If there’s a good reason, I don’t mind withdrawing from my Roth. I don’t think I need to ask my advisor either. Advisor can give bad advice too. But definitely no budget for more savings either. However, I rather not waste money at this stage. I’m not super focus on money in retirement, I’m more focusing on maintaining my health and doing things I enjoy doing. Hence I do not frequent financial forums anymore. It can be tiring worrying about SWR, 1%, 2%, 3%, or 4%, so I don’t really care.
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Yes, we have had to adjust to the spending pattern of being retired vs. the saving pattern before then for as you say the past 40+ years. It is not easy to change your thinking 180 degrees after so long.
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Sorry about the previous ramblings on building inspectors, but I did mean to make a thread-related point. One reason we wanted to build a new home was to ensure, to the best of our ability, that we wouldn’t be faced with being displaced due to storm damage or have to deal with unplanned major remodeling and the associated expenses. We felt more confident about estimating our ongoing expenses in retirement after setting aside funds to spend upfront on things such as a Fortified Silver roof, impact/wind rated windows and doors, etc. to reduce the chance of unpleasant surprises.
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We recently downsized and currently have inspectors at our “under-contract” former home. Waiting for the report this week but nervous.
We tried to id and fix everything but we will see. The upstairs HVAC quit cooling the day before inspection…The buyers paid a decent due diligence fee and presumably have locked into a mortgage that might rise so we have a bit of leverage if they are unreasonable.
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Fingers crossed for you. 
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Silpat - that’s an interesting approach to building a retirement house - investing in quality components so to reduce the risk of pricey surprises (not covered by insurance) in later years when income is fixed. I hadn’t focused on that as much.
Has anyone thought of installing/building solar to keep home utility costs more manageable/standardized in years ahead?
Along those lines…a friend got on the waiting list for a car w/a lot of self-driving capabilities - thinking that would give her mobility and independence in years to come!
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We bought our current AZ home in a community that is used as a solar farm by our electricity provider. Solar was a must for us when looking to downsize to a retirement property. It cut our electric costs to less than a third of our previous non-solar home. Now that we’re in Maine for the summer, we’re avoiding summer cooling costs in AZ almost completely (last month’s bill was $15). We turn our thermostat off during the winter.
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My husband would love that. Something else for me to research after the move.
As far as solar, the idea appeals greatly. Unfortunately, where we live the utility company has the politicians in its back pocket and it can’t be done. We’re hoping that ICF, closed cell spray foam the attic, and other features will keep our heating and cooling costs reasonable.
When we landscape in the fall we plan to use drought tolerant plants. We had four large rain barrels connected to the gutters of our old house that the buyers wrote into the contract. I’m looking at improved versions of the same.
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I’m surprised that you can completely turn off thermostat during the winter in ME or during the summer in AZ. Wouldn’t excessive heat or cold be detrimental to everything in the house (not to mention the potential for frozen pipes in the winter in ME)?
We completely shut everything off in our cottage in the winter, which involves getting all of the air out of our pipes (we are on a well). It works. However, I imagine there must be some minimum a/c necessary in summer in AZ. My in laws were up north for the summer when their a/c died in Augusta, GA. What a moldy, mildewy mess they found!
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A wi-fi connected thermostat is a must for those splitting time between houses, and I agree, if you are not draining water etc., many places call for winter heat, but 45 would work. I think it is better for everything inside if you maintain a lowest low and highest high. I go with 45F low and 85F high when we are away.
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Yes, we turn everything off completely in the cabin for the winter. All water is flushed from the pipes, and all drains and toilets are filled with anti-freeze. This is standard procedure for seasonal Maine cottages and cabins.
We don’t turn the thermostat off in the summer in AZ (it’s set to 85 degrees while we’re gone), but we are able to turn it off for the winter with occasional use should the temps reach freezing which they seldom do.
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We leave our vacation home for 4 months (December to April) and leave the heat at 45F. Works well–we’re in MA (Cape and Islands).
We actually don’t have heat in our cottage, so we don’t have a choice! It’s on an island that can’t be accessed late October-mid April. Of course, the newest residents are installing heat & central air in the cottages that they are remodeling into places nicer than my primary residence … guess if you have a $100,000 tritoon boat on an inland lake, heat & a/c are expected luxuries! 
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Not solar, but we switched to geothermal to save money long term. We expect to be in this house 20 years and it’s expensive to heat and cool. We needed a new AC and possibly furnace and could not switch to gas so we went geothermal. Cost is about 20% of old cost. Savings means we’ll make money in year 6 ( that’s with oil at 2.75/gallon). Since prices are likely to be higher for heating oil it might be 4 years to pay it off.
Our next thing is to put in solar to offset the costs left over. Ideally, we’ll have no heating/cooling costs in retirement.
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Haven’t looked at solar yet, but when we did a major reno of our retirement house, we set it up to be able to live on one floor, made the doorways wide enough for a wheelchair, and used high quality vinyl siding and Azek trim boards on the outside so that I will never have to dirty a paint brush again to paint the house.
In the not too distant future my deck and railing will be replaced with synthetic materials and a cable railing so I will never have to stain the deck again either.
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How deep do they dig to install geothermal?
My utility bills are not very expensive. I pay about $30 on average per month for gas, $100 on average per month for electricity, and very efficient rate for water.
But one my relatives has a pool, so he installed some kind of solar with battery, he also has a Tesla.
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There are two different ways to install the loops. Mine go down two wells as opposed to doing loops along the ground. I’m.not sure how deep the loops along the ground go but my two wells are 400’ deep.
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They can do it two ways, either 4-5 feet if it’s a horizontal install (you need to have a big yard/field) or 30-50 feet if it’s a vertical install. Both can easily be fixed if there’s a problem. We did the 4.5 foot install as we have a friend who dug the rows for us. The only thing we were afraid of is shale/hard rock. We live near the ocean so it’s usually easy digging but one can hit a ledge. According to the install people, most people do the vertical since they don’t have the land. There are more urban/suburban install than rural areas.
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