A few weeks ago, I wrote “How To Move Your Retirement From Good To Great“, the story of why we’re relocating just 13 months after downsizing to our dream retirement cabin. That article has proven to be one of my more popular posts, with over 6k views since it was published. While it’s a story of relocating, it’s really a broader message about being intentional in moving your retirement from Good To Great.
Given the popularity of the topic, I’ve decided to build on the theme and will be presenting a series of articles on the issue of moving your retirement from Good To Great.
Today, as Part 2 of the “Good To Great” Series, I present “How To Move Your Retirement From Good To Great In 7 Days”, a story in which I share 8 lessons learned while moving from our “Good Cabin” To our “Great Cabin” over the past week. These lessons will help you Achieve A Great Retirement, and apply broadly to many aspects of retirement planning.
A Week's Worth Of Lessons To Make Your Retirement Great! Click To TweetEach lesson is given on the day of the week it was discovered. I’m also adding more pictures than “usual” to let you experience firsthand the events that led to these lessons.
I hope you enjoy the approach.
So with that….we’re off.
For your reference, below are links to Parts 1 and 3 in this “Good To Great” series:
- Part 1: Moving From Good To Great: Why we’re downsizing again, after only 13 months.
- Part 3: When A Home Sale Explodes: sons learned during a week of moving.
7 Days To A Great Retirement! Click To Tweet
I took vacation last week to begin our relocation from our “Good Cabin” to our “Great Cabin”. My vacation officially started on Friday, but I left the office early enough on Thursday to meet “The Barn Guy”. I didn’t have a choice, really. It was all part of The Plan.
That’s where our first lesson begins:
Thursday: Lesson 1 - Plan Ahead. Click To Tweet
This move was complicated. We had a ton of things we wanted to get done before we moved into the “Great Cabin”, and they had to be done in sequence. We had planned the details for weeks and had lined up all of the contractors in their appropriate time slots.
As an example, we ordered an awesome 10′ x 16′ shed, which is now my workshop man cave. The plan was for the shed to be placed in the back of our property, an area that would be inaccessible after the fence crew built our dog run on Monday. Therefore, our first step was getting this big shed delivered and set up, prior to the fence being built:
The best-laid plans do, sometimes, go awry.
We had planned for the shed delivery on Friday afternoon, following our scheduled closing on the property.
Unfortunately, Friday’s forecast called for rain.
And that shed had to be transported via forklift down a 100 yard long, sloping yard. They construct the sheds at their factory, then ship them as a completed unit. They’re experts at moving big sheds around, and can do amazing things when it comes to manipulating an 8,000-pound building into place:
But….They Can’t Do It In The Rain.
With rain forecast for Friday (and given the criticality of the shed being in place before the fence) we hesitatingly agreed to have the shed installed on Thursday, even though we didn’t officially close on the property until Friday! We knew the homeowners weren’t around (they live in Florida), so we took a chance.
Sometimes, you’ve got to take some risks to keep your plan moving forward.
As a final closer to the “Plan Ahead” lesson, below is a completed picture of the installed fencing / Dog Run, the stairs we had built to access the dog run from the main deck, and the final position of the shed in the back yard.
It was a busy week, but due to effective planning, we got it all done!
“Plan Ahead” – The Broader Lesson
Just as our move from Good To Great required a lot of pre-planning, so does your retirement. Take the time before your retirement becomes a reality to do some detailed planning. Figure out where you want to live, what you want to do, what your Purpose will be. Spend some vacation time in “retirement mode”, and get a sense for how your life will be. Make adjustments now, as necessary, while you’re still working and have time on your side.
If you’re already in retirement, revisit your plan. What’s on your horizon? Are you planning for it? What changes do you want to make to move your retirement from Good To Great? Plan for it, and make it happen.
Friday: Lesson 2 - Get Your Finances Right Click To Tweet
Friday was our scheduled closing date, and we made the deadline!! (Good thing, since we already had a shed installed on the property!). We’ve moved 9 times, and I don’t ever recall a mortgage company being as difficult to deal with as the one we used for this move.
Throughout the process, every request from the mortgage company was responded to immediately, with all of the requested information. They were completely unorganized and barraged us with all kinds of duplicate requests very late in the process. I won’t belabor the point, but I can’t imagine how much worse the experience would have been had I not had our “Finances Right”, and knew where everything was that they were asking for.
