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The Groovies are movin’ and groovin’ in 2018. For starters, we begin our home-building and relocation adventure. Then, Mr. Groovy is publishing his first ebook this spring. And finally, we plan to grow his Talking Trash With Mr. Groovy vlog on YouTube. Here’s what’s in store:
Groovy Ranch
A few weeks ago we purchased 3.3 acres a half hour away from Wake Forest, NC, where Mr. Groovy’s family lives. We haven’t even received the deed yet although we know the sale was recorded at the courthouse. Our immediate goals are to finalize a home design and decide on a builder.
Mr. Groovy began chronicling the trials and tribulations of building a home with his weekly Groovy Ranch Update series. In Update 1, he revealed our first two fights about Groovy Ranch. He’ll also be rolling out a new feature called The Fight-O-Meter. The Fight-O-Meter will tally the number of arguments we have while building our new home. And while Groovy Ranch updates will be Mr. Groovy’s baby, I’m sure I’ll be jumping in there from time-to-time to add, shall we say, some clarification.
Healthcare
I don’t want to put the whammy on us (to use an expression of Mr. Groovy’s)—but so far Obamacare has been a breeze. Enrolling, verifying income, and using Blue Cross Blue Shield has gone off without a hitch. However, we may find ourselves in a complex situation when we sell our house.
Once our current home is under contract we plan to live temporarily with my Groovy In-Laws (thanks Groovy MiL!). However, the county in which they reside is different from the one we’re relocating to—and Obamacare plans are tied to your county.
Since we don’t yet have a real street address at our home site, we may need to establish our home mailing address with my in-laws temporarily. That means possibly changing our health insurance plans twice. But I don’t expect too much of a hassle because we’ll still be with the same insurer. Blue Cross Blue Shield is the only insurance company in the Obamacare exchange system for the entire state of North Carolina.
Podcasts
We’re excited about a new podcast joining the community called Countdown to FI. Countdown to FI is hosted by Mr. and Mrs. Countdown (Mr. and Mrs. CTF) who are chronicling—you guessed it—their countdown to FI! They both have government jobs with moderate salaries, and two elementary-school age children. Mr. Groovy will be taping an episode with the CTFs in March. Also on the agenda for March is an episode of Stacking Benjamins—this marks a second appearance for the Groovy household. But this time I’m taking the seat at the round table!
Podcast interviews are a great vehicle for Mr. Groovy getting out into the community and improving his public speaking skills. One of the reasons he started Talking Trash With Mr. Groovy was to force himself to talk to an audience. I don’t think he sounds uncomfortable when he records, but as someone living with him, I know he feels uncomfortable (as evidenced by his shot of moonshine pre-taping)!
I’m a bit more at ease with public speaking and it will be interesting to see how I do. No matter what, after my episode of Stacking Benjamins airs, it’s payback time! Since I always give Mr. Groovy feedback on his appearances, he can’t wait to critique me. Although I think I’m fairly kind (if you can imagine that)—it just gets his goat that my pointers are usually spot-on (to steal another phrase from Mr. Groovy).
My main gripe with my husband and his podcast appearances is that whenever he’s given an opportunity for self-promotion, he would rather heap praise on someone else—anyone but himself! Oh, the joys of living with a self-deprecating genius!
Talking Trash with Mr. Groovy
Watch for one new episode a week of Talking Trash and one remote episode per month. Thanks to the WoWs at Waffles on Wednesday, Mr. Groovy has the means to talk to another blogger or reader and capture audio/video while he or she is picking up litter anywhere else. I’m also joining the technical effort to add some spit and polish to the production. More importantly, I’ll be reaching out to potential guests and concentrating on marketing.
Does anyone want to talk trash? Near North Carolina or remotely from another region? Give us a shout.
Author! Author!
Mr. Groovy’s first ebook, called “The Groovy Guide to Financial Independence” hits the shelves (on Amazon) this spring. I think y’all will enjoy it since it’s infused with Mr. Groovy’s inimitable writing style. He commissioned a wonderfully gifted artist for the book’s images but he’s not revealing who he or she is yet. Let’s just say Mr. Groovy found this artist via someone we know and love in the blogging community!
