Tomorrow Lisa and I will have our taxes prepared and finalized FREE by an AARP-certified-and-authorized tax preparation assistant at the Puyallup Senior Center. I may owe a little, or I may get a little back. I’m right on the cusp, so don’t know. No biggy, either way. I have enough in savings to pay more if I need to. It won’t be much, either way. I’m pretty goos at estimating my taxes. I have to pay quaterly estimated taxes every four months. Well, I have had to up through this year.
Next year, in Costa Rica, I will not be a writer for hire anymore except for one long-time client who only uses me a little bit and keeps me on retainer. I usually make about $3600 with her every year.
Other than that, what will come in reliably (T-Rex and Fusk shenanigans notwithstanding, one must hope!) will be Social Security and two puny small pensions, one of them $363.75/month, the other $66.61/month. Those two smaller pensions will pay almost 100% for a casita rental in Costa Rica. I might even be able to splurge and rent a larger place (larger than 450 square feet), but I certainly don’t need much room indoors. I will only be sleeping and indoors during the night hours. Otherwise, I expect I’ll be out and about, sitting on a porch or verandeh watching the wildlife! WHEEE!
I only plan to take six boxes of items when I go, plus Charli (mi gato) and a carry-on including a foldable litter pan and some litter in case we have a layover and she needs to evacuate.
HURRY THURSDAY!
I’m eager for Thursday to arrive because I ordered two large blank books to put lots of pix in that I want to keep and take with me to Costa Rica. I was able to burn most of the pages of my 181 journals but there were some pages and original images/photos that I couldn’t bring myself to burn, even though they’re captured in the PDF files. I want books I can actually hold in my hands and thumb through when I feel like reminiscing…
What else?
- Sandy King is going to try to get me a featured reading gig at Creative Colloquy. That’s super great!
- I have a book reading/signing event on June 11th at 6 pm at King’s books. The particulars about that appeared in yesterday’s blog post.
- Three more garage sales on Saturdays in February before I take a break for at least two months.
- Proceeding with my evening Spanish lessons; feeling good about my progress.
- I’m getting some online Kelley/Trek sales, too.
So, my move out/fly out savings are growing like Topsy. Downsizing is interesting. When you realize you no longer need to buy anything to get where you’re going (or to keep you where you’re staying) money accrues little by little each month.
I just ordered a good pair of hiking boots and snake gaiters for them for Costa Rica, plus a decent cooking/frying pan. Other than those things, I have everything I need and I’m good to go!
All I’m buying now is goat, hen and cat food (other than my own food and gasoline and mortgage payment!) The hens need greens and other goodies because they’ve denuded their pasture and it won’t be recovering for a good three months yet. Fortunately, there’s a great discount place near me that sells great looking and tasting produce for a lot less than grocery stores do, so I only have to spend about $20/week to supplement the hens and goats.
