South Central Oklahoma Farmhouse

[Pat]

Gary, while I appreciate Jazz's coming to my defense I understand your reference. I recall clearly a class I took as undergrad comp sci student. The prof was a Navy commander in charge of Balboa Naval Hospital Computer stuff. The class was assembly language programing of the 8086 chip (precursor to pentium.) The commander's comment to me regarding my assignments was that if he ordered a VW bug I would deliver a Cadillac.

I'm familiar with " feature creep", undocumented enhancements, and lots of other cute terms but in many instances I'm just finishing up what I would have hired done if the costs of materials had not gone up by a factor of 2 to 3 during construction, putting us way over our budget and not getting all the finish detail done.

I do have a problem where I tend to think, gee, I can do that myself or I can buy the tools to do that cheaper than hiring it done and do it myself and then have the neat tool(s.) Unfortunately although I can do just about any of the tasks to be done, I can't do ALL the tasks in aggregate in my life expectancy even being optimistic. Although I have achieved that degree of enlightenment in a knowledge format I am having difficulty acting in an appropriate manner as regards actually hiring out some jobs. I am beginning to move a little in that direction and will have a plumber out to trench a line, put in frost free hydrants at the hay barn/corral, fix a leak due to shrinking dirt during drought, and replace a length of water line from the well that got eaten by dozer work. I could do any or all of this myself but hiring it done will give me time to do a bunch of other things I don';t want to hire done.

It isn't easy! There needs to be a 12 step (or 144 step) program for folks like me who try to do it all themselves when better management practice would be to do what you are best at and or enjoy and hire out what you don't like or jobs whose skills are likely to not be needed much so there would be little or no ROI for learning how to do them.

Gee, maybe the first step toward a cure or control at least is recognizing I have the problem and it needs to be addressed!

Pat

[JazzDad]

We fast-forward this thread to January 7, 2025:

Hello all. The great-great grandkids flew over in their Daimler-Toyota today to help me install the nuclear-powered garbage disposal. Ever since the North American Community adopted metric standards, it's been so hard to make repairs to the old things, like those items I installed way back in 2004. And the taxes assessed by the NAC on each of my ponds are unbelievable. Recently, we were informed that the liquid we used in the radiant floor heating system causes cancer. That was a big financial set-back, seeing that Social Security ended 10 years ago. Pat

(OK, it's your turn to run with this...)

[jml755]

It'll probably be a subdivision by then. [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] ......... And Pat will be rich(er).

[Pat]

I have no expectations of ever being as rich as I was before I built this house.

Every little bit helps though. I recently signed up for Social Security and just a few days ago got my first check. MY full payment date was 2 years away and we calculated it would take too long to break if I waited to get the full amount. I should have already signed up! I could get $20 a month more by waiting two years. It would take a long time at $20 a month to equal two years of payments even at the itsy bitsy amount I qualify for.

I get $250/month. My wife does not get Social Security but will get Medicare as will I. After paying for the Medicare I will have almost $2/day left over to spend any way I want! I could save it up and hire some help for an hour or two every few months or drive to town once a week! IF I only add 2 trips per month I will have enough left over for a soda at the Sonic.

Pat

[jml755]

Pat,
I can retire at 66 (in 9 yrs) at full SS. Looking at the difference in $$$ (per SSA's estimates) leads me to want to work the extra years after I'm first eligible. In fact, I wouldn't mind working past it if my health/circumstances allow. Of course, that's my thinking TODAY. I've heard of others who have done the calculations as you have done and come to the same conclusion as you. I guess I'll get out the calculator as I get closer to 62. However, I will still have 1 daughter in college then, so the bank account may make the decision for me. [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

Also, with my luck, Uncle Sam will probably declare SS insolvent the day I apply.

I'd like to get my retirement home built & paid for before 65. Don't think I can afford anything like the place you've built, but looking at your project has given me a lot of food for thought.

PS.
For extra income, you could turn this thread into a "how-to" book.

[Pat]

JML, I took early retirement in spite of the reduced payments and my SS being so small ($250 PER MONTH.) It would take a long time to hit the break even point.

