Poll: Daily Routine or Free Form time

[Pellice]

I checked, and yes there is an old thread on this subject, but it's past the expiration date, so I'll start a new one. Do you have a daily/weekly routine or do you make up your schedule anew as you go along? I've seen both approaches on this board. And, to clarify what I mean by routine, let me define it at a minimum as generally having an expectation of a broadly defined daily activity (or activities) soon after getting up, morning, afternoon, and evening. A routine contrasts with free from time in which you do something different almost every day, different times of day, depending on external inputs or how you feel. [Not sure that is terribly clear, but didn't want to be too restrictive - not hyper scheduled vs. new plan every hour].

A few weeks into retirement I'm searching for a new routine. The only thing I'm sure of is that exercise has to come first thing, or I won't do it. I used to do prep cooking before work, but not anymore.

Anyway, I'll be interested in your comments. And, if you feel like it, note your gender. I'm curious as to whether responses differ between men and women.

 

[Dtail]

We don't have a daily routine, although usually do laundry on Saturday. Exercise in some form everyday.
The beauty of retirement is the free flow every day, even though I am very detailed.
I am male.

 

[Jerry1]

Having recently retired, I’m still working on my list of home improvements. Nothing major, I focus on that but it doesn’t matter what day it is - no routine. I do generally golf on Tuesday and/or Friday, but nothing scheduled. Just when me and my golf partners agree. More dependent on weather than any scheduling.

 

[FIREd]

Mornings, afternoons, and late nights are free form. Early mornings, lunch time, and evenings are pretty routine.

 

[Aerides]

A few weeks into retirement I'm searching for a new routine.

Do you really want a routine? I'm two years in, but other than things like a long latte in the morning, and another later in the afternoon before I start thinking about dinner, that's about it.

Sure, I like to include exercise most days, but the weather somewhat dictates that for me, same with gardening or other outdoors stuff. Raining? Good day to stay in, catch up on some cleaning.

I don't want a routine really though. We actually find a week with schedule stuff feels very constrictive. Like, let's say you have a dentist visit on Tuesday, and a movie planned for thursday... ok that's ENOUGH of that!

 

[Plantman]

We like an open calendar, free to do whatever we feel up to that day. Many times the weather dictates what that is.

 

[street]

Do you really want a routine? I'm two years in, but other than things like a long latte in the morning, and another later in the afternoon before I start thinking about dinner, that's about it.

Sure, I like to include exercise most days, but the weather somewhat dictates that for me, same with gardening or other outdoors stuff. Raining? Good day to stay in, catch up on some cleaning.

I don't want a routine really though. We actually find a week with schedule stuff feels very constrictive. Like, let's say you have a dentist visit on Tuesday, and a movie planned for thursday... ok that's ENOUGH of that!

I like the way you think.

I'm two years in and I will say you will find your way. I do what ever and just got back from a 3 mile bike ride. I plan to go to the ranch or fish later on. The first few weeks was an adjustment even thou I had a plan and retired to something and not just retired.

Now it is your time to enjoy and do what ever you want to do. Good Luck.

 

[gauss]

I like to start the day consistently. Get up by 6am, walk 2 miles with DW, make/eat breakfast, shower/dress.

After that it varies. Sometimes I have meetings scheduled. Sometimes I have things that I need to get done. Most times it is more flexible however.

-gauss

 

[bingybear]

poll should have had more choices. I remember someone showing a firm weekly schedule with little free time. We have things like today - racing sailboats -this has a schedule as many people are involved. But I don't go every time.

we are more free form with the exception of DMIL medical appointments and other needs

 

[scrabbler1]

Some of my activities are on set days, others vary. My square dance nights, Monday and Thursday, are set. I do laundry every other Friday morning. My Scrabble night with my (snake-bit) friend is Wednesday, usually. During the school year, I usually make biweekly visits on Mondays midday. My diabetes support group meeting in the third Monday every month, just before and nearby to my dancing.


My other errands I do during the day on weekdays vary, depending on when I am running low on perishable foods or in need of something else.

 

[RetireAge50]

I like to start the day consistently. Get up by 6am, walk 2 miles with DW, make/eat breakfast, shower/dress.

After that it varies. Sometimes I have meetings scheduled. Sometimes I have things that I need to get done. Most times it is more flexible however.

-gauss

I also have a routine of waking up in the morning. [emoji3]
We then pretty much make it up as we go but always do a fair amount of walking/biking.

 

[MBAustin]

I have enough volunteer activities and things I do to help out my (disabled) DH that it's more routine than free form as we need to coordinate our calendars. Walk with the dog, eat breakfast, read the newspaper, shower, check things on the computer and read the NYTimes online, do whatever morning activities are on the calendar, lunch, either free time/chores or scheduled activities, 5pm glass of wine and prep dinner. Evenings without scheduled activities are watching TV and knitting. Works for us.

 

[Ronstar]

Both planned and free form. Start the day with some online time and breakfast about 6-8. Then exercise - weights or biking from about 8-9 am. Sometimes bike longer. Sometimes hike a few hours. Sometimes kayak a couple of hours.
Then house/yard projects and or woodworking until 5.
Happy hour/dinner until around 6. Online/TV until 10.
Sometimes take some landscape / wildlife photos - whenever conditions are good.
Sometimes review shoreline construction projects/ applications for HOA.

