Clark we had a 6 bedroom home. We have no children. We never had out-of-state guest. We only used our master bedroom, one room was my office, one room was his music/memorabilia room, his gym was on the lanai. Our garage was used for our vehicles. We had an outdoor shed. We had three rooms empty, eventually we turned a fourth room into a walk-in closet. It was far more than we needed because what happens is we bought more because we had so much room. When he passed I was left with ALL this STUFF. I still have a lot of it even tho I sold that big house and am now in a small 2 bdrm which I admit, is small for me. I really liked, no, loved the walk-in closet and I liked my office. Now my 2nd bdrm is being used as storage. But I am trying so hard to get rid of all the stuff. It is not easy downsizing. Especially my husbands things. My goal is to downsize into a studio lol.
I've had an idea for a movie.... It would be about a society where everyone's goal is to get rid of everything before they die. I think the simple card game Uno is played that way...
My husband and I use all 3 bedrooms of our 1930sq ft home. One LR for his tv, 1 room for my tv. We live in southern AZ and my utilities are cheap, 200 total. Plus we do have room for our family. Maybe when we get to be 75, we will be ready to downsize again.
We have the opposite problem described by Clark. Our children and relatives visit us all the time. Everybody loves to come to our home and neighborhood. We cannot imagine downsizing at this time.
We have a house full of rooms too. The house is over 4000 ft², so it's not a mansion but what we did is converted the rooms from bedrooms into a studio, a man cave lounge den type thing for my husband, one is ready for guests which we don't have that often but when one of us is contagiously sick it's a great place to have as a refuge, I converted one room into a dressing room for myself and the other we converted into an upstairs office... The point is why deal with these high housing prices when you can just come up with an alternative idea for the rooms versus leaving them as empty bedrooms. The only complaint comes from my husband which is and I agree with you and him the central heating cost and the electrical cost in the summer when the central air conditioning system is running. I don't mind because we have a beautiful property and we enjoy the house.
NCL Alaska cruises don't go into Glacier Bay National Park. Other cruise lines will sometimes offer a reduced or eliminated single supplement...but you have to shop around...
Traveled all over the world. Over 50 years ago, I explained to my son that the watch section in a name drug store was a concession not owned by the drug store chain. I gave him $20 and told him to buy a certain watch costing more than $20 and tell the guys it was a lucky last sale of the day and to waive the sales tax. They did it. Today, he has two warehouses and sells on the internet. One day, I was in a jewelry concession at the New Dehli airport negotiating for a pair of earings. I reminded the owner that I was the first sale of the day and the first sale was the most one of the day in the Indian culture. Purchase made. Bought furniture in Thailand in the PRC and Morocco.
Traveled to Alaska when I retired in 2011. Took Holland America & was only on the ship 2 nights out of Vancouver and then the rest was a fabulous land tour through Alaska with 2 train separate train trips the McKinley Explorer to Denali and the White Pass & Yukon Railway to Lake Bennett and Carcross. Trip included Juneau, Fairbanks, Dawson City, Tok, Chicken, Skagway going into the White Horse in the Yukon, and traveling the Dempster Highway. When I got back to Anchorage, I rented a car and drove to Seward for a few days. Sadly, Holland no longer does that trip which was about 17 days in total. I would sign up again in a heartbeat if they ever resurrect it. Closest I have found that duplicates it is a Globus tour without the cruise portion, which would be fine with me. Everyone should visit Alaska at least once; you won't regret it.
i recently traveled and was not asked for my boarding pass, just ID only. On the way back, I was asked for a boarding pass and ID. The agent said that his terminal required both but others at that gate did not.
Hello Clark. Thank you for all your valuable advice on many subjects. I'm hoping you can answer this for me. I would like to set up Credit Freezes for my parents who are 82 years old, and my mother is exhibiting signs of dementia and has already fallen prey to some of these scam callers. How difficult will it be for me to put freezes on their credit accounts, and what information do I need to tell them I need in order to do this? (I'm two hours away from them so will have to let them know what they need to provide me so I can accomplish this). Thank you very much in advance.
The easiest way for you to freeze your parents' credit is online. Here's how and what information you need from them: clark.com/credit/credit-freeze-and-thaw-guide/ Hope this helps! 💚
Thanks Clark & Team! Regarding downsizing... I reason I get rid of stuff is because it will put a burden on my children after I die. Some people have a difficult letting go of things. My mother downsized but never got rid of anything. It was very difficult to deal with. Brought back painful memories!
The crazy thing about haggling in the US is that one of the few thing that we *do* traditionally haggle over - automobiles, in the rest of the world (where haggling is otherwise much more common), automobiles are usually sold strictly off a set price list.
