Almost 4 years in and I love being a housewife

[Live And Learn]

After 32 years in high stress jobs I retired in June 2015. Time has FLOWN by. Yesterday I spent most of the day cleaning the house. Today I spent most of the day cooking (for several days). I have found that I actually LOVE being a housewife. Never had the chance before retirement since I was married during spring break of my senior year of college and went straight to work afterward. If you had asked me "what will do you when you retire" cook and clean would not have been on the list. But I am loving it ... maybe it's just temporary insanity but for this week it is making me smile.

 

[gamboolman]

L&L
Well done.......Ms. gamboolgal and I are near to our time...to retiring to Texas
I'll be near to at 42 years in the GD oil patch.....but it has made us a good living...
Your post is....well....inspirational...

 

[MichaelB]

After 32 years in high stress jobs I retired in June 2015. Time has FLOWN by. Yesterday I spent most of the day cleaning the house. Today I spent most of the day cooking (for several days). I have found that I actually LOVE being a housewife. Never had the chance before retirement since I was married during spring break of my senior year of college and went straight to work afterward. If you had asked me "what will do you when you retire" cook and clean would not have been on the list. But I am loving it ... maybe it's just temporary insanity but for this week it is making me smile.

Nice post! Not insanity - just the opposite, a clear sign of sanity. Now, if you said you hated retirement and was daydreaming about work, well, that would be a cry for help. Hope you continue to enjoy your retirement

 

[Dtail]

@Live and Learn,
We live in the Tampa area. Come over and cook for us. I got the cleaning. lol
Just kidding.
What is great is you are embracing retirement in all the forms it comes in.

 

[Aerides]

I have to say I never hated taking care of the house. But I just have a mental block about doing it in earnest when DH is home. If he's going out for a few hours "yay I can really clean!"

Of course, for me, cleaning often becomes rearranging, and a whole project, so that's part of it - he can't question me in the middle lol.

 

[Bamaman]

I'm 10.5 years into retirement, and I still have not got those garages cleaned up. Congratulations on you getting out of the rat race.
Oh, well. It's almost nap time.

 

[street]

L&L I like that. When my wife retired a few years before me she was asked what she was going to do now. Her reply was that care of DH and be a house wife. LOL When I heard her answer it really made me think about it. She would have more time and take the interest in it but before everything was get it done now because of all the work related schedules.

Nice!

 

[Teacher Terry]

It’s nice to clean at your leisure and cook when you want with no time constraints. Although if I am home too much it’s boring.

 

[Walt34]

I have to say I never hated taking care of the house. But I just have a mental block about doing it in earnest when DH is home. If he's going out for a few hours "yay I can really clean!

DW says the same thing. I have absolutely no idea what it is I do that gets in the way but even if I hide in the basement workshop area it's the same.

 

[24601NoMore]

Only 4 months in to ER, but I find I'm essentially filling my days solid with 3 things:

- Finance (tweaking the portfolio, moving things around..tracking [expenses, dividends, etc]..)

- Cooking (we do almost everything "from scratch" and it takes GOBS of time)

- Health (taking better care of myself..lots of exercise..various Dr, Dentist appts that I'd put off forever). Have lost 20+ lbs since ER..10 more to go.

It's...interesting...to get adjusted to your "job" consisting of those 3 things. But as you said, the time FLIES by..I get to the end of the day and wonder where all the time has gone.

Coincidentally, since someone up-thread mentioned cleaning the garage..I actually swept all the "gunk" that had accumulated in our garage over the winter (leaves, piles of road salt, dust, etc) out today. AND, I spent the better part of the day making homemade chicken noodle soup (sounds easy but our soup is a...PROJECT!) not only for tonight, but enough for 2 more dinners..all from a "from scratch" rotisserie chicken that I cooked on our Kamado (BGE-like) grill and had frozen a few weeks back.

I can get used to this ER thing..but am finding that 100%+ of my time is spent with those 3 things (cooking, finance and health) and there has so far been little time for anything else, like FUN or just plain relaxing..to that point, DW got me a hammock (yay!) for retirement..and I've yet to use it. Soon, though..that's definitely a goal.

 

[brucethebroker]

Congrats on enjoying it!
Like my college roommate used to say, "whatever floats your boat!"

 

[footenote]

OP - Me too!

10% of my waking hours are spent volunteering.

Much of the rest is taken up with cooking (tried a new recipe tonight!) and cleaning. Agree: after a stressful career, it is tremendously soothing.

(Do you have a moment to discuss the wonders of chopped salads...)

 

[iloveyoga]

After 32 years in high stress jobs I retired in June 2015. Time has FLOWN by. Yesterday I spent most of the day cleaning the house. Today I spent most of the day cooking (for several days). I have found that I actually LOVE being a housewife. Never had the chance before retirement since I was married during spring break of my senior year of college and went straight to work afterward. If you had asked me "what will do you when you retire" cook and clean would not have been on the list. But I am loving it ... maybe it's just temporary insanity but for this week it is making me smile.