Amazingly, we closed without having the $ wire deposited from our mortgage company (“The check’s wire’s in the mail air)! Ah, the benefits of living in a small town, where the attorneys and realtors know each other as friends, and they find ways to get things done in spite of incompetent mortgage companies! BTW, our realtor Dana @ NorthEastGeorgiaProperties, deserves a huge shout out for all of her help during our closing process, she’s a true star!
“Getting Your Finances Right” means thinking through every major decision, and ensuring you’ve considered and optimized the financial detail behind it. As we plan for retirement, it’s critical to ensure that our money is sufficient to fund the balance of our lives and that we optimize every decision with retirement cash flow in mind.
The point is this: get your finances in order, know where things are, and do your best to ensure that any decision you make will increase your chances of meeting your retirement cash flow needs.
That’s what “Getting Your Finances Right” looks like to me.
“Get Your Finances Right” – The Broader Lesson
Retirement’s about a lot more than money, but money certainly dominates a fair bit of the discussion. Don’t retire until you know your finances are right. Make decisions now that will create the best options for you in the future.
Have a strategy for your Safe Withdrawal Rate, know which funds you’re going to pull from in which order, and know how you’re going to Create A Retirement Paycheck from your assets.
Get Your Finances Right with all things retirement-related in your final 1-3 years of work. Don’t wait until you retire. Know your numbers before you retire. If you’re still 3+ years from retirement, know your numbers and have a plan, but realize you have time on your side and can afford to be a bit less precise in your calculations.
If you’re already retired, make sure you’re tracking progress, and adjusting your withdrawal rate annually, as required. Keep track of your flight while it’s in progress, and make adjustments along the way.
Saturday: Lesson 3 - Family First Click To Tweet
On Friday, my brother-in-law was flying in for a one week visit on his vacation. It’d been planned months ago, and I’d scheduled my vacation to be off while he was visiting.
All of that was before we knew we were going to buy a new cabin and that the closing was going to be scheduled one day before he arrived.
In retrospect, it was perfect timing. I was home for both his visit and during a critical time in our cabin moving process. We worked it out, and it worked out well.
Saturday was “Family First”.
By design, we put everything move related “On Hold”, and dedicated Saturday to family. We drove 5 hours round trip to the nearest aiport (yes, we live in the sticks), and drove straight through Atlanta, a huge metropolitan area known for it’s horrendous traffic twice in the process (North to South, and South to North).
It was a great day.
We hadn’t seen my brother-in-law in a year, and we really like him. We had a great day and week together. He and my wife left on Wednesday to attend a Marine Boot Camp graduation for his Son. I had taken the week of vacation to visit with Bro while he was here, and dog sit while my wife made her trip to Boot Camp. It worked out beautifully.
“Family First” – The Broader Lesson
Know your priorities in life, and keep them in the right order. Family matters more than house or money and should be treated as such. Invest your time and energy in maintaining your family relationships, and give the folks you love the priority they deserve. Your retirement, and your life, will be better for it.
Sunday: Lesson 4 - Leave A Legacy Click To Tweet
Sunday was Mother’s Day, and we were blessed to have our 22-year old daughter make the 6 hour round trip drive to spend a day with her Mom (Dad just bummed along and took pictures, this was Mother’s Day, after all).
Daughter, Mother, and Grandmother had a wonderful Mother’s Day lunch, with the son visiting from out of state the perfect touch to make this a day to honor Mom.
It was fun.
It made me think of the legacy we’ll leave.
My Mother-In-Law is one of the dearest Christian women on the face of this earth. She has an absolute heart of gold and has been giving, caring and generous her entire life. She’s now in a nursing home in our “mountain town” with Alzheimer’s, and remains pleasant and content to this day. The staff often comment how they wish every resident were as pleasant as my Mother-In-Law.
That’s A Legacy.
“Leave A Legacy” – The Broader Lesson
More important than your retirement is the Legacy you’ll someday leave behind. Have you thought about what your Legacy will be? Are you being intentional about building something that will last beyond your lifetime? Spend some time thinking about your Purpose as you prepare for, and live in retirement.
What’s your Legacy going to be?
Monday: Lesson 5 - See The Forest, Not The Trees Click To Tweet
Monday, and I was eager to get going with the move. We don’t have our F250 yet (that’s coming this Fall/Winter), so we purchased a small utility trailer to pull with our 2011 Hyundai Sonata. The money we’re saving in moving costs pays for the trailer, and it’ll be handy to have around for years to come:
Buried In The Trees
Monday started with a bang. My Brother-In-Law helped me load up a trailer at the “Good” cabin, and we headed off to unload it at the “Great” Cabin. By 11:00, we’d knocked off our first trailer load of the move (MANY more to come…man, this stuff’s exhausting!).
