What would you do if retired to a tiny town?

[cronewitch]

Thinking of retiring to a mile or two from a town with nothing in it. I have searched the internet and can't find a senior center, any charity nothing at all but a tiny grocery store.

I could drive 20 miles or more to a slightly larger small town to find things to do or create something. One town has board games and cards once a week and one seems to have a senior center. Nobody has like a food bank, women's shelter, wildlife rescue or anything that I can see.

I will have plenty of money so I could start my own charity like a food bank once a week for an hour but it cost money to get the paperwork to be a real charity. Then I could shop for food for the food bank. The problem is I don't like giving things away for nothing.

I could start something for children, but I am not good with children. Maybe an after school homework help center with volunteer tutors or pay older kids to help. Would I need to go background checks on the volunteers? Maybe something with crafts for children and adults like a community center or just for seniors.

I could buy a small building with a kitchen and bath and have pot luck dinners and card games then if a woman needed a shelter from domestic violence let her stay in the back room for cleaning the building.

I could set up a business like Merry Maids to find work for low skilled people looking for part time work.

I just need some reason to get out of the house a time or two a week. I could spend a couple of thousand a month on hobbies.

[The Captain]

My folks retired to a tiny town.  Everyone knew everyone else's business and you were an outsider/godless heathen if you didn't attend church with someone every weekend.  I'd rather stick a fork in my eye.<br><br><br>If I downsize in retirement it will be where there is a hospital/animal shelter/boys-girls club where I can volunteer.<br><br>

[cronewitch]

I am a Godless heathen otherwise I would go to church and get involved with that sort of things. I try to avoid religions so most things like food banks seem to be run through the churches since they are already tax exempt.

There is a decent sized city 30 miles in two directions or 65 miles to a major city I may just ignore the nearest small town. I could fake religion or take up drinking since all towns have churches and bars. I did find a steelhead club I could join that since we will be on the best steelhead river in the state. I imagine it is mostly men, but I like men and fish.

[giramomma]

I'd also be poking my eyes out with forks and any other objects I could find. I couldn't deal with a town that small all year round. Summer, sure. Not all year, though.

[zibazinski]

Cut my wrists.

[kittensaver]

Count me in with the "poke my eyes out" crowd

[cronewitch]

ISO is buying a house on a river on acreage. He is giving me free rent and utilities for the rest of his life so it is tempting to live there. I might keep a house in town or a condo but I want to give country living a try.

I am a bit of a homebody anyhow so just having one or two neighbors I can invite over for tea would be enough. I plan to drive to the town with a Costco, Homedepot and other large stores once a week.

When too old to drive I will move to the city again. I am only 65 so I might be able to handle 15-20 years of country life. I could meet people on the internet and see it they are crazy or not. I don't really want to garden or have animals or do canning and other country things.

I will probably play on the internet and drink coffee most of the day but should try to get out some every week.

Family will be invited but they will be 100 miles away so maybe lots of overnight guest, that would be fun. ISO is inviting all his friends to come too so maybe lots of company and dinner parties. I could go shopping for dinner party stuff.

[tskeeter]

Sept 23, 2013 17:58:45 GMT -5 cronewitch said:

Thinking of retiring to a mile or two from a town with nothing in it. I have searched the internet and can't find a senior center, any charity nothing at all but a tiny grocery store.

I could drive 20 miles or more to a slightly larger small town to find things to do or create something. One town has board games and cards once a week and one seems to have a senior center. Nobody has like a food bank, women's shelter, wildlife rescue or anything that I can see.

I will have plenty of money so I could start my own charity like a food bank once a week for an hour but it cost money to get the paperwork to be a real charity. Then I could shop for food for the food bank. The problem is I don't like giving things away for nothing.

I could start something for children, but I am not good with children. Maybe an after school homework help center with volunteer tutors or pay older kids to help. Would I need to go background checks on the volunteers? Maybe something with crafts for children and adults like a community center or just for seniors.

I could buy a small building with a kitchen and bath and have pot luck dinners and card games then if a woman needed a shelter from domestic violence let her stay in the back room for cleaning the building.

