Do you have structure or routine in retirement?

[Bamaman]

Usually up by 6:00 a.m.
Wake up the wife by 8:45 a.m.
Let's Make a Deal @ 9:00 a.m.
Price is Right @ 10:00 a.m.
11:00 a.m.--thinking about making a decision on what to do in the afternoon.
3:00 p.m.--nap time for an hour
5:30 p.m.--fix dinner
Late Night--on the internet reading the many websites on items of interest.

That's a simplified schedule, but some times of the year we're doing heavy labor cutting grass and doing heavy maintenance on 3 homes. We are like so many others that work very, very hard seasonally maintaining assets.

 

[Ronstar]

Lately it's been:
Computer stuff- online, photography, etc 5:30 - 7
Breakfast
Water plants 7:30-8
Bike or hike 8-10
Woodworking/ putzing in workshop/yard work 10-5
Dinner
TV/online 6-10



Sent from my iPad using Early Retirement Forum

 

[MRG]

I lived on others schedules since I was a kid. I don't think I'll have a schedule unless it adds value to my life! I do get groceries the same day, eat around the same time, but because I'm hungry not to be somewhere. I go to bed when I want, get up when I want, seldom with an alarm. I don't know what date or the day of the week it is, other than avoiding busy places on the weekend. Heck, I just found out it's August!

 

[mystang52]

I generally take one day off from exercising. The other days I endeavor to do some combo of swimming/cycling/running. DW still w*rks, but she's a schoolteacher. So during the summer we do morning walk together or easy bike ride [she's not as serious a cyclist].
I also started something I did when I w*rked: I give myself a daily to-do checklist. This is not as evil as it sounds. I make it a point not to to make it extensive. But it also helps me stay on top of things I want to see done, be they errands or odds and ends things around the house.
To the original question, I consider all of this a routine but I don't adhere to a fixed time schedule.

 

[BTravlin]

I wake up when I want, usually between 6 and 7:30 am each morning. I then have my morning coffee while reading the news online for an hour or so. Take care of some household finances and then devote some time to exercise (walk, bike ride, paddle board, etc) and the rest of the day is taken as it comes. I do what I want, when I want.

Routine is nice but I'm more of a spontaneous type person. DW, on the other hand, likes more of a routine but we make it work somehow.

 

[travelover]

..........
Routine is nice but I'm more of a spontaneous type person. .........

Spontaneity is nice, but it has its time and place.

 

[Car-Guy]

No routine here. Go to sleep when I'm sleepy, wake up "whenever", eat "whenever" I want, pick up and go anywhere I want, whenever I want, etc, etc. With the exception of live sporting events (football, NASCAR, etc) I don't even watch TV on a schedule. Just use the DVR and watch it whenever.

 

[martyp]

I have a loose structure.

One of my plans for ER was to make sure I do something social every week which I have kept to. I also attend classes throughout the year for a couple of days a week and volunteer for the organization that puts on the classes. DW works so I clean house on Friday mornings and I prepare dinner every night and walk the dog. I attend a book club and have a theater subscription. I take one or two trips someplace during the year. Still, there is plenty of time reserved for myself and being spontaneous.

 

[Moemg]

I have things I do every week but I can vary the day depending on my mood or the weather . I do get up at the same time 9am & go to bed at 12 everything else varies .

 

[youbet]

My life is totally unstructured other than when it intersects with other people. I have a simple system so I don't miss appointments, lunch dates, etc. I've scheduled with others. But otherwise, no schedules, no routine sleeping pattern, no fixed meal times.

DW and I spend a week in the early spring and a week in the autumn at an American plan fishing camp "up Nort." It's quite a shock to have our lives revolve around meal times! But, we fall into line after a day or so......