As agreed, my Brother-In-Law and my wife went off to visit Mom in the nursing home and do some site seeing in the afternoon. He was on vacation, after all, and we really didn’t want to have him spend it having him help us move.
I tackled Trailer #2 Solo.
It was ugly.
It starts getting hot in Georgia in May, and it was a warm afternoon as I carried 20 boxes up from the basement at “Good”, onto the trailer, made the short drive from the “Good To Great” cabin, and repeated the process back up the stairs at “Great” (the first move was my office, which happens to be upstairs.)
The World Headquarters came together nicely on Monday, but it was too much.
I must have climbed 100 flights of stairs in <5 hours.
I was exhausted.
I was hot.
I was miserable.
I was crabby.
Look At The Forest Instead
My wife knew I was exhausted and had overdone it. We had a good chat on Monday night and realized this wasn’t the way to go about it. We had agreed to make this an enjoyable, drawn out move (“The Forest”). We had intentionally held off putting our “Good Cabin” on the market to ensure we had plenty of enjoyable, non-rushed time to make the move.
But I Got Stuck In The Trees
I got too focused on needing to get 2 trailer loads/day moved during my vacation. It was a goal, and I was driving for it. I made it, but I’d lost sight of the forest. I just wanted to kill that “2 Loads Per Day” Tree that was looming in front of me.
On Tuesday, we made an intentional change of course, as you’ll see in the next lesson.
“See The Forest, Not The Trees” – The Broader Lesson
As you prepare for and live in retirement, establish overarching priorities and keep them in perspective. Keep “The Forest” in view, and don’t get too hung up on “The Trees”. Your life won’t go according to plan, and it’s important to keep perspective on the broader picture.
Tuesday: Lesson 6 - Adjust & Improve Click To Tweet
On Tuesday, we made an adjustment. Rather that targeting 2 trailer loads/day, we agreed to do only 1 trailer per day and to get the 1 trailer done in the morning before the Georgia furnace kicked into high gear.
In the afternoons, we’d do something “Fun” and “Vacationy” (is that a word?).
Tuesday morning, we completed Trailer 1 in the morning and made it home for lunch.
In the afternoon, we went to the beautiful Swinging Bridge on the nearby Benton MacKaye Trail, and enjoyed this view from the bridge:
The Toccoa River from The Swinging Bridge (hike with Bro)
Life was a lot better on Tuesday than it was on Monday.
We had Adjusted and Improved.
We prioritized carving out time for “fun”, and even spent a few hours at our local dog rescue charity, where my wife and I volunteer. We wanted my Brother-In-Law to get a sense of our charity work, and he enjoyed an afternoon working at “The Sanctuary”. I walked as many dogs as possible, and fell in love with this guy, Thunder:
“Adjust & Improve” – The Broader Lesson
Realize that your retirement will be a period of adjustment, and be intentional about “checking in” and making tweaks to your plan. Continually explore ways to move your retirement from Good To Great, and experiment with changes in your routine. Modify your goals as appropriate (e.g., “Move 2 Trailers/Day” to “Move 1 Trailer/Day”), and make time for fun and adventure.
Wednesday: Lesson 7 - Invest In Your Hobbies, But Carefully Click To Tweet
On Wednesday, my wife and her Brother headed out of town to the Marine Graduation ceremony, and I was alone. After moving 1 trailer load in the morning, I was browsing around a local Facebook Yard Sale site and came across this beauty:
I’ve been wanting to explore mountain biking as a retirement hobby, especially after my fantastic mountain biking experience last summer with a French guy and a Brazilian guy.
But, I’m cheap.
I don’t like spending a lot of money on “toys”, especially if I’m not sure that I’ll use them. Craigslist (or, in this case, a Facebook Yard Sale page) to the rescue! After a few text messages, I met up with the seller in a nearby parking lot, and the deal was done.
I now have an inexpensive mountain bike to play around with, and time to decide how serious I’ll be about the hobby. With a small investment of only $50, I can play. I can experiment.
“Invest In Your Hobbies, But Carefully” – The Broader Lesson
When you retire, you’re going to have a lot more time on your hands. Fill it with things that interest you, and begin exploring different options during your final few years of work. But do it carefully. Don’t blow $$$ on something you’re not sure you’re going to be committed to. Find a way to play around at a low-cost point.
