Hi everyone. I am hoping to get some replies that are maybe a bit extreme, frugal wise, and outside the box.
Bottom line is that we can't even start my ERE journey because I can't sell my lovely but moderately expensive home.
20+ years to go on it.
I'm a single mom with 4 sons in their 20's. I got stuck with this house in a divorce 7 years ago because my ex walked away without any bills because he was going to file bankruptcy and I didn't want to, so I took the house (& mortgage) and cars (and payments), and we still had 3 kids at home...so I kept the home intact for them. Now I basically live here alone...in a 6 bedroom, 4 car garage house that costs me $3k a month. I have had the house on the market for 18 months, and lowered the price down to my break even point, without even an offer on the house. The payment and basic cost of living keep rising, and pay cuts kept coming (I just got laid off and now work part time). People can't sell their homes here and many just walk away.
I am 54, and want to get radical with my retirement. Divorce was really hard on my finances, and I wanted to keep this intact for my kids, but I am tired of this whole money suck...and I want to change my life and am ready to do something drastic. I hope my question is making sense. I do have some retirement money in a 401K, but am way behind what I want to be, and based on my age, and my plans to retire for sure in 5 years, I need to get VERY RADICAL.
To further complicate the selling of my house, I now have a structural damage issue (due to drought and then flooding that caused the house foundation/basement to heave and sink, and then crack in multiple places), and is going to cost me $30k, and then I have to disclose this in the seller's agreement. I feel that I don't want to put 30K more into the house (I have already put $22K into it, updating it.
I worry you all may be so far ahead of me $$ wise that my question wont make sense. I would ask this in a frugal or debt forum but those folks are not extreme. Their idea of frugal and mine are VERY different. I want a radically different approach as in never financing anything again even houses and cars. I plan on having an auction soon and selling everything in my house and garages as well to pay off all debts. I really want out of this predicament.
Thanks