Over the past year, David and I have been diligently looking for ways to prepare for retirement. There’s a lot to unpack in that one sentence, but today I thought I would share a bit about what we are doing.

Full retirement (as in David not working at all) is not something we expect to achieve any time soon. (Truthfully, I don’t see either of us never working at all but that’s another post.) David will be 62 and I will be 58 this spring. Due to a generous buyout a few months ago, he is now collecting his pension from Meijer. It was not our plan to start it this soon, but (as with many buyouts) it was by far the best choice. We are working out the details of the best time for him to start drawing his Social Security. He could start in a few months. That’s another post.

What we have been doing is simplifying as many things as we can with an eye toward the future. I’ve already discussed the fact that we are greatly reducing what we have in the house in Finish the Job Week. That’s gone through various waves over the past year. For the past 4-6 weeks, I’ve been focusing on paperwork as I find time to fit it in. We purchased a new paper shredder as ours was old and small. This one makes it much easier. We’ve gotten behind on getting rid of old paperwork and so I am dealing with that off and on during the week.

Fellowes PowerShred P-30C 6 Sheet Cross-Cut Deskside Paper Shredder for The Home Office

We’re also asking ourselves how we want to simplify things with our business. As I said, David will not be quitting work any time soon. Unless something unexpected happens, he will be working at least until probably 67 which is another five years. He enjoys his work and since he is self-employed at home, it’s a low stress situation. He’s not in a position where his work takes a physical or mental toll on him like so many people are who are truly and legitimately desperate to retire. (You can see our business website here: David & Sallie.)

Because we’ve had our own business from home since 2001 and we’ve always homeschooled, we’ve had enormous amounts of time together as a family. Many people want to retire because they don’t see their family enough. That isn’t an issue for us. 

That’s not to say all is rosy, however. We have financial ground to make up. One of the ways we are doing that is asking ourselves about every aspect of the business and if X, Y, or Z will get us to our goal more quickly or slow us down. 

Continue to maintain my printables shop even though big tech has really done a number on small businesses like mine? Yes, it’s still worth it and should be worth it for the next five years. It’s mostly passive income at this point since we’ve already done so much of the work. I continue to add new products from time to time as well. 

Deal with changes at Etsy so I can continue to sell some of my printables in my Etsy shop? Yes, at this point it is still worth it. My sales increased substantially over the past year when I added another line of my products. Again, I’m not even making a part-time income there. But a steady trickle of sales of products I’ve long since created provides a little passive income each month. If Etsy survives the next five years, it will be another little boost. 

Continue to promote Amazon via affiliate links in posts and maintain a recommendations storefront? Yes, it is worth it. It’s not nearly as much as it was in the past, but it is still money that drops into our business account each month. Over five years it will be enough to be worth it. 

And so it goes. 

Every effort toward increasing our income as we work toward retirement is time well spent.