Friendship
We look forward to meeting so many of our partners in crime in the blogging community this year at FinCon 2018. 2017 was a banner year for turning great online connections into real life friends. Just this weekend we finally squeezed in a second visit with Claudia and Garrett Pennington from Two Cup House. And my belly will never be the same. We showed Claudia and Garrett our favorite barbecue and fried pickle haunts around Charlotte. We also drank lots of wine (thanks for bringing the good stuff from PA, you two) over two very long games of Scrabble. We’re such thrill-seekers, aren’t we now?
New Year’s Resolutions
Since we didn’t reveal our New Year’s resolutions at the end of 2017, this would not be a proper first post of the new year if I didn’t spill the beans. But alas—I have none.
Believe me there’s tons of room for improvement for the Fabulous Mrs. Groovy, but I’m not a New Year’s resolutions kinda gal. However, I do plan to get back into singing, as a hobby, this year. I’ve sung somewhat professionally ions ago (clubs, cabaret, musical theater, choirs) and I’d like to join a chorus or do some community theater when we move. In the meantime, I’m putting out the word—if anyone needs an intro sung for a podcast, I’m available.
Mr. Groovy, on the other hand, loves to challenge himself with New Year’s resolutions. This year he vowed to cut out his YouTube watching and just stick to viewing documentaries for educational purposes, and the occasional movie on the weekend. But no more of that personal commentary shtick he’s been filling his brain with while eating breakfast, sitting on the sofa, or “relaxing” in the bathroom. He wants to spend more time on the written word—be that reading or writing—which provides him with real value, insights, and knowledge.
Mr. Groovy’s second New Year’s resolution is to eat no fast food in 2018, except for when we travel.
Unfortunately, he felt the need to get his last supper in on December 31st. Our car still smells like Taco Bell.
We want to feature guest pickers and remote pickers on Talking Trash this year. If any blogger or reader wants to Talk Trash in person, or remote from where you live, give us a shout. And don’t forget to subscribe to Freedom Is Groovy on YouTube for all episodes of Talking Trash With Mr. Groovy.
After taking the better part of January off, I’m working on catching up on my favorite blogs. You two have a ton of awesome stuff going this year and I’m really excited to see how it all turns out.
Wisconsin will have a ton of trash when the snow melts this spring (lots gets buried and forgotten in snowbanks at the end of driveways), so I’ll be in a good position to talk trash in a couple months.
Best wishes and happy belated new year!
Happy new year to you, too! Hawaii must have been like heaven if you’re contemplating (fantasizing about?) a reverse geoarbitrage. I can’t wait to see what this year has in store for you and Jaime.
You guys have so much awesome stuff going on. 2018 will always be a memorable year for you since you’ll be building Groovy Ranch.
We’ve been through the home building process twice and I will never forget the months and years in which both houses were finished: 9/2003 and 12/2010. Definitely big milestones in our lives as it will be in yours.
I would love to talk trash with you guys! Sending you an email.
Thanks, Brian. We’re hoping we’re not being delusional about the build in that we’re expecting the best. We’re looking at custom builders that do maybe half a dozen homes a year. We also hear the county is easy to deal with in terms of permits, etc. First things first, though — septic and well. We’ll have a sigh of relief after those are put in.
Taco Bell. You had to end it there, didn’t you. After a week of trying to get past this persistent stomach bug no less. 😉
Really excited for all the hijinks you guys have planned this year. The Fight-o-Meter had me chuckling. I’ll propose that to my wife but she’s so competitive I’d probably get shouted out of the house!
Something tells me your wife and I would get along well!
Taco Bell is even more offensive when you leave the remnants in a bag on the floor of the car’s back seat (because someone forgot to toss the bag in the trash). Oops, sorry — I forgot. Your stomach! I hope you feel better!
What a year 2017 was and so much fun stuff to look forward to next year. Can’t wait to hear you guys on the podcasts and see what is in store for Talking Trash… did someone say fried pickles? I love fried pickles. Maybe we can do some Waffles and fried pickles sometime next year!
Thanks Mrs. Wow!
I heard of waffles and fried chicken. That made it’s way into NY pop culture by way of the jazz musicians and their late night eating habits. But waffles and fried pickles? You could start a new craze.
Wow, lots happening in 2018. Don’t forget to relax a little. I’m rooting for team groovy!!
Thanks, Maarten. We’re excited about our plans. But we’re still doing plenty of relaxing. We’re sticking pretty close to that “one planned thing a day” schedule.
