David & Jennifer · North Park, San Diego → Southeast Asia · 2026
Our Slow Travel Plan
We're getting out. This is how we're doing it — step by step, together.
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The goal hasn't changed: get the house renting itself, get Social Security started in July, drop the fixed costs we don't need, and get on a plane. Everything on this list moves us closer to that. We're checking things off together — whoever does it, it shows.
The Great Purge
25 years of stuff. We're going room by room and being ruthless. Check it off when it's dealt with.
Where Everything Goes
The four-box system — when in doubt between sell and donate, donate. We need this done more than we need the money.
💰 Sell First
Facebook Marketplace — list furniture, electronics, anything big immediately. Price to move, not to maximize.
Garage sales — April 18–19 and May 9–10. Everything $1–$20. Empty rooms is the goal.
Instruments, cameras, jewelry — eBay or local consignment. Worth the extra effort.
Realistic target: $3,000–7,000 total
🎁 Donate Weekly
Habitat for Humanity ReStore — furniture, appliances, free large-load pickup. Our best option for big stuff.
Vietnam Veterans of America — free scheduled pickup. Call ahead.
Buy Nothing North Park — Facebook group. Stuff is gone same day. Use this constantly.
Goodwill — clothes, housewares, small stuff. Drop off every week.
🏠 Leave for the Tenant
Washer & dryer — this alone could add $300/mo to rent. Leave it.
Patio furniture — pain to store, free to leave. Leave it.
Coffee maker, microwave — easy for us to replace abroad if we ever need one.
Semi-furnished can realistically add $300–500/mo to rent.
📦 Storage — Keep It Tiny
The rule: Is this worth $200 a year to store? If I'm not sure — it goes.
What actually stays: family photos, documents, one sentimental box each, maybe one piece of furniture we love.
Scan everything — docs, photos, kids' artwork. Then let go of the paper.
10×10 unit in San Diego: ~$150–250/mo
Month by Month
Matched to our June departure — if we fall behind here, we fall behind everywhere
Right Now — March 2026
List the 5–10 highest-value items on Facebook Marketplace today. Couch, dining table, TVs, anything that takes weeks to sell needs to go up now.
Start the paper purge. Shred what we don't need. Scan everything we want to keep. This is probably a full weekend.
Walk every room and write down what category everything falls into. Just the inventory — don't start moving anything yet.
April 2026
One room per week. Four-box everything. Nothing goes back in a drawer. This is the hardest month — just keep moving.
Garage Sale #1 — April 18–19. Price cheap. The goal is empty rooms, not maximum revenue.
A donation run every single week. Whatever doesn't sell goes straight to Goodwill or Habitat — not back inside.
Schedule a large-load pickup with Habitat or VVA for the furniture that won't move at the garage sale.
May 2026
Garage Sale #2 — May 9–10. Deep discounts. Then everything that doesn't sell goes directly to a donation pickup — not back in the house.
Rent a storage unit and have it packed and locked by May 20th. Not May 31st. May 20th.
By end of May the house should contain: what we're leaving for the tenant, what's in storage, and two carry-ons. That's it.
June 2026
Professional deep clean — the tenant is about to pay us $4,750/month. We want them to feel good about that.
Two carry-ons. That is genuinely all we need. Pack them and stop second-guessing.
Hand over the keys. Get on the plane.
The three traps I know we'll fall into: (1) "We paid so much for this" — that money is already gone. We're pricing for today and our deadline, not what it cost us. (2) "What if we need it someday" — we're going to Southeast Asia and then probably Italy. We will not need it. And if we do, we can buy it again for less than storage costs. (3) The sentimental stuff — we get one afternoon, one box each. Photos and a few things that genuinely mean something. Then we let the rest go. Every carload to Goodwill is one less thing standing between us and the life we're building.
✏️ Yellow numbers are editable — click to update. Both of us see the changes.
Where We Stand — Full Picture
Everything we own and owe, in one place. The yellow numbers are ours to update as things change.
💰 Cash We Can Access Today
Cash in the bank$
Crypto portfolio$
Total Liquid$30,000
🏦 Retirement — Both Fidelity + Robinhood (accessible at 61)
Fidelity Traditional IRA (down right now)$
Fidelity Roth IRA (down right now)$
Robinhood Roth IRA (+$25/week)$
Total Retirement$142,500
🏠 Our North Park Home
What the house is worth$
Primary mortgage-$450,000
HELOC balance (10-yr interest only)-$350,000
If we sold: costs ~5.5%-$49,500
Net if we sold today~$50,500
📈 Total Net Worth & How Long We Can Last
$223,000
Liquid + retirement + home equity
Cash only at $11K/mo burn—
+ Fidelity & Robinhood Roth (tax-free)—
+ All retirement including Trad IRA—
Social Security — Real Numbers, Real Decision
From my actual SS statement (March 2026), reduced by $100/month across the board since the estimates assume I keep earning $129K/year — which I'm not. Full retirement age is 67. I turn 62 in July.
📋 My Adjusted Monthly Benefit by Age — Pick a Row, See the Math
Age
Monthly
Annual
vs. Claiming at 62
Break-even Age
Select
🧮 Deferral Calculator — What I Need to Cover Each Month to Wait
💜 Jennifer's Survivor Benefit — This Is the Strongest Reason to Wait
If I claim at 62, Jennifer inherits~$1,634/mo
If I claim at 65, Jennifer inherits~$2,280/mo
If I claim at 67, Jennifer inherits~$2,833/mo
Jennifer is 10 years youngerShe could collect for 20+ years
Difference: 62 vs 67 over 20 years+$287,760 for Jennifer
The survivor benefit is based on what I was actually collecting, not my full retirement age amount. Every year I defer is not just more money for me — it's a bigger safety net for Jennifer for potentially decades. This is the factor that makes deferral worth fighting for.
The statement assumes I keep earning $129K/year — I'm not, so I've knocked $100/month off every number to be conservative. The sweet spot for us is probably age 65 — reachable if I can patch together $1,634/month from dog walking, dealing cards, consulting, or newsletter income. That buys Jennifer an extra $646/month in survivor benefits for the rest of her life. Use the calculator above to see exactly what I need to cover at each age.
The Abroad Math — Our Live Calculator
This is what our monthly picture looks like once we're living in SE Asia. Update the yellow numbers as things actually happen.
Money Coming In Each Month
Rental income (North Park)$
Social Security$
Newsletter revenue$
Jennifer's travel business$
Total In$6,250
Money Going Out Each Month
Primary mortgage (still owe this)-$3,000
HELOC (interest only)-$2,000
Living costs in SE Asia (both of us)-$
Remaining US bills-$
Total Out-$8,000
Where We Stand Each Month (Abroad)
-$1,750
Small gap — this closes once the newsletter and Jennifer's business get traction
50 paid newsletter subscribers at $9 = $450/month. 150 paid subscribers = $1,350/month. As that grows, update the newsletter income field above and watch this number move. Jennifer's first travel consulting client does the same thing on her side.
The plan is sound. The house covers itself. SS covers SE Asia living. The newsletter and Jennifer's business are the upside that takes us from surviving to building. We don't need everything to work perfectly — we just need to get on the plane.