Hi Legendsk,
Thanks for the info. I understand and agree with what you are saying. I opened my own business at one point too, but fortunately had the luxury of having a husband with a full time income - also an engineer! I'm and R.N. and I was self-employed for several years as a medical case manager, making about $75 K /year. At one point we decided I would not work so we positioned ourselves financially for me to quit. We never skipped a beat! I eventually went back to work and wanted to try my hand at real estate and it was profitable. I did that about 5 years before my husband transferred to CA, I did not pursue real estate here. Never missed the $. Now, with my husband retiring, we will be cutting our (his) salary in half. The one thing we learned a LOOOONG time ago..."the more you make, the more you spend". We really aren't high maintenance people. When I mentioned taking the items from the credit card to determine our budget, I was referencing cost of food, entertainment(which I cut in 1/2), fuel(which I increased) etc. When we sold our house, we moved from 2400 sf to 1000, without even one look back. We sold a lot of stuff and plan another downsize after the 1st of the year. We are only keeping a few of our nicer pieces of furniture for now. It doesn't take much for us to be happy...a good hiking trail and a sandwich and we are in heaven! Having said that, perhaps our projected budget is lofty! I hope that is true, but if its not, then we won't be shocked!