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Future You | Pad Patter 7.26.16

scrapsandsass

scrapsandsass

Oh Ricky you're so fine ...
Joined
Feb 11, 2011
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If you had a crystal ball, what would you expect to see for yourself in the future? Are you the kind of person who has a 5-year or 10-year (or more) plan? Do you have a vision board or journal? Do you fly by the seat of your pants? Have any big moves or transitions in the upcoming years (that you know about)? What are your hopes and dreams for future you?

And... will you scrap them?
 
Husband and I have a 5 year plan, sort of. It's an idea that we're moving out of Arizona, and hopefully up to Portland (this is why we are going). All we really know about that plan is that we need to pay down some debt, make our house more valuable, and make sure we have jobs there. I anticipate my job will allow me to move without issue, but hubby's is more questionable.

I'd like *maybe* one more baby in the next 5 years.

Other than that, I fly by the seat of my pants usually.
 
Yes! Well, no specific plans yet, but I'm working on them. I have 3 years left before I can retire from teaching with my 30 years. I am hoping that in that time I can work on learning to do something entirely different, since I will only be 53 and still have a teenager at home. I want to do something else, unrelated to education and public schools and maybe part-time, I just haven't decided what. Then, when I retire, we can move south and I can live out my days hopefully on a beach with no snow.
 
My husband plans to retire in 5 or so years. I only work part-time right now and will most likely continue doing that for awhile. As far as moving, we will wait to see where our children end up living. One will be moving when his sweetheart gets her Ph.D in a year or so. Daughter will most likely move to Oklahoma next summer. Right now we are 3 hours from son and will be 3 hours from daughter if she moves to OKC. We've lived in the same house for over 30 years so change is not something we do easily!
 
I've never been fond of 5 year plans. One year I can do, but anything long term I see as more nebulous. I would like to start our family sometime in the next year hopefully. A move is probably in our future also because this area is too expensive and realistically we can't afford the size family or home we'd like to have.

But we're comfortable with life right now and my husband is hesitant to have major changes yet.
 
Five year plans are usually general for me. Not sure where I'm at on that although I guess I do have a few extended goals.
This year I have really worked on it. Vision board, actually wall. Big transition as hope to move to Colorado and leave all but my boys behind. They'll stay here or in Seattle, but hey there are planes. It's all in the works.
 
We moved last year and we're done having kids, so we don't have major "life changes" like that coming up in the near future. Some of this stuff may seem superficial and some of it may seem more like a life goal than a "5-year plan," but here are my goals. In the next 5 years, what I'd like to do is get a job once DS is in full-time school; get into a workout routine again (I've been so naughty...well, lazy that is lol); learn to at least like where I live; and build a deck (that's next spring's outdoor project). Oh, and I'd like to paint my bedroom because it's ugly--even DH is like "Uh, can you paint this?" so it must be bad! And I want to travel Europe with DH. Or by myself. I don't care, as long as I'm on vacation! :evillaugh

10-year dream: either finish our basement or close up the 2-story family room to make a bedroom/bathroom and laundry room upstairs (so the plan would be to SAVE and then to do it, but I'm hoping to be able to do it in the next 5, but 10 is my goal) and I'd love to do both if we somehow win the lottery; write a book instead of spending my time proofreading for other people; and save more money for kids' college funds.

ETA: I've been thinking about it, and I think the reason I can even focus on these plans is that we are, finally, settled. DH and I didn't know where we'd end up--and I'm not talking about "oh, are we moving 10 miles away?" For the past 10 years or so, I'm talking about questions like "Umm, are we going to stay in the US when you get a job?" type of moves. So now that we know that we *should* be here for awhile, it's nice to take my dreams and make them into more concrete plans! But I'm also OK with seat-of-my pants stuff too lol, much more so than DH. I like to say that he's easygoing... as long as he knows where he's going. :giggle
 
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We are definitely a fly by the seat of our pants family.
We decided at two weeks ago that we are moving to Las Vegas. DH got his NV RN license, and we are job hunting. We gave notice at our apartment, so we have about 7 weeks left to make the transition.

Every 5 year plan we started was destroyed unexpectedly within a year so we stopped making them. We have general long term goals, but they are very non specific to location, or jobs now.
 
bestcee said:
We are definitely a fly by the seat of our pants family.
We decided at two weeks ago that we are moving to Las Vegas. DH got his NV RN license, and we are job hunting. We gave notice at our apartment, so we have about 7 weeks left to make the transition.

Every 5 year plan we started was destroyed unexpectedly within a year so we stopped making them. We have general long term goals, but they are very non specific to location, or jobs now.
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Wow. That's a big change and quick decision. I am hesitant about my one year decision. How fun.
 
I have never been able to plan 5 years ahead. I like structure, I like plans, but not for too far in the future.
So, where will I be? Don't know and I love the fact that it will be a surprise!
 