So I have a relatively set group of about 10 activities that I rotate through, doing maybe 5 every day.

In winter at the snowbird condo - about the same except with no house & yard work and no woodworking. These are replaced with more hiking, biking, and lounging/reading at the pool.

 

[38Chevy454]

A little of both, but tend to be more free form and do whatever is needed that comes up. I do have a lot of general plans, but those do not always have a definite time and date. So I tend to just follow my general plan unless something else comes up to take time. I am more free form than scheduled.

 

[Midpack]

Mine is a little of both, and changes from time to time, so I didn't vote. I do some things on a schedule (mealtimes, laundry, golf, sailing), but flexible, and lots of free form time. I'd go batty if I did everything on a schedule, variety is the spice of life?

 

[Pellice]

Interesting responses! Yes, it's a spectrum for people who are not working (in general, if working, I assume you are tightly scheduled). And right now poll responses evenly divided among those at the more organized end and the more free form sides of the spectrum. After a working life where I idolized organization (not always successfully), it's odd to remind myself that I am not simply transitioning from one workday to another workday. I've always searched for the perfect time organization tool. Remember Sidekick? That was one of the very first time organization program-lets on the web. In fact it worked BEFORE there was a web. I think I had it on my XT, summoned up by a Ctrl-tab keystroke, if I remember right.

It's kind of disconcerting to realize that I ran out of time that needed organizing BEFORE I found the ideal time organizer!

 

[Souschef]

Basically free form, other than for doctor's appointments, Angel Flights, restoring switch engine and volunteering at Hospice.
We still have plenty of free time.

 

[omni550]

I wonder if this correlates with the Myers-Briggs personality indicator?

I'm an IxTP (and enjoy my unplanned days), and I notice many of my xxxJ friends keep a pretty tightly structured calendar.

omni

 

[LOL!]

I have a routine, but with many exceptions.

I don't have to eat breakfast nor take the dog for walk in the morning and talk to the usual crowd that I meet out at that time, but I really enjoy it and here in Texas it is the coolest part of the day.

I don't have to go out to dinner, but that's when my wife gets off of work.

I don't have to go to the library on Monday afternoons, but that's when the maids come to clean the house and I would rather not be here.

 

[97guns]

We have a daily routine, I’m up at 5:30 - 6:00, I get coffee and watch tv/surf the web while the wife sleep until 8:00, take sowers and ready for breakfast around 10, then we’ll go shopping for food and or other things, usually get back home in the early afternoon and I’m back on the tv and web while the wife calls back home to skype with family, eat dinner around 6, I turn in around 9:30 and the wife surfs the web until 11 or midnight.

 

[MRG]

Yes.

 

[Philliefan33]

I don’t have a set routine, but there are things I do every day. I prefer a slow start to the day, with breakfast and coffee while I look at email/surf the web for an hour or so. Then I move on to something else. I strive for at least 30 minutes of exercise each day. Sometimes that means 30 mi utes of yoga just prior to going to bed, more frequently it is a 1-3 hour walk or bike ride sometime during the day.

DH prefers a more structured day. You can take the boy off the farm but you can’t get the farm out of the boy: he’s up with the sun/showered/ doing something most mornings before I come downstairs. Conversely, he will go to bed an hour or two before me while I stay up to read.

 

[athena53]

I have well-defined "To Do"s but not many fixed commitments.

Daily: Gym workout, work in yard/garden (weather permitting), clean house 3 days/week (about an hour each session, entire house is cleaned over 2-week cycle).

Weekly: Church Sunday morning, Toastmasters Thursday at noon, grocery shopping (usually Fridays).

Even my volunteer stuff is mostly at my discretion: maintaining the church Web site, creating the minutes of the monthly HOA Board meeting, cleaning part of the church once a quarter during my assigned week.

So, I can decide when I wake up in the morning whether I want to work out before or after church, work out in the AM and clean in the PM, or vice versa. Sometimes I walk o the wild side and shop on Thursday instead of Friday.

The combination of structure and flexibility works well for me.

 

[Dash man]

I follow a schedule during the day, but there is also a lot of free time allowing me to vary my days. I wake around 6:30 am, shower and dress, go to daily morning mass, eat breakfast and drink coffee. Think I should exercise today. The rest of the day is flexible until dinner. Watch a little tv or read. Sleep, rinse and repeat.

 

[Cobra9777]

I think I'm trying to counteract 25 years of rigid schedules and unreasonable time commitments at Megacorp. I still have an Outlook calendar with a few things like doctor appointments. But I don't like looking at it because it reminds me of the days when Megacorp "owned" me.

The only thing I do with predictable regularity is make dinner every evening around 6. Everything else is completely unplanned. I just let the days unfold naturally. I stay busy but try to keep it spontaneous. I do have a to-do list on my PC. But I limit that to 2 or 3 "must-do's" for the day, like adding chlorine to the pool or taking the dog to the vet.

DW is much more structured. She does yoga and zumba on certain days. She takes her parents to all their appointments and helps them with lots of other things. She does activities with friends fairly regularly. She likes to sleep, eat, and shower at very specific times, as if she was still working. I prefer to sleep when I'm tired, eat when I'm hungry, and shower when I'm dirty and stinky.