First, a picture of the best Ile Flottante in Paris, from Restaurant Georgette:
We travelled to Paris in the off-season, and before we left I checked Trip Advisor for the best Ile Flottante because that is Mrs. Nosurprisesretirement’s favorite French dessert. Ile Flottante is basically a delicious soft meringue (the ile or island) floating (French flotte – to float) on an even more delicious custard.
The overwhelming sentiment on Trip Advisor was for Georgette and they were right. Take a walk from the Left Bank Sorbonne area across the Jardin du Luxembourg and you’re there.
Check Point One – Budgeting (Dollars)
Thinking back to our budgeting post, ‘Oops, or New Year Fiscal Fitness’, we discussed using a spreadsheet for budgeting and tracking. We ended up trying the ‘Personal Budget Planner – Extended’ and have been satisfied, especially because I did not have to develop the spreadsheet myself.
Positives:
-we have been tracking a very high percentage of expenditures, so the ‘actual’ portion of the budget v. actual tracking is accurate
-the budgeting experience was enlightening (a polite word for occasionally opposing and sometimes loud opinions) as we determined what to include and at what amount
-actual v. budget tracking is available for any given month.
Negatives:
-the comparison feature does not support a year to date comparison of spending to budget
-the available rows for budgeting may cause you to combine budget items on a single row (likely not a problem for most people, but I wanted a lot of individual tracking).
The tracking has been going well and I would recommend this spreadsheet. In areas where we go over budget, we often learn we under-allocated at the budget level. Surprisingly, since we track ‘everything’, the ‘pocket money’ budget line is always almost 100% under budget!
So far it seems like our retirement budget could be appropriate and achievable, barring any bad surprises.
And now a picture of the finest Indian Taco in Phoenix from The Fry Bread House:
The Fry Bread house is a small but popular establishment in central Phoenix. We can definitely recommend any of their fry-bread tacos (or ‘fry-bread sweets’ desserts!) and the rich and spicy green chile stew.
Check Point Two – Fitness (Sense)
In the ‘What Was I Thinking’ post I talked about exercise and flexibility. On the plus side, I have been relatively active, especially with walking in the neighborhood since the weather got nicer. I document my activity on a free phone app called Microsoft OneNote, so I actually know where I stand v. my goals. On the minus side, I have not met my goal of 30 minutes 4 times per week as much as I wanted.
Here is ‘The Drummer’, (1989-90), B. Flanagan (Wales); Hirschhorn Sculpture Garden, Washington, DC:
Note – not a great sun angle on the photo, because we were there in the off-season! No crowds, so it was like a private sculpture garden on the Mall! Also, it seems like all the museums in DC are free – excellent deal!
Funtirement!
Funtirement is my daughter’s name for when I take a Friday off for my own three-day weekend. This week for Funtirement, I used the firm’s preventive care benefit and went to the clinic for a science experiment. It turned out well and it looks like I only need the ‘experiment’ every five years now.
Actions you can take include:
-Do your own mid-year checkpoint. What’s going well and what could you improve? Remember, perfect is the enemy of the good.
And if you have not seen the “Why you should read this blog…WIIFY” post, it’s here.
Questions, comments, or suggestions for retirement surprise areas you want to know more about?
-Leave a comment
-Use ‘Contact’, above, to send an email.
No Surprises Retirement 