 

[Cassie]

I mall walk on Tues and Fridays, then have coffee with the other retirees. During hot months I get errands done early, during cool months I start errands around noon. Either way I'm home by 2:00 pm to watch TMZ and avoid traffic, then I putter for an hour until Judge Judy at 4:00pm. Denny's every 3rd Tues with the walking group. Oh, I go to Weight Watchers Saturday morning then I'm in until Monday....I let the working people deal with the stores and crowds. I make a casino run for a 3 night stay about every 4/5 months and a week in Vegas once a year to break up my routine.

 

[freebird5825]

The first year of FIRE, I put To-Do reminders in my email calendar so that if I got a little bored, it would chime and tell me something needed to be done. That got old very quickly.
8 years later...my mornings are spent tidying up the kitchen, running laundry, computer use, and playing with my plants. My wakeup times are now dependent on how bad the night sweats were, so my get-out-of-bed time is variable. I enjoy it when I happen to awaken at sunrise to hear the morning birdie symphony. Sometimes I stay up, sometimes I go right back to the pillow.
I like to get my chores done in the morning, before I talk myself out of doing them. I leave myself reminder notes on the counter so I will see them first thing in the morning. I pick and choose what I feel like doing, all or just one task. I do my meal planning around noon.
In winter, I return to my daily exercise regimen in the living room. I have a timer set up for 9 AM to remind me to get off the laptop and exercise.
Once my stuff is done or put off until the next day, I go into free form for the remainder of the day.

Never a dull moment...I stay occupied and productive.

 

[Teacher Terry]

AFter 3 years I get up when my dogs make me-usually between 7-8 am. I go to bed between 9-11. I walk everyday with one of the dogs. I teach a uni class online & do some p.t. consulting but I choose when I want to work. On Tues we go to cheap movie & eat out. Every Sat we do something different for the entire day. I spent Fri nite with a good friend. I also fill my days with some volunteer work & taking friends to doc appointments for a few that are too disabled or sick to drive. Also usually abut 1x per week I have friends over for dinner. I like being able to choose when & if I work & also having complete control over my time.

 

[LinCella]

I have no routine at all, which after 1 year and 8 months is starting to get old and unhealthy. I stay up until 1 a.m. reading and then sleep in until 10:30 or so. This is becoming tiresome in many ways - I AM a morning person so getting up late kinda screws my day. So I am trying to return to a more normal sleep pattern and not wasting the morning. I have my coffee while surfing the Net, have some form of food, do some chores/errands (definite avoid shopping and chores on weekends - what a joy!), read some more, take the dog for a walk, think about what to make for dinner, cook, watch a few DVR'd shows, get in bed and read again.

I don't know what day it is most of the time, don't care. I do know the year and the approximate month.

The one thing I find pretty gross is - because I get up so late, I tend not to take a daily shower like I used to when I worked. Now I can sometimes go for a few days if I'm not seeing any humans so I'm getting worried that I might be becoming eccentric in that regard!

It's just SO NICE to not have any HAVE TO'S!

 

[grasshopper]

With 4 dogs who are up at 4 am to chase the last critter that went through the hacienda yes.

 

[Options]

I will admit to being a creature of habit, familiar ritual, and routine.

I cherish the early morning ritual of the sunrise, coffee, and quiet start of the day.

...

the afternoon will draw to an end and the evening meal will loom and I'll begin preparations for dinner.

After dinner, the usual rituals of clean up, a movie or a favorite show or two on the tv with a sweet for a late dessert before the end of the day.

...

+1
Retired just 3 months, I've been very surprised at how much structure there is in my day. I've been busy every single day since retired, mostly catching up on so many, many neglected projects. However, I still go grocery shopping the same day of the week, still work out the same days of the week, and still use Saturdays to complete various chores.

I, too, love the early mornings and an alarm wakes me so I can go down to the coffee house, sit outside alone, have that mocha, and watch the morning sky begin. I loved doing this on my days off before retiring and now I can do it every day. In the afternoons, I take a break, go down to another great place, sit outside and read. Heaven.

