Every day is Saturday and every evening is Friday night! No Sunday evening blues dreading the start of another week working in a caustic work place. The freedom and de-stress is so comforting. I can pick up my grand daughter mid day and shop mid day with few shoppers to contend with. FIRE is definitely the way to go! I enjoy the simple things in life and don't give a hoot what anyone else thinks anymore. Not that I have A bad attitude, on the contrary, my attitude is much improved! Live life!
Your Most Meaningful Change?
- Thread starter ICNTR
- Start date
- Joined
- Oct 13, 2010
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- 10,735
Got out just a few weeks ago, so I'm only in the decompression zone, but I feel like I can "relax into" tasks and get them done to a more satisfying conclusion than if I crammed them into a weekend.
freebird5825
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
My list is very long but I'll condense it to the most satisfying ones I've continued with for almost 7 years...
- Container gardening, year round (my indoor growing room is coming along nicely)
- Volunteering for veterans fundraiser events
- Hanging out at the Legions and VFWs, talking to the guys and making them laugh (I'm a card carrying VA Volunteer)
- Little indoor projects that keep cropping up (minor fix-it type things)
- Cooking real meals (Mr B does the grocery shopping) from scratch instead of relying on the all day crockpot meal or takeout
- Making homemade sausage meat, yogurt, ice cream, grape juice and natural jam (mini vineyard in my outdoor garden), eating indoor grown lettuce, asparagus, herbs, etc etc
- Spending time with regular people instead of being surrounded by techies
- Spending entire days inside my house when I feel like it, listening to music
- Taking road trips up north to Lake Ontario and the Adirondack Mts, doing 1 night stayovers at friends' houses and camps.
Newest venture...I was just voted in to become an Elk. I will be joining a team that puts on lunch events in their hall. There are currently only 3 on the crew. I will be a most welcome 4th.
- Container gardening, year round (my indoor growing room is coming along nicely)
- Volunteering for veterans fundraiser events
- Hanging out at the Legions and VFWs, talking to the guys and making them laugh (I'm a card carrying VA Volunteer)
- Little indoor projects that keep cropping up (minor fix-it type things)
- Cooking real meals (Mr B does the grocery shopping) from scratch instead of relying on the all day crockpot meal or takeout
- Making homemade sausage meat, yogurt, ice cream, grape juice and natural jam (mini vineyard in my outdoor garden), eating indoor grown lettuce, asparagus, herbs, etc etc
- Spending time with regular people instead of being surrounded by techies
- Spending entire days inside my house when I feel like it, listening to music
- Taking road trips up north to Lake Ontario and the Adirondack Mts, doing 1 night stayovers at friends' houses and camps.
Newest venture...I was just voted in to become an Elk. I will be joining a team that puts on lunch events in their hall. There are currently only 3 on the crew. I will be a most welcome 4th.
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marko
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
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- Mar 16, 2011
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- 8,427
Used to get by on 4-5 hours of sleep for 25 years.
After RE (and a year or so of coming-down), I found that I really could sleep 8, 9 and even 10 hours!
I still get up at 6AM everyday, so that means I just go to bed early, but...wow!, I never knew what it was like to have a good night's sleep!
After RE (and a year or so of coming-down), I found that I really could sleep 8, 9 and even 10 hours!
I still get up at 6AM everyday, so that means I just go to bed early, but...wow!, I never knew what it was like to have a good night's sleep!
Khan
Gone but not forgotten
- Joined
- Aug 23, 2006
- Messages
- 6,924
For a while I enjoyed doing almost nothing; cold and dark and quiet to get away from all the over stimulation of the office. It's been more than 9 years now and I have been meeting people and traveling; will be marrying and moving. I do not volunteer as it is too much like work, not saying I never will.
scrabbler1
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
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- Nov 20, 2009
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- 6,699
I was working part-time for 7 years (and only 2 days a week for the last 17 months) before I fully ERed back in 2008. I already had a good number of midday, weekday volunteer activities as well as well as an evening hobby I could not do on days I worked. But I often had scheduling conflicts on the midday stuff, making the 2 work days a growing nuisance. ERing removed nearly all of those scheduling conflicts and enabled me to go out at night on any night because I was never worn out from working.
I have abeen able to help my ladyfriend on any day now that I am not working any more. Sometimes, she could not schedule things on my days off where my availability would have been very helpful. So, everyone wins!
I have abeen able to help my ladyfriend on any day now that I am not working any more. Sometimes, she could not schedule things on my days off where my availability would have been very helpful. So, everyone wins!
LitGal
Full time employment: Posting here.
Plenty of Time for Friends and Family
Work no long dictates how much time I can spend with loved ones. I can work my entire schedule around their availability. This was such fun when our son and his wife were planning their wedding last year. I can travel long distances now--during the off season!--whenever and wherever DH and I are invited. Some of our friends are also retired now, so we can stay up WAY too late, enjoying some wine while reminiscing about old exploits.
We are no longer bound by deadlines, meetings, planes to catch, commuter traffic, or the stress of workplace politics.
If my daughter-in-law wants to drink coffee and chat for a couple hours, I'm free to do it.
Can't put a price tag on that!
Work no long dictates how much time I can spend with loved ones. I can work my entire schedule around their availability. This was such fun when our son and his wife were planning their wedding last year. I can travel long distances now--during the off season!--whenever and wherever DH and I are invited. Some of our friends are also retired now, so we can stay up WAY too late, enjoying some wine while reminiscing about old exploits.