Two years at $250/month is $6000. It would take 25 years to hit the break even point. So I'd rather have less but have it now rather than wait 2 years to start getting anything and then another 25 years to hit break even and start to pull ahead. If/when I am over 90, what difference would it make to me if I got $20 a month more? By then inflation will have made that about equal to a movie ticket (without popcorn), not a first run movie with real star power but a so so movie.

If you get more realistic and do a net present value calculation to determine the value of the money now vs later and include realistic inflation and interest rates, taking the money now is an even better deal (IN MY CASE.) If I had payed attention I would have signed up sooner, as soon as possible probably. If you really think the SS system will be allowed to go broke, even more incentive for getting what you can as soon as you can.

Even worse, Uncle Sam may proclaim the SS system broke the day after you apply or the due date of your first check so you will have wasted more time and have also built up expectations. [img]/forums/images/icons/wink.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/icons/wink.gif[/img]

Of course a college student is yet another consideration. Building your retirement home and getting it debt free if at all possible prior to retirement is worth staying plugged into the system (matrix?) a while longer for. I did it the other way round but... I built in south-central Oklahoma and my job was in San Diego. A bit of a commute. I did try to get a job out here but, well frankly there wasn't much available in federal civil service oui here at my level and that matched my background, experience, or training.

With careful attention to detail you may be able to build something similar to what I did, maybe just not quite so large. Size does not automatically translate into quality.

I paid up front for good heating and air conditioning using all steel ducts and well engineered solutions. This will pay dividends for the rest of my life and for years into the future and end up cheaper in the long run for me and the next occupants as well as being very comfortable.

When I specified the HVAC for my mom's house, the builder's standard system was electric heat and an A/C unit sharing ducts and air handler. Cheapest to install but expensive to operate. For a few hundred you could upgrade to a heat pump and for a few hundred more to a high SEER heat pump. I did the calculations and got a break even time of less than 3 years on the upgrade to the high SEER heat pump. After which until the unit wore out or needed major repairs it would save lots of $. It cost under 1/2 as much to heat and cool the house with the high SEER unit and extra insulation (insulation cost figured in for all options.)

The real deal is usually pay me now or pay me more later. The cheapest systems solutions are rarely the least cost over the life of the equipment. You need to figure the install cost, operation and maint cost over the estimated life time of each candidate system. Typically the cheapest up front costs so much more to operate and maintain that well within the life of the system you will have been $ ahead by far to NOT go cheap. Actually going cheap when considering TOTAL LIFECYCLE COSTS usually has yo buying better equipment.

Pat

[Pat]

This is the corner cabinet in the SW corner of the tea room, finally!

Pat

[Pat]

Here is the NW corner cabinet...

Next comes floor to ceiling adjustable display shelves running from the NW Corner Cabinet to the SW Corner Cabinet. (Spare time permitting, of course.)

Pat

[egon]

Nice looking work Pat. [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img] In you spare time?

Truly a retiree who retired ??? [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img] ???

To architecture, project manager, rancher, farmer, fish farmer, lumberjack, mill operator, carpenter, furniture maker and ??? maybe candlestick maker? [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

Egon [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

[Pat]

Egon, I gave my extensive collection of candle molds away when we moved to Oklahoma co no linger am I a candlestick maker. I did build a thermostatically controlled candle wax melter that I installed in the Mayco store in Beverly Hills for making multi-colored multi-layered carved candles.

Now to my topic:

I started out to build wooden (mostly MDF with soime real wood) shelves and supports at the west end of my wife's Tea room. Recall the built in drawers and the two corner cabinets? The next Tea room project was to put the floor to ceiling wall to wall display shelves on the west wall.

I started out in MDF and real wood but ended up coating the west wall with 3/4 inch plywood attached to the wall with screws into the studs. This gives me a 3/4 inch thick wood surface to which I can attach shelf supports with no regard for stud locations. I had more than enough complications for my wood working skill level without having to be limited to studs on 16 inch centers.

I switched course and went with vertical metal prefinished slotted tracks to take prefinished metal shelf supports. I trimmed the edges of the 3/4 ply with some trim I cut out of old two by lumber. The brass octagon accent (inspired in my subconsciouis by watching too many reruns of Stargate SG-1) came out OK. At least SWMBO likes it.

This picture is the "before." Next post is the after.