I could set up a business like Merry Maids to find work for low skilled people looking for part time work.

I just need some reason to get out of the house a time or two a week. I could spend a couple of thousand a month on hobbies.

This is why we chose a town that is big enough to have both a Starbucks and a Home Depot.  Then, it's big enough to have other things you want when you are retired.  A university, in case you want to take some classes and for the "cheap" entertainment of college athletics and student musical and theatrical performances.  A good sized hospital, in case you need significant medical care.  A convenient airport, so it is easy to travel.  Volunteer opportunities.  Social service clubs, like the Rotary, Lions, and the like.  Who wants to hang at home all day, every day, watching paint dry and grass grow?  And then there is shopping.  All kinds of shopping.  I once lived in a town so small and remote it didn't even have an auto parts store.  The nearest auto parts store was a 180 mile round trip and the nearest movie theater was about a 250 miles round trip.  The local shopping district consisted of a hardware store, a clothing store, a women's wear store, a variety store, a couple of grocery stores, a cafe, and two taverns.  But it was bigger than the town 20 miles down the road, which had a combination bar/gas station/convenience store/post office.   

[souldoubt]

I wouldn't.  I live in the rate race in the state with the highest population in the country.  For me getting away from it all during retirement would be going to somewhere in the mountains, a low key beach community or a cheap beach area in a foreign country.  Neither of those would be short on things to do for me and I would go nuts if I had to drive 20 miles just to find something to do. 

[Deleted]

Does the town/area have a Parks and Recreation department?  You could be a commissioner and just organize stuff that happens in the parks like summer camp days for kids or fairs.

It sounds tremendously remote.  How is the access in the winter?  Are you going to need a 4WD to get in/out?  Maybe you can spend your first month car shopping 

This 'free rent' deal might end up being very expensive!

The fishing club sounds great.  What else do people do there?  How far is the nearest bowling alley? Or the nearest winery?

[cronewitch]

It isn't snowy there so if it did snow maybe just stay home in front of the propane fireplace. It is only a mile or so from the freeway so going to the next city wouldn't take long. Vader WA is only about 60 miles from Portland OR so you can shop without taxes. People probably go there for major purchases but Longview WA is much closer and seems as big as must suburbs so plenty of shopping.

[Tennesseer]

I would read all of Jack Kevorkian's How-To books just in case it became necessary because of utter boredom.

[mtman]

We retired to a small lakeside town.....I bought lake frontage in the late 70's, when it was somewhat affordable, with the idea of retiring here......We love it......No traffic problems...... We don't have big shopping centers, but we can always find what we need.....And if we need something from a large city, 50 miles north or south of us gets us to bigger cities..... Restaurants are not crowded, never have to have reservations.....Just a great place to live.....Everybody knows everybody here, and we don't have minorities to deal with. 

[Deleted]

I've got it.  You need to run a bait shop.  Coffee & Bait.  You'd be awesome at it!!!!!!!

[cronewitch]

I used to want to have a bait shop and they have a great fishing spot just up the river. I could set it up to be mobile I hear one boat ramp has a parking lot as big as 5 football fields. A mobile tackle shop. Lures, line, reels and rods and a little live bait. The river is open year round and great fishing. I could go early mornings for a couple of hours and if too many customer hire help.

I was thinking of a tackle shop where I could hire nice old fishermen to help the customers and give advice. Maybe at the intersection of the river and the freeway, I saw some commercial land was for sale. It would also solve my issue of wanting to do some good, I could give some work to retired people or people who really needed the work. I could afford to lose money so profit wasn't an issue, some place to go, people I would know and meeting new people.

[Tennesseer]

Sept 23, 2013 22:31:21 GMT -5 mtman said:

We retired to a small lakeside town.....I bought lake frontage in the late 70's, when it was somewhat affordable, with the idea of retiring here......We love it......No traffic problems...... We don't have big shopping centers, but we can always find what we need.....And if we need something from a large city, 50 miles north or south of us gets us to bigger cities..... Restaurants are not crowded, never have to have reservations.....Just a great place to live.....Everybody knows everybody here, and we don't have minorities to deal with. 