I'm not one to make long range plans like that.... but in 5 years we'll be empty nesters with both kids in college (hopefully!) so I'm going to have to figure out what to do with myself!
 
Wow! I probably should make some. We talk about long term plans but they always seem so far away. My husband may retire in the next 5 years. In 4 years, our baby will be starting college and we will be empty nesters - unless of course she lives at home while at school.

We have done some planning like: yes, we will keep the big house so we have room for visits from grandbabies that we hope to have some day. And so we will need a new roof in 3 years, a new upstairs AC next year, and carpet would be nice. And if the dog and cat stay well and stop having surgeries, we could get a new couch. And then there are cars to consider....
 
All I know about 5 years from now is that my family members' ages will be 51, 49, 20, 17, and 14. I wrote down some ideas in my journal though. My biggest hope is that we'll all be happy and enjoying life.
 
I'm not a future planner by nature. But it struck me the other day because we were talking about refinancing the house and rolling in the beach place and a new car. And he made some off-hand remark about being retired in 12 years. So it sort of hit me. He's 12 years older than I am, but it still seemed like a weird/shocking thought. LOL.

I'd really love to become a librarian at this point, but I'd need to get a Master in Library Science, and Tim wasn't excited about the idea of me continuing school when I already have two Master degrees. Ugh. I'm currently kicking myself for not getting the MLS instead of the M.Ed. My perfect world would be to teach at a university where I could continue my education (for reduced/free tuition) and get the MLS. I'd still like to host traveling writing retreats, but right now, that doesn't work with Kennedy being at the age he is and his mom's work schedule.

I used to have a friend who planned everything down to the nth degree. LOL. she had it all logically decided and whatnot. Then she ended up having a fling, got divorced/remarried and her whole plan/life was completely upended and crazy. LOL.
 
No 5 year plan. One year plan at this point, and it's pretty much focused on me and my health, and losing weight.

We have lived in our house for 21 years. We aren't planning on moving in the next 5 years, or even the next 10. We have talked about moving into a small place once both children are gone, but then again, if there are grandchildren, we'll want them to have a place to stay.

I don't know that hubby will get to retire from where he works. He hasn't felt job security since the company went through bankruptcy. They are fully recovered now, and flourishing, but the new owners seem to be setting up a practice where they let older employees with higher salaries go in favor of the younger generation just out of college, that they pay significantly less.
 
For the last several years we've had a series of "steps" to go through, each with a number of months/years attached, but nothing like a "5 year" plan. (This could explain why I do better with to-do lists than I do with planners or calendars.)

For DH, it's been centered around finishing his Master's degree and then going to medical school. He's in M3 now (how did that happen!?!?!), and our next step is residency when he is finished with M4. We have no idea where residency will be and will not find out until March 18, 2018, and then it'll be a mad dash to find a house and move, because it will 99% sure not be where we live right now. His residency will likely be 3 years (he wants to do Emergency Medicine), and then we'll probably move again when he finds a job to settle into. So I guess my current 5 year plan is just to go with the flow.

For me, I finished my one degree (Computer Science) and was done, so I was just calmly (or not so calmly at times) floating along a career path...until a week ago when I walked out of the office for the last time and became self-employed. That was something I had wanted to do for a while, but the metrics finally lined up and I was able to turn in my resignation.

In 5 years I'll be happy if we are just settled somewhere and stable!
 
No plans really. When I think of where I'll be in 5 years or 10 years I just think of where my kids will be. Some will be all grown up, some will still be at home....I could be a grandmother (say what!?!), will I have more kids?

We have a few "dreams" but we are sort of a wherever God wants us to be that's where we'll be....in small town America fostering kids, in an orphanage somewhere, raising more kids..... Pretty much all or our dreams revolve around children.

On a more superficial side though....I do dream of having a beautiful, immaculate yard. Maybe one where I pay big bucks so it looks all professional. That's definitely a 5 year plan...probably a 10 year plan.
 
I am a "take it one day at a time" kind of person. I tend to overthink things, which leads to an anxiety attack and worrying that about something I can't control. I have enough anxiety issues, so I try not to add to them :/
 
I don't set time parameters around my plans but I definitely have them. They remain rather nebulous and open to change until they get closer. I guess I have a definite direction rather than concrete plans. I'm flexible to a degree and believe in the power of intentions, but letting the universe, fate, karma, whatever provide the details.

I will retire in 2017, HD will likely never retire completely, but he is seeing the value of working only part time and enjoying life finally.

We are empty nesters with no debt so as long as we don't overdo - we can finally have some freedom and relax. I'm determined to be a snowbird to avoid Canadian winter, but Mexico is my choice, not Florida.
I have a lot of plans for organizing the house, I'd like us to put in a pool for the summer and the grand kids.
Travel is a high priority, where to, when is flexible... but Greece has to be there somewhere..
 
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