This is the retirement police. You are under internet arrest for having too many jobs and claimng to be retired.
We do not think this is groovy.
Please pay your $500 fine or appear in court. That is all.
🙂
Very funny! I thought of “Carlton, your doorman” while reading the last lines of your comment. I’m 50/50 on whether you know that reference from the TV show Rhoda. You may have been a bit youngish for it when it aired.
Sounds like a big year ahead for you both! Looking forward to following along through all of it. My wife and I listened to Mr. Groovy on the Choose FI podcast on our drive back from visiting family and thought he did an awesome job (the accent was awesome too ;)). My wife is usually not too interested in PF topics, and it held her attention, so I consider that a huge win!
Thank you, Matt. I told Mr. Groovy about your comment and he’s very flattered. Oh yes, you can detect that it’s him talking in a second, with that accent. But you should hear the other men in his family!
FYI, there’s at least 1 other provider beyond BCBS in NC. I’m on Cigna in Raleigh and they are the cheapest ACA plan here. It’s HMO but there’s hundreds of docs of all types here in Raleigh.
You are correct! I thought Cigna was gone. But according to this article, they’re in 5 counties in the Raleigh area (and not the one we’re moving to).
Also this article is from the Kaiser Family Foundation which is pretty reliable. It shows a history of all states and the number of carriers from 2014 to 2018. 2019 will be interesting. Without the feds covering the cost sharing reductions (CSRs) I don’t think either of them will remain.
So many great things going on with the Groovies! Best of luck with the new and expanding endeavors. All this action may even inspire me to get up off my duff and start putting some plans into action too. 🙂
Obamacare was a saving grace for me as it came along when I was still a few years away from Medicare and forced to buy an individual policy on the open market for big bucks. Hopefully everything will run smoothly for you as well.
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Thanks, Gary!
Blog posts are a bit like FaceBook — everything sounds better on the page than in real life. There’s a lot of duff sitting in the Groovy household too.
I’m glad Obamacare was there for you. I believe at some point the Medicare age will be raised to match the Social Security age — I hope I’m wrong.
Oh, I gotta listen to the podcast! Whenever Mr. Groovy gets on a podcast, I always run to listen to it. It’s that New York accent – alot of people on podcasts all sound the same, but when its Mr. Groovy, I know exactly who’s speaking!
That’s for sure, FP! Mr. Groovy is one of a kind.
I believe on Countdown to FI, the CTFs wants to talk to Mr. G about his experience in government. That should be interesting!
You guys never fail to give me the giggles. 🙂 I think it’s super cool that you are getting back into singing!! My Maddie sung often at political events and parades in her pre-teen years. She’s hung up her singing hat for now but I’m hoping she picks it up one day again. Good for you for keeping your eye on the fight-o-meter. You know how those boys can be. 😉
Tee-hee-hee!
That Maddie is some talented girl !
Don’t worry, I’ll keep my eye on Mr. G.
Wow, a lot going on in Groovy Land! LOVE the Fight-O-Meter (curious, does Mr. G determine where you’re at on the meter? If so, be careful with those “clarifying” posts! Looking forward to hearing you on Stacking Benjamins!! Exciting times.
Thanks, Fritz!
I’m not too worried about Mr. G’s reading of the Fight-O-Meter. As it is, I need to handicap him a bunch of points.
So excited for you two. And I cannot wait to hear you on the podcast circuit Mrs. G! Of course, I really can’t wait to meet you both and do some trash talking, I mean talking trash.
And speaking of trash, YEAH, on the no fast food for Mr. G. We cut that out a few years ago. No taco bell was easy, McD’s fries were my thing.
Looking forward to all things Groovy in 2018!
We’ll do all kinds of talking, Amy!
I only eat McD’s fries if Mr. G wants to stop in. Then I’ll get a little something. But only if the ice cream machine is broken, LOL. After getting a taste for sweet potato fries, everything else (except for Nathan’s fries maybe) pales in comparison.
Exciting plans! Maybe a way to solve the health insurance issue would be to set up USPS mail forwarding? I don’t know, but perhaps you can use the ranch address (which might be in the sale documents) and have the mail forwarded to your in-laws’?