- Rent a house for a week in your potential retirement town.
- Take a vacation to do something you’ve always considered doing (photography tours, scuba, bike riding, hiking)
- Take a class
- Buy a cheap bike
Thursday: Bonus Lesson - Get Some R & R Click To Tweet
After an intensive session of effort, find time to Rest & Relax. Even God rested on the 7th day, and I suspect he has more energy than you. Take a hint, and take a break.
By Thursday, I was tired. I had worked hard all week. I decided to take it easy and explore the area around our newfound home. After taking a light load to the new cabin on Thursday morning, I took the afternoon off.
I planned on exploring the trails behind our house with my new mountain bike, but hit a major snag:
That’s ok, I was relaxed. This was my “easy day”, and I wasn’t going to be discouraged. After taking a conference call from work (hey, it was a meeting with our CEO, I figured I’d be wise to attend), I decided to change my plans and headed for a swim.
Fortunately, this wonderful lake and beach area is only 4.1 miles from our new cabin, and I had an amazing swim (I’m currently in training for my Lake Michigan Rematch With The Dolphin on June 6th!).
“Get Some R & R” – The Broader Lesson
Retirement planning is a marathon, not a sprint. If all goes well, you’ll be in retirement for 30+ years, so take your time. Build time into your schedule to Rest & Relax, and give yourself time to recover after periods of intense activity.
Conclusion
It’s a lot of work moving from Good To Great. Don’t merely “go along” and accept a Good Retirement. Work to make it Great. Apply the 8 lessons summarized below for your own retirement, and increase the odds of having A Great Retirement. You’ve worked hard for it, now’s the time to make it the best it can be!
8 Lessons For A Great Retirement
- Plan Ahead
- Get Your Finances Right
- Family First
- Leave A Legacy
- See The Forest, Not The Trees
- Adjust & Improve
- Invest In Your Hobbies, But Carefully
- Get Some R & R
What About You?
Are there any lessons which come to mind that should be added to the list? Which of the 8 most “speaks” to you? I look forward to your thoughts in the comments.
First off, Congratulations! Woohoo! Happy for Jackie and you, and the dogs too, nice run area for them.
Awesome lessons! They are all so good one doesn’t speak more to me than the others. We need to plan but we need to be flexible and adjust. We need to do the work but we need to keep family front & center, take time for hobbies and R&R. We need to step back sometimes and make sure we are on the right path. All excellent points.
Great post, Fritz, and great move! Thanks for sharing your experience all the pictures.
Thanks for the congrats, Amy. The dogs LOVE the new place, it’s been great exploring the trails in the woods with them (we found our way to the river!!). Glad you liked the pics, went a little crazy on this one, but figured they added to the story!
You’re a lucky man with those three gorgeous ladies in your life! I hope you and the Mrs. have many happy years in the “great” house.
Adjust and improve speaks to me. Mr. G and I are constantly adjusting. An example has been our land search. We’ve been forced to widen the location — there aren’t as many unrestricted lots available as we had hoped.
Much food for thought here — thanks for the post!
I am a lucky man, indeed, Mrs. G! Beautiful woman, all. Good luck with the land search, I think you’re making a wise choice by widening the target area. Keep us posted, rooting for you!! Thanks for the note.
Great post…gave me a lot to ponder as I follow in your footsteps by a few short years! BTW, what lake is that? Looks like a great beach!
Greg, glad I’m paving the trail for you, hope you can learn from my mistakes! The lake is absolutely gorgeous, it’s Lake Blue Ridge, near the GA/TN border. Feels like our own little slice of Switzerland, and I LOVE looking over at those mountains while swimming. You’ll have to stop by and visit some day, it really is a beautiful area. I may even be tempted to call it “Great”!
New to your blog, and really enjoying it so far. Congrats on the move!
I can identify with all your lessons, but I especially like #6. Adjust and Improve. It reminds me of a quote, I believe from a Daniel Deutsch book:
“Problems are inevitable and temporary.”
I wrote this down and taped it on my bathroom mirror. It puts things like spilled cereal, pulled hamstrings, and delayed home improvement projects in perspective.
Thanks!
Dr. C
Dr C, welcome to the club!! Glad to have you here, and appreciate you leaving a comment! I’m glad to see I’m not the only one who tapes stuff to my bathroom mirror!! Love the quote from DD, definitely “Mirror Worthy”! Thanks for stopping by!
Congratulations on the new, great cabin adventure. Loved the mother’s day family photo.
