. You are smart to work on it all now to find what ya want in life.

For us it is no ties. Our way. And we are working right toward that.

Your popup sounds great. Try it. Use it. Enjoy it and you know what you need on the road and what ya don't.
We been rv'ing for over 35 years and we know what we want LOL.....AC is one of them. So we have a toyhauler with a genny built in. We can stop at any truck stop in high temps, throw on the genny and sleep wonderful with the AC. Boondock and have AC. We are getting older and want our comforts and we will not concede on those. We will rv the way we must rv to make us happy

I feel your post
You just keep moving forward toward what you want....all you can do and sometimes it gets 'scary' but push right thru that and go for what you desire!!!

 

[ckelly78z]

eDj...i'm not sure I agree with you about your yard sale strategy. Put everything all out at once, put a price you are willing to take, and collect the money. Make sure the price is low enough that you won't be hauling those items back into the house after the sale is over.

If I don't see something in my initial walk though of a sale, I leave, never to return for held items later on for a higher price ?!? The idea is to get rid of stuff, not so much to make money.

My MIL was rigid with her prices, and fairly steep prices also, and didn't sell most items because she wouldn't budge, so she hauled alot of useless crap back into her house hoping to have another sale later in the year.

My last garage sale, I kept moving items out into the sun in the driveway to get more attention which seemed to work, whatever didn't sell (with a few exceptions), were donated away.

 

[eDJ_]

If you only want to get rid of stuff..........I was under the impression that it was about having money to put into the travels & rig.

 

[Qxxx]

Hi Troe, no one mentioned this and I know nothing about it, but if you're in good health, you might consider looking at a "catastrophic health insurance" policy. This should be affordable for your 9 more years until Medicare, and certainly much better than Cobra. Otherwise it sounds like money isn't going to be a huge problem for you.