I like it too, especially the cooking part. And going to the grocery store and taking my time.

 

[dtbach]

Congrats. I retired before DW and I was the house hubbie for about 6 years. Enjoyed it and did all the cooking, laundry, etc.

 

[Reach]

Agreed! I didn't know how to cook after a non-stop education & career, until ER 11 yrs ago. Grew up in the 70's era of canned/convenience food (even more processed options these days) and continued the trend for a while.

Now, I love learning how to cook real food from scratch. It's a hobby that interests me, plus I have the time. I often feel like I'm channeling my [depression era] grandmother, as I remember her wonderful food. Also, a creative way to experiment with international fare as I travel and learn.

Cleaning is another story.... ahem

 

[Physics Guy]

I could fill almost infinite time with cooking. I do have to worry a little about buying things to go with cooking (such as a sausage stuffer that I've been looking at recently) but otherwise making food from scratch is such a great combination of frugality, creativeness, and need

 

[Live And Learn]

You guys are awesome ! I cook everything from scratch. Nothing is fancy but the slicing and chopping is a pleasure. I zone out. Same for cleaning. I remember the days when I would say "ugh, I really need to mop the floors - yuck" and now I never say that because I do it often enough (using my Hoover tile cleaner) that it never gets to a point where I can see dirt. Same for dusting. I do a room here and there. It's all part of the day. It feels good to take good care of the things I have.

24601NoMore - the first 6 months of my retirement was spent much as yours is. I then started doing everything (too much !) - golf 2x a week, 2 full days of volunteering a week, another 2 half days of volunteering each week ... I never had time to REST. It took me about 2-3 years to find my balance. You'll find that retirement evolves over time.

Tonights dinner is homemade italian eggplant caponada and sliced barbequed chicken breast.

 

[Reach]

Tonights dinner is homemade italian eggplant caponada and sliced barbequed chicken breast.

Had to look up the caponada ~ sounds wonderful, will definitely try that one! TY

 

[brett]

We changed our diet and cut out much of the processed foods that we used to buy. We were never much ones for fast food but that we have eliminated that completely. Yuk. More cooking from scratch at home, More grilled meat and simple salads.

What it means for us is that we shop more often-for fruits and veg. Make more from scratch. After about a year we can now taste things differently.

We enjoy our food more. After doing this our weight dropped to an acceptable level. We also felt better. DW's blood pressure became more stable. It made our travel much more enjoyable.

An added bonus....most of our garbage now goes in the recycle bin or the compost bin and very little in garbage bin.

 

[harllee]

I don't mind cooking, shopping and laundry and most of the cleaning ( DH helps when his health allows and I don't even mind cleaning the bathrooms) but I HATE dusting. I think it is because it makes me sneeze and cough and also requires a lot of bending and hurts my knees/back. I hate to hire a housekeeper just to dust. For any of you who are good housekeepers, any ideas to help me with the dusting? The house is small and not very cluttered so I really don't know why it is a problem for me.

 

[Jerry1]

You could wear a mask while dusting, but I try to keep things from flying around in the first place. I do a lot of the work with a vacuum that has a really good filter. When I wipe, I use a well rung out microfiber cloth. I couldn’t imagine using something like a feather duster with my allergies.

 

[FreeBear]

We changed our diet and cut out much of the processed foods that we used to buy. We were never much ones for fast food but that we have eliminated that completely. Yuk. More cooking from scratch at home, More grilled meat and simple salads.

What it means for us is that we shop more often-for fruits and veg. Make more from scratch. After about a year we can now taste things differently.

We enjoy our food more. After doing this our weight dropped to an acceptable level. We also felt better. DW's blood pressure became more stable. It made our travel much more enjoyable.

Sounds familiar


I got back into cooking after decades of eating out. Gives DW a break, although I always did the cleanup. I learned to cook some ethnic Indian dishes well. A big Instapot and a food processor help cut out the drudgery. It's now finally outdoor grilling season here and we're enjoying fish off the Webber and chicken breast from the cheap Oster electric smoker.



I found that I enjoy cooking as well as eating. I tolerate the prep and cleanup better with decent kitchen tools and running the dishwasher nightly instead of hand washing (DW's old habit ). Life is good!

 

[TDub]

You know what’s funny? DW and I both look forward to taking our sweet time with the cooking and cleaning. I’ll likely retire first, and I honestly can’t wait to be a stay at home spouse! Get the kids to school, manage the house and finances, work out, relax, read. Sounds like a dream!

I admire the way you embrace your day to day life. Simple pleasures are the best!

 

[brett]

If it goes on the barbeque I will cook it. Otherwise it is all over to DW.

 

[Dtail]

i do most of the cooking and DGF is the sous chef. It works for us.