Three Days of Retirement

Last week I had three days off, thanks to the crazy 64 hour shift I worked at both jobs. Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday were my days off, and I got a glimpse of what retired life would be.

I didn’t get out of bed until at least 11:00am. I spent the days driving around in excellent weather going back and forth to Home Depot or Lowes buying supplies for property Chi. I drove Sha and his wife Sonia around as they looked for a dress for her to wear at her cousin’s wedding. We ate food, we talked about real estate and dick, and then I just hung out at home. I drove around to check out my properties to make sure they look good. On Thursday night I had pizza with Sha at his security job, where he sits in his car and watches Criminal Intent all night. After that, I went over to check out the bathroom job that Carver did at property Beta and it looked amazing:

Molded Bathroom with everything wrong

Removed the molded wood and boarded up the window with Sheetrock

With the window closed, Carver dropped the ceiling 6 inches to install a vent

Removing the original tub surround and sheetrock of an almost 100 year old house usually yields this result

Blurry, but new sheetrock installed after eliminating the mold

Brand New Bathroom with beautiful tub surround and tacky blood red paint

The great thing about this was that I only had to pay for the materials. After reviewing the great job he did, I went home and my vacation days were done.

You see? See where I’m going with this? Retirement doesn’t mean that I’m not going to work. Managing properties is no easy task, but it’s the freedom I have to set my own schedule and do things the way I want without worrying about getting fired or written up. THAT’S life. I went to bed each of those nights with a big smile on my face. I slept, woke up, and slept again. It felt… right. There was something I noticed, though…

I wasted a lot of time driving back and forth to places. If I had a planned schedule, things would have been easier for me and I’d have had much more free time. This, I believe, is why it’s so important to get my organizing skills correct while I’m still working these jobs. Using Smart Receipt, Quicken Rental Property Manager (still learning Quicken), and utilizing my calendar on my phone makes it easier to live life. Imagine how much easier life would be if I didn’t have these jobs and I had my retired life organized! I could set up appointments between 11am and 3pm. Anything extra would have to wait until the next day (unless it’s an emergency).

A life without paycheck jobs is beautiful and the only thing I don’t mind living for. I work these jobs and I slave away to make the money needed to buy these properties, and it’s all worth it as long as it leads to my kind of freedom. A freedom where I get to do things my way. A freedom in which I set up the rules and regulations. A freedom that makes life worth living for a little while. Oh yeah, I’d live for that.

P.S.: Carver of property Beta also told me that, since there's a baby in the house, I can get free windows thanks to HUD's lead program. I'm gonna sign the forms this weekend and see how things go. If this works out, I'll have a great way to get free windows in future properties. Hmm... now that I think of it, I should have done that with the Africans before they left. I could have finally had a use for them. Oh well...