Adjusting to ER

[Snowcat]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sea Kayaker 5 days into ER... some early impressions. My desire for alcohol has left me completely.

I am curious if this is the case with many people. I don't drink much. However, my DH drinks a LOT. I have hopes he will scale back. I have been warned that with more time, there may be more drinking. I know everyone is unique. I am interested in the groups' comments.

[Sea Kayaker]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Snowcat I am curious if this is the case with many people. I don't drink much. However, my DH drinks a LOT. I have hopes he will scale back. I have been warned that with more time, there may be more drinking. I know everyone is unique. I am interested in the groups' comments.

I always suspected that I mostly drank to cope with the stress of my job. Was it particularly smart to stay in a job for 20+ years that drove me to drink after a bad day at work? Probably not, but thats another story.

But the fact that the desire to drink has evaporated in lock step with the removal of job stress makes me happy. I (and DW) was worried I might have a bigger problem with booze.

[PERSonalTime]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cassie I too look forward to Mondays now, since I don't venture out as much on the weekends. I'm in my 9th month of retirement. I gave myself permission to defer my house de-cluttering until 2015 so I can spend my 1st year with nothing pressing to do. During the week though I do try to get whatever I'm doing done by Judge Judy at 4:00pm, that's my wind down time. :-)

Yeah, Judge Judy and Judge Mathis are part of my ER routine as well. I'm also 9 months in. I head to the gym most weekday mornings and then try to get two or three tasks done during the day. Those tasks could be as mundane as going to the bank, fixing something around the house or going to the movies. Typically, after achieving those "goals" I feel like I've done enough productive things to call it a day! LOL. Gosh, ER life is great!

Oh my, I've participated in an ER thread today. (That makes "four" tasks in one day....time for a nap!!!)


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[robnplunder]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sometime Soon I havent used an alarm clock since I retired

I'd still need it to wake me up for early golf tee time . I also want to find out how many times I can hit "snooze" before waking up. I think my current record is 6 times.

[48Fire]

Haha that may change. I used to golf early, now it is whenever I want

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[Cassie]

Quote:

Originally Posted by PERSonalTime Yeah, Judge Judy and Judge Mathis are part of my ER routine as well. I'm also 9 months in. I head to the gym most weekday mornings and then try to get two or three tasks done during the day. Those tasks could be as mundane as going to the bank, fixing something around the house or going to the movies. Typically, after achieving those "goals" I feel like I've done enough productive things to call it a day! LOL. Gosh, ER life is great! Oh my, I've participated in an ER thread today. (That makes "four" tasks in one day....time for a nap!!!) Sent from my iPad using Early Retirement Forum

Sounds like we are on the routine! I agree a task can be getting an oil change, a market run, tidying up a pile of papers, yup, the mundane is achievement, you're right ER life is great! My goal is being happy like the Danes....and creating my own Danish hygge.

[athena53]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Snowcat However, my DH drinks a LOT. I have hopes he will scale back. I have been warned that with more time, there may be more drinking. I know everyone is unique. I am interested in the groups' comments.

My Dad warned me that alcohol could become a problem; he got into the habit of starting on the wine well before dinner and consciously decided to cut back.

In my case it hasn't been a problem at all. I have a glass of wine after dinner, same as pre- retirement, and don't overdo it because too much alcohol late at night gives me a migraine at. 2 AM. I work out in the afternoon so drinking at lunch is definitely out of the question.

Adjustments: we're realizing we don't have to cram all our errands into a weekend. We can travel without regard to vacation day allowances . We're now at our favorite B&B and, for the first time, arrived in daylight, giving me time for a pre- dinner bike ride. Previously we left home at the end of the workday and got here after 9 PM!

[ShokWaveRider]

Since full retirement, I only need an alarm for an early morning fishing trip with friends, I try not to do too many of those, and I usually get up before it goes off. My phone is good enough for this job.

DW still works so I am up when she is, I do lay in occasionally, but I like to get up early and go to bed early (< or =10pm). I started taking her to work in the morning and picking her up, mornings are great here in NEFLA and we enjoy the extra time together. She only works 10 minutes away and I tend to stop by the Grocery Store on the way home to top up on supplies.

Being an Engineer I love my 3D Printer, and while away the daytime hours till DW gets home designing and printing parts for my Drone and RC toys. I set up an on line store for fun and sell my designs. It will never make us gazillions but it does "help" fund the hobby and materials.

We are both home bodies so we binge watch a lot of TV series once they have finished airing. We got rid of HBO Cinemax and all the other Premium channels other than HD Channels as we can get everything we want via the web. No need to rush so as not to miss an episode of something. My Cable bill is now $74 cheaper per month.

We do like to drink a bottle of wine on occasion. We "try" to limit that to 1 bottle a night and about 4 times a week. I drank a lot more when I was working.

I also lost 35lb since I stopped working too. That was planned and it is staying off.

The only reason I know what day it is, is Monday as it is garbage day, and Friday as it is "Wine Night", as is Sat & Sun, the other is a random weekday when we feel like it. More than 1 bottle between us makes us feel like crap the next day so we resist it.

I do still worry a little about health care, as that is the ONLY reason DW still works. I am still trying to figure out how we can get to a point where she can stop for good. We are both still relatively young, hopefully When I reach Medicare age that will subside, or We will move back to Canada one of the 2. Not that we cannot afford it, but our standard of living may drop some it we had to pay an extra $2500pm in Healthcare and deductibles etc. In BC it is only $123 for both of us with no additional costs other than drug and they are not expensive there.

Rambled for too long.

[Mulligan]

ShokWave, I am going to make my GF immediately adopt your definition of "on occasion". It will keep me out of a lot trouble without having to change what I do.


