While I was working, I saved a portion of each paycheck to eventually use for travel in retirement.  That time has come! I had to cash-in a portion of my IRA to cover some mounting credit card debt from all the traveling we’ve been doing.  With my wife still working, it’s highly taxed and I’m not really getting the benefit of deferring it all these years.  It’s rewarding to know that I saved the money, but there’s a certain sense of guilt in withdrawing it from my nest egg.

When you’re not earning a salary and putting money into investment accounts, it just doesn’t feel right to spend it, even though it’s what you saved for.  I justify my actions by reasoning that my wife’s future savings will more than counter the loss, and I won’t have to pay the credit card interest. However, I still have that unsettled feeling of coming a little closer to running out of money with a lot of living to do.

I knew that the first year of retirement would involve a great deal of travel and it’s related expense. Before the year is over, we will have gone nearly 50,000 out-of-town miles and have spent nearly 80 nights on the road. That’s nearly $5,000 in pet sitting alone!  Next year will be equally as busy, with trips planned to Amsterdam, Venice, Croatia, Athens, Mexico, Hawaii, Vancouver, Florida, Los Angeles, Indiana, and New York. I thought that I had put together a travel budget that would not eat so much into my IRA, but I’m beginning to worry.  What else do I have to do now…but worry?

I won’t be spending any money today.  Normally, it would be Date Night, but my wife was anxious to dine at Langbaan, a tiny Portland restaurant that is closed on Wednesdays.  I was finally able to get a reservation for tomorrow night, a process that has taken several months.  My wife had initially put herself on their waiting list, but when they have an opening they give you only 15 minutes to respond.  She missed several texts and eventually gave me the job.  Finally, after several near misses, while we were in New York last week I was able to get back to them and secured the long-sought-after table.  It’s the most heroic thing I’ve done for her in some time, and she’s quite excited to go there.  It, of course, will be well over the budgeted Date Night expense.

I cooked a pork shoulder in the crock pot for last night’s dinner, using Ray’s barbeque sauce and Coca-Cola.  She handed out candy bars to about seven groups of Trick or Treaters.  Apparently, it was the first time in nearly a decade that it hasn’t rained here in Portland on Halloween night, so to have this many costumed beggars was a pleasant surprise.  We don’t live in a neighborhood where there are a lot of children and expectations were low until the first ring of the doorbell.  My cooking night had recently been shifted to Date Night, so with this week’s schedule changes, I’m totally confused on what day it is.  I do know that Friday night is the Tedeschi Trucks Band and Saturday morning I leave early for a baseball memorabilia show in Seattle, so it will be a busy weekend.

Movember is here, so we can expect a lot of hairy mugs by Thanksgiving.  I will not be participating again this year due to lack of facial hair, but several of my friends will show-off their manhood.  A pink October has just passed us by, and now it’s time for men’s health concerns.  I did schedule a doctor’s appointment for December so I can say good-bye to my physician, who is joining me in this lazy world of retirement.  I’m closing in on my first full year, and hoping that next year will be even better, but I might need to win the lottery.