See the forest,not the trees.
That is probably the lesson I need to find the solution for the current lifestyle and FI challenges that we have.
Great series… Will there be a book with your last 2 years experiences? 🙂
Amber, thanks for your loyalty to my site, I always enjoy your comments! Funny you mention a book. I’ve long wanted to write one, but simply don’t have the time. Perhaps a project to put on my Retirement Bucket List!! I’m glad my Forest/Trees lesson “spoke” to you. Definitely important to keep the “big picture” in focus, and not get too distracted by the smaller stuff! Thanks for stopping by!
This might be my favorite post to date…and I’ve been following from the start. Congratulations on your new Great retirement cabin!!! We could not be happier for you!!! LOVE that when your sweet wife saw you working yourself into the ground, that she suggested a modification to the plan. Love even more that you listened….that is one smart woman you have.
So many wonderful lessons here. I will be reading back through this as we continue to modify our retirement to become even more the “Great” one we have worked hard to have.
Giant congrats on a move well done!!!
Mona
Hey Mona! Wow, “favorite post to date” means something from you, since you’ve probably read more than 95% of my followers! Thanks for the huge compliment, and for recognizing the wisdom of my sweet wife! 😉
Excellent!! I just finished a recon of the Ga. Blue Ridge area, E. Tennessee & W. North Carolina mountain areas – all very enticing. Trying to decide whether to keep our Florida home in addition to a cabin, or cut all ties and move outright to the mountains later?! FI sanity decisions…
Ah, the dilemmas of financial freedom! I don’t think you’d go wrong in any of those areas! It’s CRAZY how many folks are moving to Blue Ridge from Florida. If this keeps up, Florida may be empty in a few years….
Good luck with your decision! We’ve decided to sell our “Good” cabin. We had considered keeping it as a rental, but decided we want simplicity at this point in our lives, and didn’t want the hassles of managing a rental property. Keep in touch, I’d be interested in hearing what you decide!
All wonderful lessons and a reminder of what’s truly important and that it all comes back to family and those important to us.
A lesson for me, which is embedded in your lessons, is that life planning as well as retirement planning is never a straight and unobstructed course. Occasionally, a tree blocks our path. The goal for me to remember is to not only adjust when meeting the unexpected but, as you note, to try improve on it.
I constantly need to remind myself not to be distracted when life throws one of its monkey wrenches my way but to use the experience to transform it into something better or at least just as good but different — for example, trading in a bike ride for a swim.
Much happiness to you and your wife living in your “great” new home and your new World Headquarters! Paul
Paul, you’re TWO FOR TWO! I’m going to use your OMY comment from a month or so ago in my post next week, and I’ve decided to write a post about A Tree In Your Path. If you’re ok with it, I’d love to cite your comment, yet again. Lesson #9, and I never even thought of it. Great concept, and I’m building a future post on the theme. Thanks so much for your interaction on The Retiremenet Manifesto!
You definitely have the gift of storytelling and wonderful pictures as well! Great nuggets of wisdom throughout your awesome post! I recently ERed from Megacorp and live full-time in FL…but we also have a cabin in McCaysville, GA. Definitely God’s country! Enjoy your GREAT cabin and the wonderful outside activities right outside your door!
McCaysville!! What a small world! Just a few miles up the road from our “Great” cabin! That’s CRAZY!! Thanks for the compliments on my storytelling. I’m just winging it here, but it seems to be hitting a stride! Come on by The Barking Lot any Saturday 11:00 – 3:30, my wife and I will be there with the Rescue Dogs and would love to meet you!
Would love to meet you both…and maybe we’ll bring our rescue dog as well….they are the BEST dogs!! Great that you are volunteering as well…so important to give back (I believe!)
What a fantastic blog post! I love the insight and the parallel messages re: moving and retirement. So many truths to those lessons! I especially agree with the plan ahead BUT be prepared to adjust. What I’ve learned from our recent “Good to Great” move is that no matter how prepared you are, you really can’t control some things and you just have to take a step back and breathe.
I’m happy for you and Jackie! Can’t wait to see it!
Hey Gwen, how ironic that both of us, neighbors on “The Mountain”, are moving from Good To Great within a few days of each other?? I’ll miss having you as a neighbor, but hope to plan on some nice dinners together soon. We’ll host you at our new place, you can do the same at yours? Look forward to seeing your “Great Cabin”, as well! We’ll be in touch!
