Latest scathingly brilliant idea

Now that retirement is approaching, The Husband and I wonder how we're going to live on our pensions in the style to which we've become accustomed. Don't get me wrong. We will be able to survive on our combined pensions, and of course we'll both continue to work in some capacity or other, either out here in Beach Community or in town. But if we plan to ever eat more than canned beans or keep up our opera subscriptions or travel, we may have to get creative.

The problem, sadly, is the house that we love. It's sunny and spacious for two people, just blocks from the ocean. Although our mortgage will be paid off soon after we retire, our real estate taxes have doubled in the seven years we've lived here, and that trend does not look like it will be coming to an end anytime soon. So we are still flirting with our "commune" plan. If we could find some kindred spirits to live together, share a kitchen, pool resources and pare down needs, we could all live much better than if we remained separate. Of course, it's all pie-in-the-sky and may never come off, but it's fun to think about, and I wanted a record of the proceedings from the beginning no matter how it turns out. So I'll be using this blog to post about our progress.

Our kindred spirits, MS and VV, originally discussed getting property out in the East End, constructing a common kitchen/dining room/entertainment/library/meditation/studio building and having separate cottages for our bedrooms, bathrooms and personal space. But the appeal waned when I realized just how isolated we'd be out there and that I'd really like to stay close to the city, both for possible retirement jobs and for entertainment/study/social reasons. So we're looking closer to home.

Beach Community doesn't have any vacant land which would necessitate either finding a house with lots of bedrooms or a large building that could be renovated to our specifications. As luck would have it, a building that fits the bill has been on the market for a couple of years and is one block from where we live now. The timing isn't great -- we were thinking a couple of years down the road -- but that's how things go sometimes.

I'm starting to research other "intentional" communities, scouring Dwell Magazine for design ideas, and investigating the taxes for the available space whose acquisition could make our dream a reality -- or a nightmare, depending on how you look at it. So our journey begins.

More later.