My husband and I recently retired, and we really wanted to purchase a beach house or a cabin as a way to get out of society for awhile and rejuvenate. We looked around at many different cabins and beach houses, but we ended up going with a nice cabin on the lake. I am so happy with our decision. Since we purchased it, we have stayed out there three times. It’s far enough away from the city that it’s completely private, yet it’s close enough to the that we can drive to the grocery store or to a nice restaurant in a half hour. Something that we weren’t prepared for is the price of heating the place. Of course, during the summer, no heat is needed, but in the fall and winter, it is very cold where we live, and heat is necessary. We would love to travel out to the cabin during the winter months, but we simply don’t have the time. Just because we aren’t there doesn’t mean that we can keep the heat off though. If we turn off the heat completely, the pipes will freeze and cause another whole problem that we don’t want. My husband has figured out the lowest temperature that we can possibly keep it at without the pipes freezings. Because of this, it hasn’t been outrageously expensive, but it’s still a bit more than we were expecting. We have considered winterizing it, but some of our kids want to spend their Christmas vacation out there. I guess everything comes with its hidden cost, but I hope we can figure out a way to save some money on our new cabin.