We ER’d about 20 months ago. Before retiring, I created a list of new things I wanted to try and also things I was already doing that I wanted to do more of. I haven’t looked at it once, although it definitely helped me to pull the plug on w*rk knowing that I had all of these cool ideas on how to spend time post-ER.
When I was working, I was VERY tied to a calendar and had most of every day scheduled, including a lot of our weekend time. For me, it has been nice to relax and let retirement come to me. Several good folks on this forum had advised me to do that, and it has worked out very well. I strongly recommend not “over planning.”
DH is more of a “Type B” person, no structure needed for him. I still create a “to do” list for the week, but I don’t get stressed about getting everything done on it. I still schedule some activities and appointments, but try not to start any before 10:00 or 11:00 in the morning. I also try to “bunch” my appointments into a couple of days max so I can have the rest of my time to do what I want in a less structured way.
Some things have turned out as planned, such as doing quite a bit of travel, which we love. So far our health is holding up well but we’re still in our 50’s so that is expected. The biggest pleasant surprise that wasn’t planned is that we have been able to get a lot closer to our adult niece & nephew. They live across the country and when we were working we didn’t see much of them, but since our ER, we have gone there to see them once and they have come out to see us a couple of times each.
I have probably overcommitted myself on volunteering. Currently I am on our HOA Board (which I do not enjoy, have been doing this for almost 4 years), I’m doing local volunteer work for the Red Cross after doing a deployment to the USVI post-hurricanes Irma & Maria last year (which is just ok, I liked the deployment a lot better than the day-to-day work), and I’m involved in 3 different volunteer activities with a local university (really enjoy this). We are doing a 6-week trip to Greece in a couple of months. When we get back, I may decide to drop a couple of these because I’ve found I’m spending less time exercising since I increased my volunteer commitments. I want to prioritize my health so I can keep it good as long as possible. My HOA Board term expires in January, and I can stop doing the Red Cross work anytime.
One other surprise for me is that DH and I spend less time together than I thought we would. I just assumed that once we were retired together, we’d go out for a lot of lunches and exercise together, but it hasn’t worked out that way. We go out for lunch a lot less frequently than I thought we would as we’re both busy with other stuff during the day, and I prefer morning exercise while he prefers later in the day. I think he was worried I’d be bugging him to change his preferences and spend more time doing things together, but I’ve been happy to do my own thing for several hours per day. We spend almost all of our evenings together, just as we did when we were working, and we enjoy traveling together and spending more time with each other then. But when we’re home we each have our own separate interests and are happy to pursue them separately.
When I was working, I was VERY tied to a calendar and had most of every day scheduled, including a lot of our weekend time. For me, it has been nice to relax and let retirement come to me. Several good folks on this forum had advised me to do that, and it has worked out very well. I strongly recommend not “over planning.”
DH is more of a “Type B” person, no structure needed for him. I still create a “to do” list for the week, but I don’t get stressed about getting everything done on it. I still schedule some activities and appointments, but try not to start any before 10:00 or 11:00 in the morning. I also try to “bunch” my appointments into a couple of days max so I can have the rest of my time to do what I want in a less structured way.
Some things have turned out as planned, such as doing quite a bit of travel, which we love. So far our health is holding up well but we’re still in our 50’s so that is expected. The biggest pleasant surprise that wasn’t planned is that we have been able to get a lot closer to our adult niece & nephew. They live across the country and when we were working we didn’t see much of them, but since our ER, we have gone there to see them once and they have come out to see us a couple of times each.
I have probably overcommitted myself on volunteering. Currently I am on our HOA Board (which I do not enjoy, have been doing this for almost 4 years), I’m doing local volunteer work for the Red Cross after doing a deployment to the USVI post-hurricanes Irma & Maria last year (which is just ok, I liked the deployment a lot better than the day-to-day work), and I’m involved in 3 different volunteer activities with a local university (really enjoy this). We are doing a 6-week trip to Greece in a couple of months. When we get back, I may decide to drop a couple of these because I’ve found I’m spending less time exercising since I increased my volunteer commitments. I want to prioritize my health so I can keep it good as long as possible. My HOA Board term expires in January, and I can stop doing the Red Cross work anytime.
One other surprise for me is that DH and I spend less time together than I thought we would. I just assumed that once we were retired together, we’d go out for a lot of lunches and exercise together, but it hasn’t worked out that way. We go out for lunch a lot less frequently than I thought we would as we’re both busy with other stuff during the day, and I prefer morning exercise while he prefers later in the day. I think he was worried I’d be bugging him to change his preferences and spend more time doing things together, but I’ve been happy to do my own thing for several hours per day. We spend almost all of our evenings together, just as we did when we were working, and we enjoy traveling together and spending more time with each other then. But when we’re home we each have our own separate interests and are happy to pursue them separately.
My sister and I manage the family income.