I bet you recently bought a home in Leith, North Dakota too.

[NastyWoman]

Moving to such a tiny place is soooo not going to happen. A couple of years ago I drove through a number of towns like that in central Oregon, and DSis and I both had the same reaction: if you live there and used three sheets of TP instead of the standard two, the whole town would know about it within 15 minutes and within half an hour you would have the pastor over the floor lecturing about wasting the wealth you had gathered through the grace of God and REPENT!!!

Just the thought of towns like this makes me shudder . Before I move there someone hand me the hemlock please...

[milee]

Sept 23, 2013 22:31:21 GMT -5 mtman said:

Just a great place to live.....Everybody knows everybody here, and we don't have minorities to deal with. 

Pretty sure the minorities are happy they don't have to deal with you, either. 

[buystoys]

Opening a bait/tackle shop sounds like a good idea.  Or maybe take an idea from Patsab and open a library?  You could let people in the community hold art classes or meetings there, set up after school reading events, summer activities for kids....  Lots of opportunities to get others involved and give yourself something to stay busy. 

[The Captain]

Sept 23, 2013 18:30:00 GMT -5 cronewitch said:

When too old to drive I will move to the city again. I am only 65 so I might be able to handle 15-20 years of country life. I could meet people on the internet and see it they are crazy or not. I don't really want to garden or have animals or do canning and other country things.

I just want to throw in an observation on this point.  While you may be perfectly comfortable driving now it's surprising how quickly this can change.

I saw this with both my grandfather and my father.   My father was a teamster and drove for a living.  He could navigate and name almost every major street in Chicago and the 5 collar counties.

When he hit 70 he wasn't comfortable driving at night/dusk/dawn.  At 72 icy conditions were added to his list.  Now at 75 he doesn't like to drive when it is dark/icy/raining/foggy/ or overcast.  Basically the only time he is now comfortable driving is in optimal conditions.  Fortunately there is a lot of that (except for winter) so he still gets around ok.  My sister picks up when he is not comfortable.  

I guess my point is you may not be comfortable driving for as long as you think.

[happyscooter]

I think you need to rent a place somewhere for 1 year.  Don't do anything.  No job, no volunteer work, nothing.  Maybe read, watch TV, visit with family, get photos in books, etc...  Go through each season to make sure you REALLY like living there.

Then decide.

[Blonde Granny]

I've had both since I grew up in a large midwestern city.  Have also lived in the small useless town, where it felt like for every trip I needed to pack lunch and an emergency road trip kit.

No thanks, I admit I'm a big city girl.  You can keep the small towns where everything turns into a super-sized inconvenience.

[Deleted]

Sept 24, 2013 1:33:33 GMT -5 milee said:

Sept 23, 2013 22:31:21 GMT -5 mtman said:

Just a great place to live.....Everybody knows everybody here, and we don't have minorities to deal with. 

Pretty sure the minorities are happy they don't have to deal with you, either. 

No kidding! WTF?!?!  

[Deleted]

Sept 24, 2013 6:33:10 GMT -5 happyscooter said:

I think you need to rent a place somewhere for 1 year.  Don't do anything.  No job, no volunteer work, nothing.  Maybe read, watch TV, visit with family, get photos in books, etc...  Go through each season to make sure you REALLY like living there.

Then decide.

Isn't the point of retirement that you get to slow down your pace? Nothing needs to be decided yesterday so why not treat it as an extended vacation and just experience it for a while before making any decisions?

[skubikky]

Sept 23, 2013 22:31:21 GMT -5 mtman said:

We retired to a small lakeside town.....I bought lake frontage in the late 70's, when it was somewhat affordable, with the idea of retiring here......We love it......No traffic problems...... We don't have big shopping centers, but we can always find what we need.....And if we need something from a large city, 50 miles north or south of us gets us to bigger cities..... Restaurants are not crowded, never have to have reservations.....Just a great place to live.....Everybody knows everybody here, and we don't have minorities to deal with. 

"The mind of the bigot is like the pupil of the eye; the more light you pour upon it, the more it will contract. ~ Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr."