We love Credit Karma, especially their FREE credit monitoring! Here's our full review: clark.com/credit/credit-karma-review/ Reading through some of the Trust Pilot reviews, they appear to be from people who either don't understand credit or don't understand online banking. Check out our review and compare it to the reviews on Trust Pilot 💚
PROS: big money savings, customization is key, freedom from too much stuff CONS: small space can be tough on relationships, serious compromise on belongings and day-to-day living (i.e. TV time), If it works for your family, belongings, and lifestyle, go for it! 💚
As a mental exercise, imagine there’s very bad weather for 4 days and you’re stuck inside together. How do you think that would play out? That might give you an idea of if it would stress you over time under normal circumstances.
55+ communities are a terrible investment. The home is almost always sold off by the estate. The homes are often in disrepair and the estate accepts nearly any offer. Thus, unlike traditional neighborhoods that increase in value, 55+ communities depreciate in value over time. Even if a single owner keeps the house updated and adds improvements, the value of the entire neighborhood goes down and this trend is impossible to change for a single home owner. My mother lived in a very nice 55+ community and all of the houses were kept nice. The association did great with the common areas and events. Despite all of this, values declined because the houses were always sold by estates that valued speed of sale over price.
Thanks for sharing your information that will prove valuable to those considering purchasing a home in one of these 55+ communities. I know of three couples who regretted moving to these. Lack of personal property decisions and prying/nosey community residents were some of their complaints.
Good point! 🙌 Some people equated the selling of a 55+ home to timeshares with the advantage being use as a primary home. It backs up our general homebuying philosophy: the only reason to buy a house is to live in it, not for an investment to make money (speaking only of primary residence, not intentional investment/rental property). If a person happily lived out their golden years in a 55+ community, then it served its purpose.
@@debbiecreter2005 Thanks for sharing! You definitely need to know all of the rules & regulations and maybe drive by and talk to neighbors to understand the community culture, so you're making an informed decision.
Not true where I live. Since the pandemic started, they homes and our local, 55+ community have almost doubled, and are selling within one or two days. My relative lives there and she said you just can’t get in there anymore. They’re so popular.
@@Clark if I sold my house today and downsized to a smaller property. I would still have a mortgage payment. I have 200k equity in my home. Homes are now 300k and up .
I hope haggling does NOT come to be expected in America. One of the strengths of our economy is the efficient market -- you don't have to haggle to get a good deal; open competition does it for you. Let's keep it that way.
A builder can build whatever you want. You have to pay them to do it. They aren’t going to build a bunch of homes like that. Can hire builder for your lot or property. You keep pushing building certain type of home for only families and what you “need” instead of doing things yourself you will end up with government projects,undesirable communities,or buildings like those horrible looking block structures crammed with people like I have seen in Europe. How about having kids you can truly afford for starters.
In my area, your best bet would be an older home. I own a smaller 1950s house myself. Just make sure to set aside some extra money for renovations and repairs... Builders won't build smaller homes until they can't sell their larger houses. But there are companies working on smaller prefab options like Boxabl. We'll have to wait and see how that pans out.
Haggle? A root canal for one of my teeth is going to cost $1800, then to replace the old crown, another $1800, with no insurance. How do you haggle that? Will it be cheaper for me to fly to Canada and get it done it, adding a vacation as part of the trip? The endodontist says it only takes 30 minutes, for $1800, geez! We need a national health-care system like they have in the United Kingdom. My old girlfriend pays less than $150 there.
@@christinewallace9251 thanks Christine I thought about that. But after recent events when others have gone down there, I'm not that comfortable with Mexico.
@@TheLifetraveler1 Find out what they would accept from insurance (which is a lot less than you might think) and offer to pay them that amount in cash. Best wishes.
Clark we had a 6 bedroom home. We have no children. We never had out-of-state guest. We only used our master bedroom, one room was my office, one room was his music/memorabilia room, his gym was on the lanai. Our garage was used for our vehicles. We had an outdoor shed. We had three rooms empty, eventually we turned a fourth room into a walk-in closet. It was far more than we needed because what happens is we bought more because we had so much room. When he passed I was left with ALL this STUFF. I still have a lot of it even tho I sold that big house and am now in a small 2 bdrm which I admit, is small for me. I really liked, no, loved the walk-in closet and I liked my office. Now my 2nd bdrm is being used as storage. But I am trying so hard to get rid of all the stuff. It is not easy downsizing. Especially my husbands things. My goal is to downsize into a studio lol.
You can do it 💪
Dana K. White, on You Tube, has great free decluttering videos.
@robroy6650always remember something Einstein It's easy to save a dollar than making dollar Don't ever ever ever forget that
I've had an idea for a movie.... It would be about a society where everyone's goal is to get rid of everything before they die. I think the simple card game Uno is played that way...
Another great show... especially about home downsizing.
