Is The Shop Good Enough?

Janderso

Janderso

Jeff Anderson
H-M Platinum Supporter
Joined
Mar 26, 2018
Messages
8,406
I’m sure many of you envy someone‘s shop. It’s bigger and has better machine tools.
The home is nicer in a better part of town.
My wife and I settled for a home in a suburb in Chico Ca. It’s a growing College town. We have a housing shortage so prices are high.
Land is very high.
The home we lost in 2018 was on an acre in the foothills. We miss the space but don’t miss being evacuated for fire drills.
I retire in two years. My wife is a retired educator.
We have struggled with the decision to invest more money n this house to make it more comfortable to our needs.
You know, tear out the bathroom in the master bath and install a walk in shower with new sinks, toilet, cabinetry.
The kitchen has good appliances but needs stone counters and a new sink.
The house needs to be painted. We put on a new roof.
I love my shop. The more I make it my own, I don’t want to start over. I have some really nice used machine tools.
We have invested in professional Landscaping and the grandkids love the pool.
We are debt free. If we move we would only do it to upgrade, which means more money.
I kind of like putting a big hunk of money in savings every month.
Is it good enough? I’m beginning to think so.
Thanks for listening.
 
End of the day are you comfortable? Does your walls and roof keep out wind and water? Are you warm in Winter? Do you eat well every day? Do you have some nice toys to play with so you don't get bored? If you can say yes to these things count your blessings and enjoy life.
 
Janderso said:
We have struggled with the decision to invest more money n this house to make it more comfortable to our needs.
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Jeff - it really sounds like "you've got it made," especially being debt free. The good news for the future is that, having decided not to move again, you don't have to be worried that your proposed home improvements will pay off when you sell the house. You and your wife are doing it for your own comfort - investing in yourselves, as it were. That's a nice place to be.
 
Janderso said:
I am comforted by your comments.
Life will throw you a curve when you were expecting a knuckle ball
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Or a change up, or a fastball, or a slider, or an eephus pitch........................................... It's a wonderful life, just handle the pitches as best you can.
 
I learned long ago that there's always someone who has something bigger, newer, fancier, and with more space. The key to me is live within your means, and be happy with what you have. My wife and I have lamented from time to time that we didn't buy some acreage out in the boonies and build a big house with a detached shop and garage for the toys. Then we quickly come to our senses and realize that we're luckier than most to be able to live where we do and do the things we like. Like you we still sometimes dream, but then realize that if we really did want to do anything more than dream we would be doing it.

There are lots of guys around here that have bigger shops with bigger and newer machinery. They don't seem to be any better machinists for it, and certainly don't seem to be any happier. There's an old saying "He who dies with the most toys wins". I'm not sure I subscribe to that theory. I'm more inclined to believe "He who has the most fun with those machines is the winner".

As for the house, we built our current one 33 years ago thinking it would be all we'd ever need. As time goes on "needs" and interests change. I never considered a machine shop at the time. I had all the machining I could handle where I worked, and we had plenty of other projects and interests to keep us busy for the limited time we had off the job. We've done most of the things that were on our "bucket list", long before anyone thought of calling it a bucket list. Being retired and spending more time at home we went through a small remodeling phase a couple years ago. Mainly a new kitchen, dinette, and master bath. We're happy the way it turned out and will probably not need any more "improvements" for several more years.

Rising prices are something you'll probably never get used to. Across the board most things have doubled, tripled, or more since we bought our first of anything. As a kid my parents first house cost around $5,000.00. Today you can't buy a cheap car for that price. The "average" price for a new home around here today is in the $400,000.00 range. Speaking of cars, the first new one I bought was less than $2,500.00. I was at the Ford dealer yesterday getting some work done on my truck and see the New Expeditions go for over $75,000.00 and the Lincoln Navigators are over $95,000.00.

Bottom line is at some point you have to be happy with what you have. Spend within your means, and have enough of a cushion that if something does go wrong you won't be on the street wondering what happened. You've already survived more than most people will ever want to go through. Enjoy what you have and learn from what you went through.
 
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