I do use an alarm - I usually wake up just before it goes off. I don't like to miss the magical early morning time.

Yes, I generally do go to bed at the same time each evening - early!

I usually have certain exercise goals each day.

Me too, go to bed at about the same time and get up early at the exactly the same time before retired every day. I do get to take lots more cat naps though!

Structure - yes I have one.

For the first six months I was retired I was busy catching up on maintenance chores around the house, and catching up on much needed rest.

...

NOTHING scheduled on Thursdays or Fridays - so I can practice my "goofing off" technique, until I perfect it.

The maintenance chores continue to suck up much time, and it's been somewhat exhausting accomplishing so much in such a short time. How much I put off! I was just thinking today how much I neglected in order to maintain a laser focus on achieving my retirement financial target. I've realized just how much I sacrificed in order to accomplish this great goal. Now, I've spent more money and bought/fixed/replaced more stuff in the last 3 months than I've spent in years, and spent a small fortune!

I'm jealous of the luxury of having nothing scheduled on Thursdays/Fridays. I probably won't be able to have some days where nothing is scheduled until next Spring. To keep to my schedule, I wind down the evening with a movie or book in order to be prepared for the next day. I keep telling myself the current structure is temporary, but I now know it's in my nature to always have some kind of schedule.

Bored in retirement? I would love to experience some boredom right now!

 

[Tree-dweller]

My structure is like a pergola: it doesn't look complete, but is. The key diff between pre- and post- retirement is, the structure/routine is self-imposed and of my own design, and not meant to meet external requirements, so there are always "FIRE"-escapes.

 

[inky]

I'm not retired yet, but I work a three-month-on, three-month-off schedule. During my downtime, I still get up at 7, because otherwise it feels like I'm wasting the day. I do 15 minutes of qigong and then have breakfast. In the mornings I focus on whatever personal project I'm working on - right now it's working on my will and health care directive.

Three times a week I go to the gym at lunchtime and do a fitness class and then come home and eat. In the afternoons I watch a movie. I always wanted more time to watch movies and quality TV shows and now I have it! At some point I do a 10-minute guided meditation using a meditation CD. Often I then read a bit and take a short nap.

Since I live alone, I always try to have some kind of social time built into my day, even if it's just a long phone call with a friend or family member. Often in the evenings I go to some kind of Meetup event, meet friends, or go to a meditation or yoga class. So much easier to have energy to go out in the evenings when you've had a nap and haven't worked all day!

 

[traineeinvestor]

I prefer to have a degree of structure in my days - so long as it is mostly of my own making. Having absolutely nothing to do and nothing scheduled would drive me as crazy as having a day packed full of meetings and conference calls and an in-box full of e-mails demanding instant responses to things which have become urgent because people have sat on them for weeks.

Getting up early and not going to work is one of the things I enjoy most about retired life. Being able to schedule all the things I want to do and know that there is unlikely to be anything stopping me doing them is another.

 

[sengsational]

Mostly unstructured for me. Scheduled travel stuff, but if I'm just around the house, I do whatever. I do have a pad I keep. Usually I have a day or two where I have a lot of ideas, and write down a bunch of stuff. Then for a week, I have no ideas and not so much motivation, so I work off my list. Some items on the list can be closed out in a stroke, and other items just need one small step toward the destination. It's nice to look back and see all the ideas I have turned into reality.

 

[Cobra9777]

Very little routine for me in ER. Then again, my work life was completely unstructured as well... I traveled extensively, worked projects, changed roles frequently, teleconferences from the hotel at 5am, ate bizarre food in the backstreets of Beijing, slept mostly on planes, etc.

DW is still working so I usually get up when she does, help get her lunch pulled together and send her off with her favorite coffee. I also prepare dinner every weeknight and try to have it ready around the time she gets home. Beyond that it's a complete free-for-all.

