Hi guys. I said I'd be back by Labor Day and here I am. After a very happy and adventurous summer, I unfortunately returned home to some unpleasant news. Isn't that always the way? The first bit of startling news came in my mail. Apparently, for some strange reason, for the first time, hubby and I weren't approved for our Senior 65 Property Tax abatement so we came home to a very exhorbitant tax bill. It was an increase of 212% and hubs and I were fit to be tied! Almost immediately hubby and I trekked down to our assessor's office to inquire why the sudden burst of School Taxes (From $1977 last year to $6117 this year)? Have you fallen off your chair yet?
I did some digging and found out our NYS Governor set the 65 Senior annual income at $50,000. For some strange reason (which if I followed my gut, I'd figure out the conspiracy/corruption) our town set the limit at $43,400. This town is home to a lot of very rich retirees. So, not too many retirees, us included, would fall at or under that annual income. The assessor upon looking at both our 2024 and the 2025 statements, however, came to the same mutual conclusion that our increase was extraordinary. She is going to review everything and get back to us right after the Labor Day Holiday.
My husband, the cynic that he is, said for me NOT to get my hopes up too far. But last year, I caught the assessor in a mathematical error. We had a negative number and when she did her tax calculations, she entered said number as a positive. Thus we were declined but upon realizing her error, our Senior 65 Real Property Tax abatement was restored. So, I am hoping for the same luck/miracle this year. Fingers crossed.
In the interim, it is still unavoidable that our property value has increased (the assessor raised our home value by $158,600) and we will be paying more in both our school taxes and property taxes despite the Senior 65 tax abatement and income restrictions. My first reaction was to move to Florida and get the heck outta here. Yes, we will be selling high and buying low if we head down to Florida (Florida real estate is in shambles, so there are plenty of good deals to be had) but after some investigation, the cost-of-living crisis in Florida is alive and well. Homeowners insurance, car insurance, electricity and grocery prices there are sky high. Many people in Florida are suffering financially. Many have left and moved to cheaper locales. Many others, however, are stuck there and complain consistently.
My husband and I decided that no matter what, we will try to stick it out and remain in our current, already downsized home. We went from a 9 room home down to a 4 room home in 2002. We went from $5,600 a month in 2002 expenses down to $2,500. Unfortunately, thanks to inflation that $2,500 is now $4,700 with absolutely NO lifestyle inflationary increase. We're still living today in 2025 the way we did in 2002 when we semi-retired and downsized. Needless to say, things are going to change.
I estimated that our new school and property taxes are going to hover around $7,200 annually. That's up substantially from $3045. We used to put away $300 a month in saving for our tax bill. Now? We have to put away at least $600 to afford to pay our future property taxes. When I calculated what our monthly costs were here (insurance, taxes, electricity, heating and maintenance etc.) it amounted to approximately $700 a month. Now, that number will increase to $1,000 a month. If we were to sell our home and rent, we'd have to pay at least $2,500 for a 2 bedroom apartment and that wouldn't include electricity, water and renter's insurance. Ka-ching! It's going to be tough but realistically, there really isn't anywhere else for us to go.
What has happened to hubby and I is happening to so many other retirees in America. We all bought houses 25 years ago for dirt cheap prices. We paid off the mortgages thinking we were so smart. Only to have the areas we chose to live in skyrocket in values. It's been estimated that there are over seven million retirees in this country who have found themselves millionaires on paper but in reality they are flat broke! Thankfully, as my husband will finally admit, I did a very good thing all these years, screaming NO! to expenditures and YES! to socking money away in secure, guaranteed investments.
Over 64% of Americans do NOT have the cash to pay a $500 bill. What would they do if they got hit with a $6,117 bill just like hubs and I did? This is why America's senior citizens are becoming the fastest homeless group in the USA. Thankfully we have the means to pay our bill and will continue to do so. But we have to make changes. We have to make sacrifices. And also, please remember, I'm a cancer survivor (I have my first cancer scan after Labor Day appointment next week) and my husband has a heart condition. We can't work but we can certainly rent out our artist studio for some extra monthly income (as we originally planned for back in 2002), make some cutbacks and reduce our grocery bill.
The second disappointment we had after we got back from our beach holiday was a bunch of rabbits broke into our vegetable garden and ate every single thing there was! All (and I do mean ALL) our tomatoes were gone, as well as our eggplant, zucchini, cucumbers, peppers, green beans, parsley (they left the basil!) Thankfully, our neighbors took pity on us and gave us their vegetable overages for free!
The next thing hubby and I did was defrost our extra freezer and do a recount of what meats, poultry/pork/fish we had on hand. Turned out we have way over a years supply of protein to see us through. I've got a 20 pound bag of rice stocked away as well as tons and tons of dried beans, pasta, tomato sauces and on and on and on. Apparently, that rainy day I had stockpiling for is here. Good thing because if we don't start eating this food, it will go to waste. It's all good. It's all very, very good.
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| This FILA sweat hoodie I purchased at Goodwill for $6.99, retails for $56. Click here. |
Hubby is no longer giving me a hard time about buying our clothes at Goodwill. He gets it now. Over the summer he needed a hoodie sweat jacket and rather than buy a new one for $45, I found an excellent FILA one at Goodwill for only $7. He also no longer mocks me for only buying fish/beef/pork/chicken on mark-down. He gets it now! You have to prepare your life for a disaster because guess what? A disaster is sure to happen. Needless to say, we are prepared! I broke into our piggy bank today (all made up with coins I found along the way, like quarters in abandoned shopping carts at Aldi). I cashed it in at $62 and we will finally be paying cash-only going forward. No more charge cards! If we don't have the cash we are NOT buying anything. Period.
It took me a while to figure all this out. The other day I was livid and just not thinking. Life in America right now is hard for ALL of us. I need to keep a clear head, remain calm and really think about things. Unfortunately, because of my cancer treatments, I have, what is called 'chemo brain' so sometimes it takes me a bit longer to think clearly. I don't want to diminish the fact that hubby and I just got back from a lovely 10 day vacation at the beach. We camped at a great RV park that had oodles of free perks (such as free daily beach passes that saved us $56 a day from paying any parking fees!!) I'll post more later on this week. But I'll leave you with these two photos: one is of the beach we went to every single day. Notice, it wasn't crowded at all. And the other is of a 2.2 mile RT boardwalk trek we did most every day. The walk is along the Amtrak train tracks and every once in a while an Acela would wiz by. It was interesting!
Life, if we want it to be, can be fun. We just have to take the time to find it, manage it, enjoy it and thank the Lord up above for the opportunity.
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