[Wisconsin Beth]

Sept 24, 2013 4:33:21 GMT -5 buystoys said:

Opening a bait/tackle shop sounds like a good idea.  Or maybe take an idea from Patsab and open a library?  You could let people in the community hold art classes or meetings there, set up after school reading events, summer activities for kids....  Lots of opportunities to get others involved and give yourself something to stay busy. 

There's that little library movement - you build a biggish birdhousey type structure, stock it with a couple of dozen books and see what happens.  I think in theory, people are supposed to return the books and/or swap them with a book they liked.  Someone did a Kickstarter campaign, wanting to raise a couple hundred books to start one and last I heard she was over $6K donated.  She was going to build a few more, since she had more money. 

[Tennesseer]

Sept 24, 2013 7:53:28 GMT -5 skubikky said:

Sept 23, 2013 22:31:21 GMT -5 mtman said:

We retired to a small lakeside town.....I bought lake frontage in the late 70's, when it was somewhat affordable, with the idea of retiring here......We love it......No traffic problems...... We don't have big shopping centers, but we can always find what we need.....And if we need something from a large city, 50 miles north or south of us gets us to bigger cities..... Restaurants are not crowded, never have to have reservations.....Just a great place to live.....Everybody knows everybody here, and we don't have minorities to deal with. 

"The mind of the bigot is like the pupil of the eye; the more light you pour upon it, the more it will contract. ~ Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr."

You are wasting your time on that one.  The pollution ìs complete.

[NomoreDramaQ1015]

I wouldn't move to a tiny town.  My grandparents did and while that was fine at the time it's a royal PITA now.  There is no hospital, no doctor's office, no pharmacy, no public transportation  My grandfather developed a brain tumor five years ago.  It was in the motor strip so it effected his mobility.

They had to drive 35 minutes, one way to the nearest pharmacy to get his chemo.  My dad missed a shit ton of work driving them back and forth to the hospital.   Grandpa has fallen multiple times and my grandma calls my dad in a panic expecting him to help.

Fortunately Tryenor has a volunteer fire department and they'f offered to come at no charge to help if my grandpa falls again.

They got in a wreck a few months ago driving at night, their fault.  My dad had to have a discussion with them about driving so that's not going to be something they can do much longer.

It's a HUGE inconvience for everyone, it'd make way more sense for them to move back here where all the services they need are available and we're all here to help so my dad doesn't have to shoulder the burden alone.

I won't be doing that to my kid.  I get why they don't want to move but, IMO it's selfish to refuse to recognize this is no longer a viable living situation and expect others to cater to you.

[cronewitch]

Sept 24, 2013 7:52:21 GMT -5 @beerwench said:

Sept 24, 2013 6:33:10 GMT -5 happyscooter said:

I think you need to rent a place somewhere for 1 year.  Don't do anything.  No job, no volunteer work, nothing.  Maybe read, watch TV, visit with family, get photos in books, etc...  Go through each season to make sure you REALLY like living there.

Then decide.

Isn't the point of retirement that you get to slow down your pace? Nothing needs to be decided yesterday so why not treat it as an extended vacation and just experience it for a while before making any decisions?

I am not buying, my ISO is buying so it won't be my house. I would agree if I was young that I needed to rent not buy but he is buying and I am living free with him. I am keeping my current house for a year or two in case I hate it.

I lived in a small town in high school and hated it but I had a bad attitude so I am trying to look for a way to fit in. If I hate it I will imediately buy or rent in the city and just go to his house as a vacation spot.

He is 66 and not healthy so I don't expect him to live more than 10 years so when he dies I am going back to the city unless I absolutely love it and have a huge network of friends. I can hire someone to come clean, do yard work and drive me to places I want to go if I don't want to drive as well as ordering things on the internet to be delivered.

[formerroomate99]

The aging process does accellerate after 60.  The difference between 60 and 70 is nothing compared to the difference between 70 and 80.  But as long as you have a backup plan that you can implement whenever you want, everything should be fine. 

Not all churches will try to make you join if you volunteer with them, so not being a church going person won't necessairly stop you from having volunteering opportunities, assuming there are more laid back denominations there.