My husband and I use all 3 bedrooms of our 1930sq ft home. One LR for his tv, 1 room for my tv. We live in southern AZ and my utilities are cheap, 200 total. Plus we do have room for our family. Maybe when we get to be 75, we will be ready to downsize again.
I love how passionate you are about saving people money 💜😃😉🤭
We have the opposite problem described by Clark. Our children and relatives visit us all the time. Everybody loves to come to our home and neighborhood. We cannot imagine downsizing at this time.
Thank you Team Clark.
We have a house full of rooms too. The house is over 4000 ft², so it's not a mansion but what we did is converted the rooms from bedrooms into a studio, a man cave lounge den type thing for my husband, one is ready for guests which we don't have that often but when one of us is contagiously sick it's a great place to have as a refuge, I converted one room into a dressing room for myself and the other we converted into an upstairs office... The point is why deal with these high housing prices when you can just come up with an alternative idea for the rooms versus leaving them as empty bedrooms. The only complaint comes from my husband which is and I agree with you and him the central heating cost and the electrical cost in the summer when the central air conditioning system is running. I don't mind because we have a beautiful property and we enjoy the house.
NCL Alaska cruises don't go into Glacier Bay National Park.
Other cruise lines will sometimes offer a reduced or eliminated single supplement...but you have to shop around...
Good tips! 🙌
Traveled all over the world. Over 50 years ago, I explained to my son that the watch section in a name drug store was a concession not owned by the drug store chain. I gave him $20 and told him to buy a certain watch costing more than $20 and tell the guys it was a lucky last sale of the day and to waive the sales tax. They did it. Today, he has two warehouses and sells on the internet.
One day, I was in a jewelry concession at the New Dehli airport negotiating for a pair of earings. I reminded the owner that I was the first sale of the day and the first sale was the most one of the day in the Indian culture. Purchase made. Bought furniture in Thailand in the PRC and Morocco.
Thanks
Traveled to Alaska when I retired in 2011. Took Holland America & was only on the ship 2 nights out of Vancouver and then the rest was a fabulous land tour through Alaska with 2 train separate train trips the McKinley Explorer to Denali and the White Pass & Yukon Railway to Lake Bennett and Carcross. Trip included Juneau, Fairbanks, Dawson City, Tok, Chicken, Skagway going into the White Horse in the Yukon, and traveling the Dempster Highway. When I got back to Anchorage, I rented a car and drove to Seward for a few days. Sadly, Holland no longer does that trip which was about 17 days in total. I would sign up again in a heartbeat if they ever resurrect it. Closest I have found that duplicates it is a Globus tour without the cruise portion, which would be fine with me. Everyone should visit Alaska at least once; you won't regret it.
Sounds like a great experience! Thanks for sharing something comparable 💚
i recently traveled and was not asked for my boarding pass, just ID only. On the way back, I was asked for a boarding pass and ID. The agent said that his terminal required both but others at that gate did not.
Hello Clark. Thank you for all your valuable advice on many subjects. I'm hoping you can answer this for me. I would like to set up Credit Freezes for my parents who are 82 years old, and my mother is exhibiting signs of dementia and has already fallen prey to some of these scam callers. How difficult will it be for me to put freezes on their credit accounts, and what information do I need to tell them I need in order to do this? (I'm two hours away from them so will have to let them know what they need to provide me so I can accomplish this). Thank you very much in advance.
The easiest way for you to freeze your parents' credit is online. Here's how and what information you need from them: clark.com/credit/credit-freeze-and-thaw-guide/
Hope this helps! 💚
@@Clark Thank you very much! I'll talk to them and get right on this!
Thanks Clark & Team! Regarding downsizing... I reason I get rid of stuff is because it will put a burden on my children after I die. Some people have a difficult letting go of things. My mother downsized but never got rid of anything. It was very difficult to deal with. Brought back painful memories!
Finally somebody taking about this. In this area a tiny home is 1000’. Ridiculous.
The hotel is a great idea! Dear Abby used to recommend hotels
The crazy thing about haggling in the US is that one of the few thing that we *do* traditionally haggle over - automobiles, in the rest of the world (where haggling is otherwise much more common), automobiles are usually sold strictly off a set price list.
I haggle at Home Depot this year and saved .75 😅
😊
As my parents would often say “that 75 cents is better in my pocket than theirs”😅
Yes
😂😂😂 Every penny counts!
I'm confused by the Credit Karma recommendation given the number of negative reviews and low score at Trust Pilot. What am I missing?
We love Credit Karma, especially their FREE credit monitoring! Here's our full review: clark.com/credit/credit-karma-review/
Reading through some of the Trust Pilot reviews, they appear to be from people who either don't understand credit or don't understand online banking. Check out our review and compare it to the reviews on Trust Pilot 💚
PS Denali is under construction this year. Roadwork. Best to wait until it’s done.
