As a retiree, my needs have become a lot more clear, and I seem to buy less of what I crave and more of what I require.

Ebbs and Flows of Money

Thaddeus taught me through example two important things about dealing with money:

1. Find a style of living that is satisfying and don’t get caught up in the idea that more will make it better.
2. When finances are good, spend on those things you want and/or need, when finances are bad, spend only on those things you absolutely need.

Two very simple ideas that have allowed us to live a simply satisfying life and retire comfortably.

Toward the end of my working years, finances were good, so we were able to get many of the things we wanted.  Having acquired items such as a computer that would be sufficient for many years, or a car that would last for quite a while worked out well so we could make sure that retirement savings would be sufficient during the first couple of years of retirement.

So far, it seems we’re doing better than planned…which is what I’d hoped for.

As luck would have it, I chanced upon this lovely bit of fiber at a local artisan fair while on vacation on Martha’s Vineyard.

It’s 5 ounces of Border Leicester roving…the wool was from sheep raised by the vendorRichard And Carol Tripp Farms) and it was also hand-dyed by them.  It wasn’t really a big splurge for me, and I was extremely satisfied by supporting a local wool producer.  Plus, it will spin up beautifully…don’t you think?

I also have been yearning for a tablet so that I can read the news more easily than on my computer or phone.  So we purchased this earlier this week.

It’s a Samsung Tab A 10.1″ tablet with a 32 GB microSD card that comes with the “bundle.”

With an iPhone and a laptop, I debated how much I really needed this and then Costco put it on sale for this week, and it seemed a no-brainer that it was time to buy it.  No, it’s not an iPad.  No, it doesn’t come with an S-Pen.  No, it’s not the 32GB version.  I didn’t need any of that and I didn’t anticipate that I’d need any of that in the foreseeable future.  It’s not austerity measures in any way, but it seems to meet that criteria of not exceeding a simply satisfying lifestyle and finances don’t call for austerity.

Finally, I also received this in the mail from WEBS.

For those of you following, Franklin has designed a knitted version of his bawdy sheep friend, Dolores and his famous knitting designer friends have designed various knitted outfits for her to wear.  I plan on owning all of them and this yarn is the Amy Herzog design for Dolores’ Fair Isle Pullover (including the lovely parasol to keep Dolores virgin-white even on sunny days).

I haven’t knit Dolores yet and won’t get to Amy’s design soon either…but I wanted to make sure I owned it.

Current Knitting

With the Old Shale Wrap having a hank of yarn gone missing, I started a new Knitted Cross Stitch Scarf.

I am loving this color combination.

I also did locate the missing hank of Persimmon Tree Farm and made a little more progress on the Old Shale Wrap.

It’s a beautiful yarn and will make a gorgeous wrap.  Both projects are knitting up quickly.