Our move to Hawaii didn't happen overnight. It was a little seed that was planted 10-15 years ago while sitting on our favorite beach in Hawaii. I made a comment about how wonderful it would be to retire here and we could go to the beach any day. With our vacation over, reality took hold and we returned to our Midwestern routines, our three children and their endless activities. With college costs looming in the near future, our fantasy of living in paradise evaporated.
Fast forward ten years when Hubby retired from his second career. We were in the transition process of less money and more "at home" time. Hubby and I knew we wanted to move from the Midwest, but had not decided where we could move to.
Our defining moment to move to Hawaii came about the time my Mother in law turned 90. She has spent most of her adult life living on Oahu. We felt this was a good time to make the move to be closer to her. From that moment on, we focused on how we were going to make this move happen. We started small by eliminating non-essential items such as XM radio, OnStar, our warehouse club, newspaper and magazines. Once we realize the loss of these items didn't affect the quality of life, we slowly continue deleting other costs.
The thought of downsizing our 4 bedroom house to a one bedroom condo was overwhelming. What would we do with all our belongings?
Until next time...