Thanks for letting us know 🙌
How do you feel about downsizing to a Tiny House? We went from 2000 sq ft to 1400 sq ft, now want to go smaller. It’s just 2 of us.
PROS: big money savings, customization is key, freedom from too much stuff
CONS: small space can be tough on relationships, serious compromise on belongings and day-to-day living (i.e. TV time),
If it works for your family, belongings, and lifestyle, go for it! 💚
As a mental exercise, imagine there’s very bad weather for 4 days and you’re stuck inside together. How do you think that would play out?
That might give you an idea of if it would stress you over time under normal circumstances.
I bought a small house years ago. Not a dream house but it sure is cheap now! Lol
55+ communities are a terrible investment. The home is almost always sold off by the estate. The homes are often in disrepair and the estate accepts nearly any offer. Thus, unlike traditional neighborhoods that increase in value, 55+ communities depreciate in value over time. Even if a single owner keeps the house updated and adds improvements, the value of the entire neighborhood goes down and this trend is impossible to change for a single home owner. My mother lived in a very nice 55+ community and all of the houses were kept nice. The association did great with the common areas and events. Despite all of this, values declined because the houses were always sold by estates that valued speed of sale over price.
Thanks for sharing your information that will prove valuable to those considering purchasing a home in one of these 55+ communities. I know of three couples who regretted moving to these. Lack of personal property decisions and prying/nosey community residents were some of their complaints.
Good point! 🙌 Some people equated the selling of a 55+ home to timeshares with the advantage being use as a primary home. It backs up our general homebuying philosophy: the only reason to buy a house is to live in it, not for an investment to make money (speaking only of primary residence, not intentional investment/rental property). If a person happily lived out their golden years in a 55+ community, then it served its purpose.
@@debbiecreter2005 Thanks for sharing! You definitely need to know all of the rules & regulations and maybe drive by and talk to neighbors to understand the community culture, so you're making an informed decision.
Not true where I live. Since the pandemic started, they homes and our local, 55+ community have almost doubled, and are selling within one or two days. My relative lives there and she said you just can’t get in there anymore. They’re so popular.
Krista is BIG BOSS 😂😂😂😂
😂😂😂
Dr Sugar for Jason ❤😊😊😂😂😂😂
Clark. Downsizing is more expensive today than staying put.
🤔🤔💚
@@Clark if I sold my house today and downsized to a smaller property. I would still have a mortgage payment. I have 200k equity in my home. Homes are now 300k and up .
Downsized my bills .now I'm looking for cheaper rent.selling everything I don't use,wear,need ..
I hope haggling does NOT come to be expected in America. One of the strengths of our economy is the efficient market -- you don't have to haggle to get a good deal; open competition does it for you. Let's keep it that way.
Haven’t been on the other side of the house in a long while.
We need builders to start building much smaller homes and only sell to the families moving into them.
A builder can build whatever you want. You have to pay them to do it. They aren’t going to build a bunch of homes like that.
Can hire builder for your lot or property.
You keep pushing building certain type of home for only families and what you “need” instead of doing things yourself you will end up with government projects,undesirable communities,or buildings like those horrible looking block structures crammed with people like I have seen in Europe.
How about having kids you can truly afford for starters.
Too many new developments with mcmansions
@nireen...So do you oppose freedom of choice in all arenas or just in property development? 🙄
In my area, your best bet would be an older home. I own a smaller 1950s house myself. Just make sure to set aside some extra money for renovations and repairs...
Builders won't build smaller homes until they can't sell their larger houses.
But there are companies working on smaller prefab options like Boxabl. We'll have to wait and see how that pans out.
I need Christa to come with me to buy a new car.
Can you imagne you walk in a dealer ship with Christa or Clark!? I know you can expect to be treated fair and honest!😀
Haggle? A root canal for one of my teeth is going to cost $1800, then to replace the old crown, another $1800, with no insurance. How do you haggle that? Will it be cheaper for me to fly to Canada and get it done it, adding a vacation as part of the trip?
The endodontist says it only takes 30 minutes, for $1800, geez! We need a national health-care system like they have in the United Kingdom. My old girlfriend pays less than $150 there.
Go to northern Mexico
@@christinewallace9251 thanks Christine I thought about that. But after recent events when others have gone down there, I'm not that comfortable with Mexico.
If you have the cash, you can haggle by paying cash. Negotiate a cash discount before the service is rendered. 💚
@@Clark thank you that's what I plan to do. I'm going to send the endodontist a counter office, before I complete the scheduled appointment.
@@TheLifetraveler1 Find out what they would accept from insurance (which is a lot less than you might think) and offer to pay them that amount in cash. Best wishes.