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Wow, what a crazy two months it has been! Big changes, lots of activity, some stress and dithering. Here’s what got accomplished toward the end of the year.

11. Start taking RMD in 2025
Took my first Required Minimum Distribution from my retirement accounts in late November. I had to take them by December 31st, so I did. It made a nice bump in my bank account and will certainly help with all the moving expenses, but I won’t be happy come tax time.

16. Increase principal payment on HELOC loan
Well, since the HELOC loan was paid off in full in November, this was no longer necessary

20. After selling house pay off all debt and hopefully have enough left over to buy a house without a mortgage
This was accomplished!! The house sale closed on November 24, 2025. It was a bittersweet event for me, but both the mortgage and HELOC were paid off in full and I have already contracted to buy another, smaller home for cash. I do still have a small amount of credit card debt for moving expenses, but not a huge amount, thank goodness. For a very brief time there, I was completely free from debt of any kind. Hoping to repeat that circumstance before 2026 is over and keep that status going forward.

53. Replace exterior spotlights on house
I failed to do so by the day I moved out but did leave the replacement fixture and light bulbs for the new owner

79. Finish decluttering basement
The basement was finally entirely emptied and swept out in December

88. Organize and backup digital files
Although this will ultimately be an ongoing project forever, I did manage to get all files backed up and organized on an external drive before my old tablet went belly-up. So I’m calling it done. For now.

98. Decide what household goods to keep for the move
This was a decision that was happening up until the day the pod was loaded and basically, the only thing I wanted to take but ended up being left behind was the old desk. I was sad to see it get broken up for disposal but am sure I’ll find something just as good once I’m settled in a new home.

99. Dispose of unnecessary/unwanted items
The last few weeks were quite the frenzy of getting rid of things, like the patio furniture and lots of small household items. After the pod was loaded, another company came and picked up all the furniture pieces designated for charity donation AND took literally everything else that remained in the house (except for a single folding chair for me to sit on) for either recycling or trash.

100. Pack up everything for moving
I did a lot of packing during Thanksgiving week. I ended up with a total of something like 47 or 48 boxes and Rubbermaid containers, and I packed all but two of those myself. So I guess I have no one to blame but me if anything is broken upon unpacking.

106. Hire painting and/or cleaning crew
This goal was deleted. After the summer renovations and a bit of touch up paint in a few spots, no big painting project was needed. The sale happened so fast, before the house was even marketed, that there was no time to hire a cleaning crew. And with the tight schedule with the pod, the discards, and us needing to leave, all I could manage was to leave the house in broom-clean status.

Wow, look at that – all goals under the house and moving categories have been crossed off. That was pretty inevitable since they all dealt with getting the house ready to sell and moving across country.

In addition I managed to transplant myself and Kayden from Tennessee to Washington state. That was a heck of a trip, experiencing sunny warmth, freezing temperatures and whiteout snow, high winds, torrential rainfall and a mechanical failure on the car – all in the space of four long days. Thank goodness for my son, with his mechanical knowhow and outstanding driving skill.

I am not doing any of my regular end-of-year financial tasks this year due to the fact that I am currently in temporary quarters and do not know how my annual budget will need to be adjusted. I’ll do that after I’m more settled.
My weight loss and other health goals have also been put on the back burner during these frenetic last few months. Am looking forward to getting back on track in 2026. I’m kind of scared to step on the scales (once they’re unpacked) again, lol!

So at the end of 20 months, I have managed to closeout 68 goals out of the 116 total leaving a mere 48 to finish up over the next 18 or 19 months. Go me! I’m way ahead of schedule here.

However, once I get settled in my new home I am hoping to focus more on relaxing, spending time with the kids and exploring my new home state. I’m not sure how much effort I will put into completing my Mission 116 in 2026, tbh. Just taking it easy sounds so good to me moving forward. Let’s hope that evil politics allows all of us to live our lives in peace, semi-comfort and semi-security.