New and obsessed

[Cheli]

We've been brainwashed to believe that the beautiful home and all the things are the keys to "success" and happiness, then we realize that either we aren't like most folks, or we've been lied to all of our lives because we've done everything by the book and still aren't content.
If you're lucky you come to that realization sooner rather than later - I'm fifty-two and just recently got it.  Now I have a lifetime of lessons in the form of wasted money and time that I'll never recover, but the best I can do is take those lessons to heart and stop chasing the dream that was never really mine to begin with.  I plan to spend the winter sorting through twenty-plus years worth of treasures and sell it all, along with the house in the spring.

Well said!  I am 46 and when I first started feeling like want to get rid of it all and travel I thought I was too old.  But I have come across so many blogs about other women doing the same thing and many are much older than me which is so inspiring.  Part of me thinks that they have just been able to retire and travel to enjoy retirement so I feel like I have to put in another 20 years of work to "earn" my retirement travel.  But as you've just said, we've been brainwashed.  I can totally make money on the road and enjoy my life now rather then wait until retirement.

 

[mayble]

That a girl!
You can always make more money, but you can never make more time
My plan is to buy a van or small motorhome and stay in the area and at my job.  
This lets me do two things:
A. Find out just how much (or how little) it really takes to get along, and  
B. Save everything else.
At some point I will find that I've saved enough to cover the time left until I can collect social security and my piddly little 401(k) savings.  That could be a year, it could be three years, or it could be that I find living in a small space doesn't suit me after all.  Maybe the dog will object.  Who knows?  What matters is that change is needed and change will happen.
Good luck to you!

 

[Almost There]

Well said!  I am 46 and when I first started feeling like want to get rid of it all and travel I thought I was too old.  But I have come across so many blogs about other women doing the same thing and many are much older than me which is so inspiring.  Part of me thinks that they have just been able to retire and travel to enjoy retirement so I feel like I have to put in another 20 years of work to "earn" my retirement travel.  But as you've just said, we've been brainwashed.  I can totally make money on the road and enjoy my life now rather then wait until retirement.

I'm a day away from freedom as a retiree but I lived on the road for 14 glorious years making a living selling products that I made.

They were truly the best years of my life and I would do them all over again if I wasn't collecting just enough pension money to make it possible for me not to have to work.

The only problem I ran into on the road was one of logistics. If I was making enough money then I didn't have the time to be sightseeing but when I wasn't selling enough product then I had time on my hands but no money to go and do things.

If you can support yourself on the road and have the desire to do so, then by all means don't wait for that magic retirement age to do so. Life is too short to sit and wait!!