Hi Fritz,
I’m enjoying your writing here tonight. Beautiful family, beautiful country, beautiful life. Thunder is adorable!!
This quote of yours, “Don’t retire until you know your finances are right…”
Reminds me of why my wife and decided 14 years ago – we never wanted to retire, so we chose something we could do from home and do even when our bodies were frail.
B
Brent, if you can’t retire early, best to find something you love and don’t mind doing until you’re old! That’s why it’s called “Personal” Finance, it’s 100% Personal, and I’m glad you’ve found a solution that works for you! Thanks for your comment, always fascinating to see how folks address the retirement planning issue.
Congrats on the move to the great cabin, Fritz! It looks like an amazing property and I can’t wait until you build that amazing water feature (complete with step by step instructions). 😉
I love all the lessons here, but the one I needed most today is “See the forest, not the trees”. I’ve been so focused on the trees lately, it’s time to broaden my perspective. And maybe take a little time for R&R to help this along!
I spend an inordinate amount of time these days thinking about all of the projects I’ll be doing at the “Great” cabin. It’ll certainly keep me busy when I get to the point of retirement!! (afraid I have to be patient until then!). And yes, you should find time for R&R. Life is so much better that way!
Vicki, I’m enjoying watching your journey vicariously through your blog! Love the idea of your 5-10 min progress meeting to keep things on track, and adjust as you go. Daily details get a bit overwhelming in the midst of these moves! Good luck with yours – looking forward to seeing what you decide on your rental properties!
Bravo Fritz! Both entertaining & wise counsel! You are both blessed & a blessing. What a great place to be going into the next phase of your “career”/ministry. You are inspirational and I am blessed to be going through the same transition with you. Thank you
I could totally live inside that cute barn – don’t fill it with too much crap! 🙂 Congrats on the move and your new lease on lifestyle. Seems like you are in the perfect location to take part in all your hobbies and no doubt find some new ones.
The barn’s all yours! I’ll leave some space in the middle for our cot. Hope you don’t mind the bears peeking in the windows?
“They were completely unorganized and barraged us with all kinds of duplicate requests very late in the process.”
Sadly, it’s more likely they were purposely dragging their heels in hopes of bumping up your mortgage rate.
Great post. I discovered you the other day on Stacking Benjamins..
Fritz, you knocked it out of the ballpark with this one. I am jealous of the beautiful new RM HQ office! The window to the beautiful woods outside would inspire many wonderful posts! Enjoy a well deserved, super fine retirement Sir.
Sir!? Wow, now I’m really enjoying the HQ office (looking out the window as I type this response!). Glad you enjoyed the post, I had fun writing it!
1. Beautiful family – you are blessed!
2. Vacationy definitely is a word. Every family should have their own made-up words. 🙂
3. Great find with the mountain bike!! We bike lots. It’s mostly free (after you purchase the bike) and a great way to see the countryside!!
Thoroughly enjoyed the lessons here, Fritz. Thank you!!!!!!!!!!!
Beyond the lessons, one thing I really got here is a level of inspiration from what your retirement life is looking like. The lake, the trails, the river, the biking…
Thanks for the reminder of what it can all look like Fritz!
You’re an inspiration, my friend. It’s amazing what one can accomplish when one puts one’s functioning brain to good use. This “good to great” series is a home run. I especially like the lessons of not losing focus of the family and the forest. Be mindful of f-squared and you will greatly increase your chances of leading a wonderful life. Thanks again, Fritz, for this retirement tour de force. Definitely Rockstar material.
Just a suggestion, from someone who’s lived in the Southeast for a while. You’ve got waaaaay too many trees close to your cabin. Those babies will go up in a blaze of glory with one misplaced lightening strike. If you want to keep your Great Cabin for the long haul, clear out some of that growth for safety’s sake…unless you don’t mind seeing your dream go up in smoke on of these days! (Pine trees are just giant matches waiting to be lit).
You know what made me smile the MOST out of all your pics Fritz? The picture of your family.
This good to great series really is great! I’d love for you to do a guest post on FS with more pictures and more angles to spread the word about intentional change if you’re up for it! Shoot me an email if so.
Btw, was a cement platform built for the man cave? I had to build one for my hot tub!
Sam
Yeah, it’s a pretty cool family, if I do say so myself…..
Thanks for the invite to post on your awesome site! I’m “All In”, and started writing the Guest Post last night! Thanks again for the honor, Sam. Much appreciated!
(And no, my man cave is on cement blocks…loved your post about your cement project!).