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FIRE - Ideas for Staying Active
Old 08-04-2008, 03:25 AM   #1
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FIRE - Ideas for Staying Active

Not talking about exercise here... How do you spend your time during the old 50 hour work week? How do you stay somewhat engaged in activity.

There have probably been a few posts on this topic. But the membership changes an new ideas may surface. If someone is aware of a past thread, please link it in.


How do you stay engaged once you FIRED. Some take on part-time jobs, others have hobbies that pass time. Can you name two regular occurring activities that keep you somewhat engaged and busy at times when you are not traveling. For example:

  • Do volunteer work 2 days a week for 4 hours per day.
  • Play golf once a week with buddies.
Something that creates some sort of regular structure Monday - Friday.
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Old 08-04-2008, 04:59 AM   #2
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Group power weight class Mon, Wed, Sat morns; Group power Tues & Thurs nights. Basic Training class Thurs morn, Pilates Wed night.
Walking at least 1/2hr every day.

During the summer heading to my friends pool after gym class. Recently ERed. Not sure what will be routine the other seasons (besides gym classes)
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Old 08-04-2008, 06:16 AM   #3
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Im married and the wife has a never ending list of things to do. I do get out and golf quite a bit.
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Old 08-04-2008, 08:31 AM   #4
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I swim for 45 mins. to an hour 6 days a week.

I play poker three times a week.
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Old 08-04-2008, 01:51 PM   #5
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Model Railroading & Gardening.......if I ain't doing something else or if I'm not busy doing nothing at all, then I spend quality time with those 2 hobbies.....LOTS of time! I thoroughly enjoy both, and over the years have made quite a few friends through them both.

During the growing season, I spend most of my free time in the gardens and a little time on the railroad. And during the colder months and during inclement weather I spend most of my free time 'working on the railroad', and a little time 'tweaking' the landscape and gardens.
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Old 08-04-2008, 02:08 PM   #6
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Workout JuJutsu 2 times a week, free weights, sauna, takes about 3 hrs each day. Kayaking once or twice a week, 'bout 1/2 day ea. Have a really nice 900 acre lake abot 15 miles away. Weekdays mostly me and a few other geezers.

Work on travel trailer, garden, misc electronic stuff. Maybe get back to ham radio, finding strange channels with my steerable satellite dish.



Photo is 2 of my favorite toys. The 18' kayak I built about 8 years ago.
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Old 08-04-2008, 02:17 PM   #7
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How do you stay engaged once you FIRED. Some take on part-time jobs, others have hobbies that pass time. Can you name two regular occurring activities that keep you somewhat engaged and busy at times when you are not traveling.
For the first 2 years I was retired, my wife still worked (and we lived in another state). I
  • Volunteered 2 days per week at an adult learning center
  • Took over house cleaning (we had previously had a "cleaning lady"; we stopped paying her and I spent about 3/4 of a day once a week doing a thorough cleaning
  • Continued to work out regularly
  • During the spring - fall, did all the mowing, weeding, etc.

We've since relocated and the list is similar:
  • Adult literacy tutoring (but only 1 day per week)
  • A more structured workout regimen (go to a gym to lift weights 2x per week Sept - May). (There are too many outdoor activities I want to do in the summer to tie myself down to the gym).
  • A couple of Monday mornings per month help tally the Sunday church collection
  • Serve as the "service officer" for a veterans' service organization. This entails a number of duties including helping people with VA paper work, loaning out medical equipment and organizing color guards for funerals.
  • Attend a weekly senior education lecture ("old farts' school")

I might add that in both locations we've had subscriptions to regional theatre companies which gets us out to theatre semi-regularly. In our present location, we hike and kayak in the warm weather; snowshoe and X-C ski in the winter.
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Old 08-04-2008, 02:26 PM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by chinaco View Post
Not talking about exercise here... How do you spend your time during the old 50 hour work week? How do you stay somewhat engaged in activity.
How do you stay engaged once you FIRED. Some take on part-time jobs, others have hobbies that pass time. Can you name two regular occurring activities that keep you somewhat engaged and busy at times when you are not traveling.
Something that creates some sort of regular structure Monday - Friday.
I'm not actually seeking structure, it just sort of happens as part of raising a family.

But for me it's surfing, taekwondo, and reading/writing. I usually start the day with the reading/writing, check the surf forecast to see if I'll be heading that way after the kid goes to school, and we finish our evenings 3x/week at the dojang.

Our kid used to require our constant engagement and problem-solving supervision, but now we're mostly support staff-- particularly chauffeurs with wallets. She takes her road test in three months and she's been banking her job money, so even those roles have been dwindling. That's greatly reduced the drama & angst while freeing up an hour or so a day. We're all really looking forward to leaving the nest becoming empty nesters.