Cheers,
Miguel
Thanks, Miguel. USPS forwarding might be an option. The sale documents only include a street, a lot number and a pin number. I need to find out at what point we get a real address. It may be when we’re issued the first permit.
Thanks for having us over, Mrs. G! We had so much FUN!
Before we visit again, I’m working on my Scrabble game. 😉
Since we’ll see you after the move, we have new areas to explore. Woot!
Hope to hear you on a podcast intro soon. Thanks again for everything, Groovy family. You have been amazing friends to have!
It was our pleasure, Claudia.
You guys have been amazing friends, too. And we’ll be about 2 hours closer when we relocate!
Love it! There’s no sitting around in Groovyville! Keeping your minds and bodies active – and with a smile. Looking forward to your adventures and love how you are putting yourselves out there and doing new things. Inspiring!
You should see how much sitting there is in Groovyville! An awful lot.
Thanks for the kind words, Vicki. And you — you haven’t stopped for one moment have you? We’re watching for more on the renovations.
As far as a address change have you consider a p.o. box. In your current county
Thanks, Craig. A PO box would be fine for any other mail but not Obamacare. You have to give a home address.
Look forward to all that 2018 has in store for the Groovys. Awesome that getting back into singing is on your list!
Very encouraging to hear that the Obamacare process has gone well for you so far. Hopefully you won’t run into any hiccups when you move. We’ll be signing up in a few months and will be looking for a plan with solid national coverage. This is a good reminder that we need to get our ‘domicile’ address in place beforehand!
Thanks Mrs. G.
Our plan isn’t national per se, but it does consider many providers across state lines to be a part of their network.
Will you be using healthcare.gov? You can go through the motions as if you’re filing the first time due to a special circumstance. You don’t need to start an application or give information like your name and SSN. You just search by county and income level and you can play around with that.
Yes – we’ll be using healthcare.cov. Mr. G has gone in a couple of times to test the waters and looks like it will be no problem to get what we need at an affordable rate.
Definitely nice, though, to hear about the experiences of those who have gone through the official process.
The Ranch is exciting. My wife and I would like to work that into our plans at some point. Too many shorter term goals to tackle first though. 🙂
Mr G can totally cut out the fast food. We did that a few years ago. After a few months of not eating it, we actually lost our desire for it. It was easier than expected. It’s been a few years now without fast food and it’s been a great win – for a variety of reasons.
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Good for you that you’ve tackled the fast food beast. Honestly, I don’t think it will be difficult for Mr. Groovy. This past year he’s cut down considerably on fast food since he pretty much stopped eating bread. He’ll make exceptions for birthdays, holidays, and travel, but he feels so much better not eating certain carbs.
You all have a lot going on in your lives. Very impressive. I wish you the best in every endeavor and look forward to reading about the journey in 2018! Tom
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Thank you, Tom! It’s going to be interesting, for sure. Wishing you the best in 2018 as well.
I’m also not a New Year’s resolution person, but cutting out fast food, whoa! That sounds like a biggie! I wonder what constitutes “travel” now that the rule is in place. 🙂
Sounds like an exciting year and I’m looking forward to the Groovy Ranch updates. Ours isn’t quite as exciting or fast paced enough to get a weekly update and I’m okay with that. I agree with others that you should have a Win/Loss tally as well.
Mr. SSC recently posted…“Tanks” for the Memories: Justifying Large Expenditures
You raise a good point, Mr. SSC. Mr. Groovy will have to decide on the parameters. But I do know that when we’re driving, he’ll still stop at a McDonald’s for me to get a mocha (which he loves) and pass on one for himself if the situation doesn’t meet his criteria.
Taco Bell as his last fast food meal? He really is self-deprecating. 🙂 I love all the 2018 plans. Looking forward to hearing and seeing the groovies more this year.
I’m up for a remote trash talking, just need to give me a few months and let the damn weather in NY warm up a bit.
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Seriously self-deprecating.
Let’s definitely schedule something when it’s warmer. It’s not as bad here, but it’s cold enough to make me drink tea during the afternoon. And I don’t even like tea.
Looking forward to Fincon 2018 🙂
Hope a warm bathroom is in store for later in the year… it was -15 this weekend here in MPLS… Gwen’s cat loved his naps under the bed sheets.
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I don’t know why but it seems like Fincon 2018 is just around the corner. But I don’t want to rush it!