I sleep whenever I feel like it, including naps. I go through long phases of staying up very late, but then drift back to a 10pm-6am pattern. I often sleep in two 3-4 hour segments, separated by several hours. I enjoy reading in the quiet early mornings, 2am-5am.

I eat breakfast or lunch, but rarely both. And I eat whenever I feel hungry. Midnight snacks are common. The only routine meal is dinner with DW on weeknights. I go to the grocery store every 4-5 days (no specific day) whenever we're running low on fresh vegetables.

I ride my bike on average 2-3 times per week, but only if the weather is nice. During the blazing hot Texas summers and icy winters, I might not ride at all for a couple months. We travel internationally at least once per year, but no specific timing, routine, or destination. We make 2 or 3 smaller domestic trips every year at random times, usually to visit family around holidays or other events.

Both kids live nearby, so we see them frequently, but the schedule depends entirely on them, their jobs, etc. We spend a lot of time with DW's parents who are both mid-80s and increasingly dependent on us for everything. No regular schedule to that; it usually corresponds to their needs, doctor appointments, etc. We also try to get them out of their house at least 1-2 times per week for a concert, movie, or maybe just a walk around the block.

I go through obsessive phases with my hobbies, where I'll do a specific project (like a woodworking project) for 12 hours a day for 10 straight days. Then nothing for 2-3 weeks other than small checklist stuff around the house. Then I'll remodel a bathroom for a month or two. There's a long backlog of these projects, but I just do them at my own pace, and in whatever order I feel like. But once I get started, I tend to be obsessive until it's done.

Again, this is all very similar to my prior work MO; just a different list of items on the backlog, and I get to set the agenda.

 

[truenorth418]

I keep a to-do list and update it every Mon. Some items are easy and get crossed off pretty quickly (laundry, shopping, etc), while others are longer term projects (plan month-long backpacking trip, read a particular book, etc).

 

[mpeirce]

We have a mix.

Some activities are quite structured.

At bedtime we watch the 10 o'clock news - usually falling sleep right after the weather. DW gets up from 6 to 6:30 and I follow once she's done with the bathroom. Then I make breakfast of coffee, eggs, and maybe sausage or bacon. I sleep so much better when I keep to a schedule. She always makes dinner. Lunch we handle individually.

A few other items are structured. We visit the Y for exercise on MWF right after lunch. Almost no one else is there at that time - which is why we picked it. Dinner is at 6 if we're not traveling. On Saturday & Sundays (if we aren't traveling) we do the NYTs or WSJ crossword puzzles together during lunch - we actually work on the same puzzle at the same time. Not sure we would finish it alone.

Things like walks are depend on weather. Same with gardening and mowing.

When we're traveling we break the mold. We enjoy the break from what structure we have.

Something just work better for us as a couple when you know when to expect them.

 

[Live And Learn]

For the first few years, I slept whenever I wanted. However, I found that my body wants a 25-hour day so every night I stayed up later and every morning I slept later. After a few years of retirement I had had enough!

This was me too, but my tolerance was much shorter. My brain was all screwed up after a month, and although my alarm clock coincidentally and profetically died a week before ER I ended up replacing it and feel much better now. I've ended up adding some early morning routine but by 11am the day is MINE all MINE.

 

[aja8888]

Now that I am home more, the dog has elected me to take him for the 7:00 am walk. Who decided that?

After that walk, I go to Burger King and meet with the ROMEO guys for an hour or so. We cover the daily commitments (of each of us) and tell the same stories we told in previous days.

Some guys head to Harbor Freight or Home Depot to look at tools they will never use. That burns up about two hours. One guy has to be home by 9:30 am when his DW calls from work with his daily to do list laugh One fellow goes to his mother's house to cater to her whims - she's mid-90s and he's an only son. I believe there is a pot of gold at the end of that rainbow in the future.

Then it's pretty unstructured until dinner, which could be DW cooking or us going out for a cheap meal.

After that, the dog needs a walk.

I need to get a better handle on this retirement stuff.