A year ago I composed a rambling collection of thoughts titled “Picturing Retirement”. For anyone who reads it, I apologize for how poorly it’s structured… even I shook my head when I recently re-read it. Yes, I could have gone back and cleaned it up, but I prefer to keep it as is, to encourage me to improve.
I’m a year closer to retiring and I’m starting to define how I would like it to be. As I previously mentioned, I’m not a fan of my current geographical location or the climate, and intend to relocate when I do retire. A couple years ago I purchased a small piece of property in a region of the country that is vastly different from where I am now. Unlike here, the property is located in a region that has all four seasons… that also includes snow. The summer months average in the upper 70’s and occasionally reach the low 80’s, and unlike here, humidity and heat-index are foreign terms. There is an abundance of wildlife and outdoor activities in the area and all major conveniences and big-box stores are within what I consider to be a reasonable distance.
The property is undeveloped land, though electricity is at the property line, property owners need to make arrangements for water and sewage, which typically consist of a well and septic system. I try to be a good steward of the environment, and I like the idea of having a home that is environmentally friendly and not dependent on a utility infrastructure system. Since I still have a couple more years to go, I consider this to be the “feasibility study” phase regarding just how energy independent my future home can be. Where I currently live, all of the homes are 100% electric. In recent years I have noticed the increasing instability of the electrical grid in this area. During the peak summer months electricity will often go out for varying amounts of time due to high demand. In the winter, power disruptions do occur, but not as frequently as in the summer. Keeping this in mind, when I consider the mechanical infrastructure of my future home, I would like to have a multi-source solution.
As part of my feasibility study, I’m collecting information and researching the possibility of rainwater and snow melt harvesting and solar as my primary sources for water and electricity. In order to evaluate these potentials, I created a spreadsheet to record monthly rain precipitation and snow melt data as reported by the National Centers for Environmental Information website for the area the property is located, along with my current monthly water utilization. I also created a spreadsheet to record my monthly electricity usage in order to determine the size and capacity of the solar system needed. One variable I have to take into consideration is my youngest daughter, she is with me 50% of the time every month. I can’t simply take my current monthly water and electric usage data and divide it in half because the amounts she uses is unknown. I prefer to error on the side of caution so I’m using a rather conservative multiplier to adjust the monthly usage totals. Once I retire it will just be me a majority of the the time so my resource consumption will be lower. Another aspect I intend to incorporate for the mechanical system of the house is propane. Doing so will allow me to eliminate all appliances and mechanical systems requiring 220 volts, which will provide several advantages; it will simplify the electrical wiring of the house and reduce the required size of the solar system. Incorporating propane will allow me to cook, and produce and use hot water… provided the pressure tank remains above the minimum operating pressure, without being dependent on electricity. Wood stoves are commonly used for heat during the winter months and I intend to install a wood cook stove instead. By installing a wood cook stove, this one item will provide multiple benefits. Not only will it serve as a source for heat for the home in the winter, it will also reduce electric and propane use when cooking. Since wood stoves are used almost 24 hours a day during the winter months, having a wood cook stove instead means the stove and oven would be ready to use almost any time of day during the winter. The summer months would be when the gas stove and oven would be used most.
I’m making adjustments now to be more mindful of how I currently live regarding my water and electric consumption. I have several Dietz lanterns that I originally acquired for emergency lighting during power outages. I have recently started using them more frequently in the evenings instead of the wired house lighting. I find the softer light they produce to be tranquil and relaxing. I’m confident that my water and electric consumption will be even less once I retire due to constraints of my current living environment. Air-conditioning in the summer, heat in the winter, and the hot water heater are the largest consumptions of electricity in my current home. In the future, I won’t have the need for air-conditioning in the summer and I won’t need a furnace in the winter, and if I use an on-demand propane water heater I can save even further.
I’ve only just started planning and I’m sure I will make numerous decision changes along the way, but I’m excited for what the future holds and the vision I have of it. I know the next few years will pass by quickly and before I know it, I’ll be sitting by a fire, reflecting on the journey my life has taken that ended me up where I’ll be at that time.
It will be a busy life, but I believe I will find it to also be a relaxing life. It will be a life defined on my terms, at my pace.
Life is only as complicated as we make it, allow it to be, or falsely convince ourselves….