Napping is an activity that totally engages my attention for 30-45 minutes nearly every day. But I only do it if I'm tired, which is just about every day.

Home improvement, yardwork, & chores help round out the top ten.

I'm currently writing letters 3x/week to my nephew at the Army's Ranger School. (He's in the field and cut off from all media but he gets mail call occasionally.) I'm surprised that I've kept it up for over five weeks, and I'll be doing it for another month. Apparently the skill of writing steadily can be learned after all...
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Old 08-04-2008, 03:26 PM   #9
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I'm not seeking structure either. The rebel in me rebels against it.

We travel all the time. Travel keeps you engaged whether you seek it or not. There is always something unexpected to deal with. Our lifestyle definitely "keeps us on our toes". Plus we have a strong wanderlust so we get a rush from doing something cool and unexpected - and this happens often.

Even when we weren't traveling all the time I have a very strong intellectual curiosity, so I would just be sure to feed that a lot!

I guess what we figured out after a few years of retirement is that the secret is to create a lifestyle "environment" that optimizes the chances of you doing the things that give you a rush, feelings of enjoyment/satisfaction, etc. This can also be taken as the converse to minimize the hassles, stuff you don't like, etc., to as little as possible. It takes both.

I enjoy plenty of "down time" too - guilt free! I enjoy goofing off. I get plenty of both (doing interesting stuff and goofing off).

I guess the only structured thing that I really do every day is get adequate exercise. Discipline is not my strong point and so I usually having to "force myself" to keep it regular. Unfortunately, even with all the hiking and outdoor stuff we do, at 48 you gotta exercise daily else your health suffers. No way around this one!

By the way - I did NOT retire to do chores! Chores are things that have to be done to keep your life flowing right. I try to keep them to a minimum. I do plenty of projects! Projects are good! Projects are not chores.

BTW - we don't live the concept of a week. There is no Monday-Friday, no weekend. Our time is partitioned by how long we stay in a particular place. Each place we move to changes how our days work. If we are in a state park, we get out or bicycles and bike and hike a lot, cook out. If we stay near a city, we're catching up on shopping, maintenance perhaps, and enjoying dining and museum opportunities. If we stay on the coast there is a lot of beach walking added to the daily activities. If we are in a particularly scenic area, we'll be running around like crazy so I can take landscape photos. Right now we're in the western Cascade foothills and this is a good butterfly area and peak of season, so we'll be doing mostly day trips out to various hiking trails and national forest roads seeking butterflies. This requires a completely differently daily structure (pack lunch, etc), than the other types of places do.

We seriously have to recreate our life every time we move the RV to a new location. Have to scope out the local opportunities and take advantage. Lots of exploring involved (we love that!). Sound exhausting? - sometimes it is! Then we take some days off - LOL!

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Old 08-05-2008, 02:00 PM   #10
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1st of all I do what I want, when I want ... subject, of course, to the higher authority (my DW ).

In between traveling (8 months in the last 12),
my 2 items are:
1) daily exercises to keep my back from hurting like h*ll
2) online poker
2) language lessons
2) gardening
2) planning our next trips
2) my once a week honey-do
2) library
2) going over to DS house and hanging out for a couple of days
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Old 08-05-2008, 02:36 PM   #11
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While I was mowing the lawn today (a once a week activity spring-fall), I thought of two other things I should have mentioned in my earlier post:
- I for one, want some structure in my life, just not too much. Similarly, I want to keep busy, but not too busy. If I can look ahead at the next month's schedule and see that I'm locked into some things maybe two days (4 - 6 hours) per week and maybe 3 -4 evenings per month, that's about right. All the rest of the time is unstructured and that works for me.
- I also have gotten involved in a few activities which have a beginning and an end but are fairly structured while I'm involved in them. Example: a year or so ago I tried out for a community theatre play and was given a small role. We had rehearsals 2 - 3 evenings per week for about 2 1/2 months and then were involved every evening for about 2 weeks (combination of dress rehearsals and the actual performances.) I had a great time, met some really nice people but learned that I don't want to continually be involved in anything, no matter how much fun, that involves such an intense commitment. We've also been doing agility training with our dog one evening per week over the past few months. Lotsa fun, but I could see when I went to an agility trial recently that a lot of the agility people live to do nothing else and that would never be me (although I have a great time when I'm doing it.)
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Old 08-05-2008, 02:39 PM   #12
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Photo is 2 of my favorite toys. The 18' kayak I built about 8 years ago.