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[Totoro]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Snowcat I am curious if this is the case with many people. I don't drink much. However, my DH drinks a LOT. I have hopes he will scale back. I have been warned that with more time, there may be more drinking. I know everyone is unique. I am interested in the groups' comments.

FIL of my brother is retired. He used to drink quite a bit while he was working, and now is drunk on a regular basis even before lunch time I've been told (and witnessed on occasion). In other words, he is a pretty serious alcoholic.

For him having more time and the funds is not a good thing. His work required excellent behavior and that created some pressure to lay off the alcohol. That pressure is now gone.

So from this anecdote and some others it seems that if you drink to relieve stress, it might reduce in retirement. Not so much if you are addicted.

Then again, if it is a problem and one decides to work on it, there is also time and funds to help you through it.

Not a specialist obviously, just what I observed.

[Rusa]

Quote:

Originally Posted by davemartin88 I usually know what day of the week it is just to make sure I don't end up at Costco on a Saturday morning or somewhere else at the wrong day. There have been a few times, I've realized it was Monday and didn't watch any football on tv over the weekend because I forgot what day it was.

Me too, but I use a Page-a-Day calendar to keep track

[braumeister]

In the 13 years since I ER'd, I've used an alarm on very few occasions. Either to make an early flight while on a vacation trip, or to get up for an early race (they tend to start early, especially long ones).

As to alcohol, I don't drink wine or liquor, and typically have an average of two (very good) beers a day. On some social occasions, that may get up to four or five beers with friends, but that's not typical at all. This has been my normal alcohol intake for the last few decades, no change at all.

[rodi]

As for the drinking pre & post retirement.

My mom was an alcoholic. That has always made me hyper aware of my own drinking. Yet I drink. I enjoy it. What works for hubby and I is to have rules/limits. We never drink 2 nights in a row. We limit the quantity when we drink (split a bottle of wine between the 2 of us or have a single martini, each... ) We never drink before dinner... These rules may sound rigid/arbitrary... and they kind of are. But it allows me to enjoy some wine or a cocktail without worrying about turning into an alcoholic like my mom was.

Like I said - there's some flex to the rules... If a friend comes over, or is in from out of town - that can be an excuse to shift the rules or the night we drink. (Shift, not increase the consumption overall.) Vacations we relax a bit more - perhaps wine every night if we're in Italy, for example... (It would be a crime not to enjoy the local stuff.) But overall, we use the rules and it works for us. My husband was well aware of my mom's drinking and he's the one that came up with the plan.

I did notice that while working - on days I'd have spats with my boss or have a project go really badly - I'd make the case for it being a reason to flex the rules... I don't see that need anymore. Now the nights we drink are more aligned with tv shows LOL. We've been watching survivor, with a martini, since the show first aired. I skipped the martinis when pregnant, but other than that - the show requires a martini in our household. Watch MadMen without a cocktail? Sacrilege.. so we make sure our we don't drink the night before these shows.

[Sea Kayaker]

Well, as reduced as my desire for booze has become, I still plan on picking my spots and enjoying the odd glass of wine or bottle of beer down the road. But during this first year of ER, improvement of my fitness level is really a top priority. In my late 20's, I was quite the specimen... I want to see if I can get somewhat close to that in my early 40's. I can already tell that it's going that much harder to hit these fitness goals, even at a relatively spry age of 42.

Braumeister, you are an inspiration - if I can be doing even half of what you are doing at your age, I'll count myself fortunate.

[braumeister]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sea Kayaker Braumeister, you are an inspiration - if I can be doing even half of what you are doing at your age, I'll count myself fortunate.

Thanks, but please don't give me more credit than I deserve.
I'm slow, and always have been.
My only goal when I enter a race is to finish in the top half of my age group.
Usually, I make it, but not always.

[BellBarbara]

Interesting thread. We don't use alarms, except if we have to be somewhere, like an airport. We used to drink to sleep, but we knew we did not have an alcohol problem because the desire to do that went away when we vacationed. One thing about drinking that we enjoy is making special cocktails, like for a social occasion. We never did this before, now we have time. Last event we made grilled pineapple margaritas.

I am falling into a night owl routine, which I always felt was my normal self. I love to stay up and watch movies and various series on netflix. I don't get to sleep before 1am much, but then I can sleep in - getting up at 9am is normal for us. :-)

The one thing I notice about ER is that when I have a bunch of things to get done it feels like soooo much to do, which is sort of crazy, because I did that when I worked! Like if I have a list of 3 things to get done, I feel a little busy. haha

[athena53]

Quote:

Originally Posted by BellBarbara The one thing I notice about ER is that when I have a bunch of things to get done it feels like soooo much to do, which is sort of crazy, because I did that when I worked! Like if I have a list of 3 things to get done, I feel a little busy. haha

I know! Today will be "busy". Geology class 9 AM-noon. Realtor coming over at 1 to walk through the house and tell us what needs fixing before we put it on the market (visual things that are turnoffs- we know she's no substitute for a home inspector). At 2 I leave to go harvest acorn squash in the church garden. I'm skipping my workout because I rode my bicycle on the Katy Trail a lot over the long weekend and I have a 35-mile ride on Saturday, but DH and I need to go grocery shopping.

And yet it's nothing like a typical workday!

[BellBarbara]

That is a lot! Getting a house ready to sell is a ton of work. Good luck!

[athena53]

Quote:

Originally Posted by BellBarbara That is a lot! Getting a house ready to sell is a ton of work. Good luck!

Thanks! We've got plenty of time since we're planning to list it next year. The realtor says to wait to put the house on the market till we open the pool, so that will be mid-May at the earliest. I'm making a point of throwing out trash with every weekly pickup (we do donate/sell what we can) and have painting and removal of "popcorn" ceiling textures to do in some rooms. We just need to keep at it.