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therealsimpsons

therealsimpsons

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Looking for how others handle this.

We are getting ready to retire this fall, and plan to be gone longer than ever before since we won't be restricted to "vacation time".  We don't plan to get rid of our stick house.

How do you take care of utility bills, banking, lawn mowing, etc when you are gone from the stick house for lengthy periods?

Any advise from non-full timers would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Stan and Becky
 
parttymer said:
Looking for how others handle this.

How do you take care of utility bills, banking, lawn mowing, etc when you are gone from the stick house for lengthy periods?

Any advise from non-full timers would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Stan and Becky
Click to expand...
On line, of course. I had no problem paying a bunch of bills while I was in China. All  such bills can be viewed and paid on line these days.  I have not used a postage stamp in years. Lawn mowing can be done too. First find somebody to do the job and you can pay a private person on-line too. In fact, I used to do that. And then I could see when the job was done on my internet security cameras from anywhere in the world where I could get an internet connection.

Be sure to bank with a bank that's in many states. You can usually find that info on the web too, such as here.

-Don- SSF, CA
 
We travel 4-5 months in the winter then a month here and a month there in the summer. Our utilities are on autopay and we get the bills electronically so we can see quickly if anything is amiss.  Neighbors have a key to the house and look in occasionally.  No worries about mowing the grass in Colorado in the winter :).  We tried to find a local kid we could pay to mow the grass but no luck. Fortunately, the old guy who lives across the street loves to mow grass and he mows ours even when we're home ! This spring's project is putting in an automatic sprinkler system so we don't have to worry about the grass getting watered while we're gone in the heat of summer. And our god daughter works summers nearby so she stops in once in a while....last summer more often than the year before as she couldn't stand her room mate :)

Have fun traveling and you can find a way to work everything out.
Wendy
Gila Bend, AZ, getting rained on .... gotta love the desert
 
Stan, for just a few months at a time, besides the regular stuff don?t forget about security for when you are gone. Most thief?s are not looking to just steal the stereo or Tv anymore, they are looking for identity theft. The regular security systems have ways around them which allow time so look for other deterrents as well. Go over everything and look for any docs that might have your ssn on them. Old med records, tax docs, etc. then think about where you will hide them when away. The point is to do this stuff before a break in as compared to after. Put a hold or cancel the newspaper, put a hold on mail delivery and register to have all statements and docs delivered to your email address online to reduce your paper mail. You can always buy a new Tv, just something else to consider.
 
We're retired part-timers who take trips ranging from 1-2 weeks to 3-4 months. Most bills are paid automatically, while almost all others are viewed & paid online, as Don mentioned.

We had problems with yard maintenance at our prior house and our current one; The gardener at the last place figured out when we were away, and would skip some of the weekly visits until I finally canned him. We replaced the lawn at our current home with a low/no maintenance alternative.

Like Wendy, we have neighbors with keys to the house, cars and boats, and we reciprocate with keeping an eye on, and taking care of things. A couple of months ago, my other half bought a small aquarium, and this trip we have a friendly neighbor who is (hopefully) feeding the fish every day.

Mail is usually held at the post office, but the USPS has a 30 day limit on holding mail. Before longer trips, our friendly mail carrier takes pre-signed 'mail hold' cards from us, and puts them into the system as each one expires.
 
We were gone from December 13th to February 29th..  We were only staying in one place in Santa Cruz, CA.  I left some priority mail envelopes, stamped and addressed, with my neighbor.  Every 2 weeks he would stuff all the mail in one of the envelopes and send it to us.  I contacted a lawn care company and  they kept an eye on the landscape.  99% of our bills are autopay.  Once a week he would do a walk-thru through the house.  We live in an "over 55" gated community so there were
never any worries about security.
 
By mid summer we will become fulltime. Saleing the house and no bills at all to pay other then insurance. CASH is the way we will go from now on....
 
We get our bills online and pay the same way. A few are on autopay, but mostly we direct our bank pay electronically after we review the invoice online or via email. Our neighborhood is pretty quiet and we hire a lawn service while away. Usually somebody in the neighborhood. Since there are a lot of snowbirds in our area, there are also plenty of lawn services available.

Mail goes to a forwarding service, which is usually a relative doing us a favor but you can also use a commercial service.
 
I have a friend who owns a business in a near by town...He lets me use his address as mine for mail that has to be monitored or might need a signature..all UPS or FedEx or even USPS. he than re-mails it to me or holds it till I get back..works way better than family.
As for bills I do like the others w/online or auto bill-pay. Couldn't find a stamp around here to save my life.
One of my banks, USSA, allows photo deposits via of my smart phone, have yet to try. rest are direct deposit.
My boy lives at the house so lawn maintenance is covered.
 
When we travel 5-6 months at a time we use a UPS store for mail forwarding - just do a temporary forward with the USPS and then call or email the UPS store when we want mail forwarded. Almost all bills, etc. are handled electronically, but we still get a few documents that cannot come that way and must be sent snail mail. Lawn/pool service checks house from outside while he is there to do the lawn and pool and emails us that all is ok. We contract with a service (actually a company run by local firefighters) who will put up and take down hurricane shutters as needed. We shut water off at each line in house (leave main on so lawn sprinklers and house sprinklers will work), turn off power to water heater, cover toilet water and sink drains with plastic bags to stop evaporation, open closets to allow humidity out, set AC at 85,  arm the alarm system, leave, lock the doors and enjoy our trip. Enjoy yours.
 