Great looking kayak. We paddle (in purchased, not home-built) kayaks on Lake Champlain whenever we get the chance.
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Old 08-05-2008, 06:23 PM   #13
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Friar, what kind of dog do you have for agility? A few of us have border collies on the forum. I don't do agility with mine, it is all I can do to keep them ignorant of the computer--heh heh heh!
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Old 08-06-2008, 08:48 AM   #14
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Well, we started a little goat farm ( my wife needs a lot of activity to be happy so she milks the goats, makes goat milk soap, tends a garden, etc, etc) I offer moral support and sell the goat milk soap at a couple of local farmers markets. Its a lot of fun, kind of like sitting at a sidewalk cafe for people watching. This offers a little structure - but not too much. I also love listening to old (and new) vinyl records and vintage music systems so that is several hours a day
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Old 08-06-2008, 10:18 AM   #15
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Thanks, friar1610. The kayak is a fun toy. DW and I live in the Laurel Highlands of PA. Get lots of comments on kayak when launching or retrieving. Great pleasure in floating around in something I created.
Looks like you have a lot things to pass time with. Congrats.
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Old 08-06-2008, 10:46 AM   #16
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Thanks, friar1610. The kayak is a fun toy. DW and I live in the Laurel Highlands of PA. Get lots of comments on kayak when launching or retrieving. Great pleasure in floating around in something I created.
Very curious how you made the kayak. I've never used one but am hoping to one day. I've never heard of a hand made one. Do you have to be a skilled woodworker? Thanks.
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Old 08-06-2008, 10:59 AM   #17
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Friar, what kind of dog do you have for agility? A few of us have border collies on the forum. I don't do agility with mine, it is all I can do to keep them ignorant of the computer--heh heh heh!
We have a "Green Mountain Spaniel", the only one in the world. He's a little spaniel mix that we got from the local animal shelter. A great little dog. He and the Aussie are the two best performers in their basic class.

The dog pictured in my avatar is a border collie - that's our grand-dog for whom we sat for about 4 months when my daughter and her family were in temporary, non-dog friendly quarters, between permanent houses. I know what you mean about keeping them away from the computer.

The stars of the show at the trial I went to a couple of weeks ago were mostly border collies - they are so damned intense! (But you already know that.) http://www.early-retirement.org/sk/f...ilies/wink.gif
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Old 08-06-2008, 04:29 PM   #18
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enfp

Building a kayak is mostly patience. The first one I worked on was for a friend of mine when I was 14 or 15. That was built based on a photo we saw. It had a lot of errors, but it floated and tracked straight. We had no fiberglass then, used rivets we made from copper wire. it had ribs, to hold the strips of pine with the rivets. Wood was pine, and a lot of shellac.

This one modeled after a rough plan I saw in a magazine. It is made of spruce strips epoxied, then covered in fiberglass cloth saturated with epoxy. It is fairly heavy at about 70 lb.

There are kits available with detailed instructions. You'll need a lot of clamps, to go with patience. It is tedious work, best done in winter if in northern latitudes. Having some woodworking experience helps. I'm no woodsmith by any stretch, prefer to work with metals and electrons.

I think one company selling kits is CLC, beleive they are in Maryland, though I'm guessing.
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Old 08-06-2008, 04:33 PM   #19
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enfp

Building a kayak is mostly patience. The first one I worked on was for a friend of mine when I was 14 or 15. That was built based on a photo we saw. It had a lot of errors, but it floated and tracked straight. We had no fiberglass then, used rivets we made from copper wire. it had ribs, to hold the strips of pine with the rivets. Wood was pine, and a lot of shellac.

This one modeled after a rough plan I saw in a magazine. It is made of spruce strips epoxied, then covered in fiberglass cloth saturated with epoxy. It is fairly heavy at about 70 lb.

There are kits available with detailed instructions. You'll need a lot of clamps, to go with patience. It is tedious work, best done in winter if in northern latitudes. Having some woodworking experience helps. I'm no woodsmith by any stretch, prefer to work with metals and electrons.

I think one company selling kits is CLC, beleive they are in Maryland, though I'm guessing.
here's a link that may interest you.. about building kayaks

Cool Tool: Kayaks You Can Build
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Old 08-06-2008, 06:16 PM   #20
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We have a "Green Mountain Spaniel", the only one in the world. He's a little spaniel mix that we got from the local animal shelter. A great little dog. He and the Aussie are the two best performers in their basic class.

The dog pictured in my avatar is a border collie - that's our grand-dog for whom we sat for about 4 months when my daughter and her family were in temporary, non-dog friendly quarters, between permanent houses. I know what you mean about keeping them away from the computer.

The stars of the show at the trial I went to a couple of weeks ago were mostly border collies - they are so damned intense! (But you already know that.)
No doubt they are maddeningly intense, that is for sure, and I thought that looked like a BC in your avatar! Thanks for adopting your spaniel at the shelter--there are so many! I just picked up this little guy to foster from our shelter on Friday--Mojo is his name.
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