I’d be under those sheets with the cat! It’s been around 20 degrees here in NC which is particularly cold for these parts.
Haha! Wouldn’t have it any other way. I’m even considering going full-monty and having heated bathroom floors in the new house. Oh, the simple joys of life.
Man what a year planned. This is awesome and I look forward to seeing how it continues through the year. Congrats and keep rocking.
Thanks, DDD. You keep rocking, too! You’ve amazed me over the last year.
No fast food for an entire year is an intense goal, particularly if you’re taking road trips. It’s admirable, but I’ll be curious to see how Mr G holds up!
Dave @ Married with Money recently posted…2017: A Year In Review (And 2018 Goals)
Road trips can be tough and Mr. Groovy is cutting himself some slack there. Otherwise, I have to tell you, when he makes up his mind about cutting something out he does it. He went cold turkey on the sugary soda and sweet tea.
You guys have a lot of things going for you two this year. If Mr. Groovy picks up a hammer and toolbelt, I’m sure that’ll keep him away from YouTube too.
Happy New Year!
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Oh, Josh don’t get Mr. Groovy started! 😄
He’s done many DIY projects but this one is being left to the pros. No worries though, since there’s plenty to keep him busy and away from YouTube.
I will definitely be tuning in to those podcasts!
I will also say good for Mr. Groovy in promoting others. I know that when you make appearance on different platforms, you’re supposed to market yourself a little. That can be hard for a humble person though so kudos for continuing to help and support others!
I look forward to potentially meeting you both at FinCon 2018!
Thanks, Sean. We look forward to meeting you too!
Mr. Groovy has a good heart. He realizes others are putting much effort into making a living at blogging, podcasting, etc., and so he’d rather give them a plug. He’s also very fascinated with resourceful people and enjoys talking about them. It keeps us young.
Ooh I love your goal of getting out there and singing more. I’m with Mr. Groovy and I fall down the YT rabbit hole on weekends. All of those “suggested videos” that follow the one I’m watching really get me sucked in. How interesting about the county thing with obamacare! I had no idea. Good luck with you goals in 2018 and i’d be happy to join the trash talking sometime.
All those YT notifications can get you nuts too. I’m subscribed to a few exercise channels but I have notifications turned off.
Yep, the Obamacare rates also change across counties. In our plan usually you can cross county lines for medical services which is good. There are many more to choose from near Wake Forest.
Wow 2018 is going to be an exciting year for y’all! I really hope your fight-o-meter stays low. Someday when we buy land and build our “forever house”, now I’ll know who to go to for advice. And if any other singing opportunities present themselves, I’ll send them your way. Perhaps we will talk trash, virtually or in person, someday soon.
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Thanks, BE!
Just checked and Durham is over an hour from us which is great when we relocate, but might be better to do a remote Talking Trash until then. I’ll reach out via email when the weather is back above 40.
Haha. One final Taco Bell meal. I love it! I’m so excited for all that 2018 has in store for you both. Podcasts, ebooks, oh my!
Thanks, Penny. Now it’s my turn to be self-deprecating. It doesn’t feel like we’re doing all that much. But we’ve got a house to build!
Woo! Big plans ahead for 2018! Who knows, maybe if you ask nicely/send some nice weather to the Midwest you could squeeze in a Groovy appearance on the FDP 🙂 I hear the hosts are awesome!
Thanks, Gwen!
Are you kidding me? Mr. Groovy would LOVE to be on FDP. He secretly has a crush on you. (In a good way, mind you. He doesn’t want a certain someone smacking the crap out of him.) Seriously, we love the show.
I’m so excited for the fight-o-meter. This is going to be fantastic! But I would love it if you keep tally of who wins so we can cheer on the under dog!
Also, I cant wait to hear you on all the podcasts. Thanks for this it made my day.
Wins/Loss Counter? Great idea. Especially since we already have an idea of who will be the victor. Start your cheering now.
Happy New Year to you and the Mrs.
Happy New Year the Groovies!
Sounds like 2018 is going to be busy and productive just like 2017.
Didn’t know you could sing? Is there anything you can’t do 🙂 ? Looking forward to listening to some of your work.
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Happy New Year to you, too!
Believe me, there’s lots I can’t do.
I don’t mention the singing very much. After many years of pounding the pavement in NY it’s been hard to make a switch from career to hobby.