We aren't retired but I guess you could call us "part-timers". Personally I prefer to tell folks that we have a "Leisurely Attitude Towards Employment".  As such we're gone from home for between four and six months at a time. My brother keeps an eye on the house and makes sure it's still there when he comes to town. The bills get paid online or automatically as has been mentioned several times above, but here's the difference:

ALL of our expenses from food to utilities and fuel get paid using a Cabela's Credit Card. The Cabela's card gets automatically paid out of our savings (Credit Union, no more banks for us) each month. Cabela's kicks back 1% to 2% depending upon where you spend your money so at least once a year we get to shop at Cabela's for things that we wouldn't normally spend the money on. Have I mentioned I like guns?

If you're going to do the auto-pay thing I highly recommend using a credit card and at least getting something back out of the money you are spending. Both Cabela's and Amazon have rewards programs on their credit cards. The Cabela's card is our primary and the Amazon is our back-up in case the primary gets corrupted, which has happened twice in the last decade. This is the downside to paying everything through a credit card unfortunately, but on the bright side the rewards far outweigh the headaches.
 
I travel for months at a time (last trip was 111 days) and use a cash back credit card for as many purchases as possible.  I pay bills on line - I do have one that the company (our garbage collector) does not post on line or send email so I pre pay it for the time I'm gone.

As to lawn & house upkeep, I'm lucky - my son will take care of all that.

One thing you don't want to have happen while you are gone - DON'T LET YOUR BANK BE SOLD!!! Seriously, this is a huge headache. In the middle of my next trip my credit, debit, and terminal access cards will stop working & the new cards from the bank that purchased my accounts will require activation.  Of course I won't be there to receive & activate the new cards, and they won't send them to a post office (even if I knew when & where I'd be, which I won't).  The only solution is to start new accounts at the new bank, re enter all my on line accounts & deal with the duplicated accounts when I get back.
 
We travel about 3 months of the year, away from Chicago winters. When we leave, I turn off water and hot water tank, turn the heat down to 55 degrees, unplug non essentials like big screen tv, stereo etc. All ceiling fans get turned off. Direct TV is directed to suspend service until we get back. Arrangements are made for driveway to be plowed. Neighbor and our son come into house weekly to check things.
Prior to leaving I arrange to have post office forward our mail through their priority mailing service. Works great. About 3 weeks before we plan to be home, post office hold mail for pickup when we get back.
Bills are either directly paid or I authorize payment on line for all but a few insurance bills.

Never had a problem with anything.

Bob
 
If you're worried about your bank selling out like our small town bank did a few years ago to Wells Fargo, look into a Credit Union. I can assure you that after the initial pain of moving your accounts you will be pleasantly surprised.

Although I DO NOT sympathize with the occupy idiots, banks are one of the biggest problems with our world today.
 
We take lengthy trips and have all our utility and telephone bills on Auto Pay.  But, the difference is that we set up a special checking account that has enough in it to pay the necessary bills but not enough that we'd be really "out" if someone got into it.  We like that little bit of added security.  Our credit cards also get paid out of this checking account.  In other words, minimize your exposure by having only one account that "the public" uses.

Our friend has a key to check on things.  He also takes the mail into the house and we have USPS boxes set up and some cash so he can mail stuff when we get to place where we can receive mail.  We've cut out so much mail that once a month might be enough so it's not too much of a burden.  Likewise we keep an eye on his place when they're gone.

If you have a person who normally takes care of your yard it shouldn't be any different than when you're at home.  We take preaddressed envelopes and mail checks monthly to the yard and pool people.  The checks are due on the first of the month so we just send them the last week of the month.  The only other checks we keep track of are things like insurance and property taxes that are not able to be put on Auto Pay.  Make yourself a spreadsheet (it doesn't have to be fancy) so you know when to expect both payments and bills that need to be paid by check.  Once everything is set up, it's pretty easy.  By the way, if you're going to be gone at tax time, you also need to take what you'll need to prepare and pay your taxes.  And don't forget to take your checkbook with you!

ArdraF
 
The day we left on our recent trip, our mail carrier stopped by and said "Just checking that you're leaving, because I'm holding mail for you".

.... this trip we have a friendly neighbor who is (hopefully) feeding the fish every day.
Click to expand...

We called our neighbor to let her know we were staying away an extra week beyond what we'd planned. No problem and, when we arrived home, she was all excited telling us about feeding the fish before she went to work every morning; She said "they were waiting for me and, while I was feeding the fish in one tank, the fish in the other tank could see me and were getting excited"  ;D
 
while I was feeding the fish in one tank, the fish in the other tank could see me and were getting excited" 
grin.gif
Click to expand...

  How exciting. Were you excited too. I heard the fish was called Wanda.    ;D


 
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