We are no longer bound by deadlines, meetings, planes to catch, commuter traffic, or the stress of workplace politics.
If my daughter-in-law wants to drink coffee and chat for a couple hours, I'm free to do it.
Can't put a price tag on that!
brewer12345
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
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- Mar 6, 2003
- Messages
- 18,085
At least at this stage of my life, that definitely describes me. The most tangible structure I come into contact with these days is my local Catholic parish because DD #2 is going to first penance tomorrow (and first Communion in May) and the parish/pastor is requiring lots of extra time from parents of such kids. It is a test of my ability to STFU when I have to sit through a weeknight "fellowship" or weekend retreat where I am treated to a display of trailerpark Catholics ("we can't figure out where these 8 kids came from, but they all went to Catholic school!") as role models and get told wildly ignorant and/or medieval things by priests I presume are somewhat educated. I wish I could find a local church run by Jesuits or Franciscans, but for now I keep my trap shut and mark it down to my total lack of tolerance for being told what to do. DW is not Catholic so while she sits through some of this stuff I get the most meaty bits as the confirmed Catholic that spent many years in Catholic school.
ItDontMeanAThing
Full time employment: Posting here.
My most meaningful changes, in decreasing order of importance.
A round of therapy at age 19 changed my life. A longer and deeper round beginning at 32 transformed me. The free time of retirement left me with plenty of time for walking, usually without ear buds so I could think about things. Life things, big picture things, not the j*b or relationship issues which I often thought about while walking before ER. But I also had one class of comforting reoccurring thoughts, about which I occasionally wondered why they showed up on their own so often. One day the reason the were reoccurring became obvious, which allowed me to put them away. Life Is Good.
The simultaneous shocks of transitioning to no income, no j*b, living in a foreign culture and nothing but free time eventually faded. LBYM was the hardest habit to deal with, both because is was installed during childhood and I had to make my taxable accounts last 5.5 years. The purse strings are loosening. My quality of life is improving. Life is Good.
I've procrastinated all my adult life. J*b and school tasks were usually finished ahead of time, personal stuff was left to somewhere between much later and never. Turning 59 changed that. My body is not getting any younger. I've been wasting time. In January I set some goals, and started a spreadsheet to track them. Each week it's been easier to both get things done and identify the reasons they're not. Life is Good.
A round of therapy at age 19 changed my life. A longer and deeper round beginning at 32 transformed me. The free time of retirement left me with plenty of time for walking, usually without ear buds so I could think about things. Life things, big picture things, not the j*b or relationship issues which I often thought about while walking before ER. But I also had one class of comforting reoccurring thoughts, about which I occasionally wondered why they showed up on their own so often. One day the reason the were reoccurring became obvious, which allowed me to put them away. Life Is Good.
The simultaneous shocks of transitioning to no income, no j*b, living in a foreign culture and nothing but free time eventually faded. LBYM was the hardest habit to deal with, both because is was installed during childhood and I had to make my taxable accounts last 5.5 years. The purse strings are loosening. My quality of life is improving. Life is Good.
I've procrastinated all my adult life. J*b and school tasks were usually finished ahead of time, personal stuff was left to somewhere between much later and never. Turning 59 changed that. My body is not getting any younger. I've been wasting time. In January I set some goals, and started a spreadsheet to track them. Each week it's been easier to both get things done and identify the reasons they're not. Life is Good.
jerome len
Full time employment: Posting here.
- Joined
- Nov 30, 2008
- Messages
- 728
The toughest decision I've had to make since becoming FI is whether to spend it or have kids inherit it. We still clip coupons, secretly help those in need (don't want family feeling obligated to us), spend a little more eating out and have a hard time changing lifelong habits. Time.........really have both too little and too much time. Hate to do volunteer work that don't reflect our skills......DW has a PHD........but are tired of having all the responsibility of our previous working lives. So, planning more trips, looking for coaching opportunities that use our skills and shop a lot.......good excercise walking around the stores. Each phase of life has been and is good........I'm lucky!
brett
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
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- Apr 24, 2010
- Messages
- 5,925
It has enabled us to travel extensively.
It was the catalyst to sell our house, downsize, and remove the much of the clutter from our lives. This has been so very liberating for both of us.
It was the catalyst to truly sit down and consolidate our investments and make positive changes to our investment counsel and how we invest.
There were 3 years in between when I retired and when I actually took my pension. I came to the realization that very few people, including me, understood the pension plan. I made it my business to understand it down to the last detail/benefit and challenge the numbers that megacorp proposed. The time spent doing this turned out to be the highest paid hours of my career!
We have healthier diets and probably spend less overall on food although that was not a goal. People said that within six months of retiring I looked much better...the stress was gone.
It was the catalyst to sell our house, downsize, and remove the much of the clutter from our lives. This has been so very liberating for both of us.
It was the catalyst to truly sit down and consolidate our investments and make positive changes to our investment counsel and how we invest.
There were 3 years in between when I retired and when I actually took my pension. I came to the realization that very few people, including me, understood the pension plan. I made it my business to understand it down to the last detail/benefit and challenge the numbers that megacorp proposed. The time spent doing this turned out to be the highest paid hours of my career!
We have healthier diets and probably spend less overall on food although that was not a goal. People said that within six months of retiring I looked much better...the stress was gone.
