This is why I think I will have a problem retiring. So many of the things people love about retirement I already have . As an attorney who bills their time but doesn’t go to court or have client meeting I never have to get up and go into work at any set time. I often spend the mornings relaxing in bed. I don’t work a full time schedule but work some days just a few hours. I might work no hours one week day and put in half days or 1/3 days on weekends, so there’s no transition between “ fun” and “ work days. My work is very intellectually challenging and I fear giving that up.
14 Likes
DH retired from a grueling 17-year 100% travel management consulting career a few months after I did. Within six months, he was freelance consulting to his last corporate client on a schedule similar to the one you post but often going weeks or months without billable hours. He keeps saying that each mini engagement will be the last, but they keep calling and he keeps giving them time, but it’s all on his terms. He considers himself absolutely retired. The sporadic gig is just what he does when he’s not working on his shop or other projects. Because he can stop any time, totally controls his time, and doesn’t need the money, he looks at it as just another hobby to fit in here and there. I consider his earnings his hookers-and-beer money. It goes into a separate account that is his and his alone to do with as he wishes.
The point is, you don’t necessarily have to leave what you love if you can manage to do it on your terms with no negative constraints. Sounds like you’re already there, @maya54. No need to mess with your perfect setup.
9 Likes
Our neighbor retired as a professor but still travels and speaks and works on grants on his timetable. He’s happy and definitely enjoys it. The wife is busy with League of Women Voters, a book club and other pursuits.
1 Like
I typically work about 30 hours a week. But not having to get up at any set time and working at least some hours most days I.e 7 days a week… just gives me tremendous flexibility. I’ve been doing it this way for over 25 years.
6 Likes
Working because one WANTS to instead of because one HAS to and having a lot of flexibility is a HUGE difference. I do my nonprofit endeavors because I find them satisfying. If they become less enjoyable, I can always scale back or quit entirely.
8 Likes
It took me a long time to say “I’m retired”. I even went back PT to contract work on and off for 2 years. After the last job in 2019, which I hated, I quit and said “I’m done”. Then Covid hit. Since then I have no problems saying “I’m retired”. But I do fill my days with being a clothing reseller or I’d go bonkers.
I’m also going to put myself more out there and join groups… book club at library, join a health club and do meetups for 55 plus women. I’ve never enjoyed volunteering or found something I’m particularly interested in.
4 Likes
I used to get up at 5:00 am. 30 minutes wake up with coffee, 30 minutes exercise, then shower then work by 7:30.
After years, I still can’t shrug that routine. This morning I was up at 4. Summer helps with daylight savings, in that I go to bed much later….but usually still up no later than 5:30. On occasion, 6:30. It’s frustrating.
4 Likes
I also love never having the Sunday dreads!
11 Likes
So since you are still waking so early how do you fill those early morning hours???
I would love to hear more about your second career as a clothing reseller. Not that I have any clothes to sell, but what got you started?
Internet sleuthing, list on Poshmark. Drink coffee.
My friend got me started. I began by setting up a Poshmark account and selling my own clothes. I was getting so much more than taking them to consignment stores, I thought I’d buy used clothing and try selling. It was so much fun going to Goodwill and thrift store sales to find treasures. It took 2 years to build my “closet” up to 1000 items and I was netting $2,000 a month. Then Poshmark sold, started live shows and I now only make maybe $700, $300 from eBay. Still…$1,000 is still something.
8 Likes
I never had much of a wardrobe other than “work” clothes (basically an Eileen Fisher uniform) and exercise clothes, with a few fun items for going out. I am enjoying looking at clothes for my retired lifestyle now.
H doesn’t get up until much later, so morning is my “personal” time. I love walking with the dogs, I have a cup of coffee in peace, I read the NYT and do the puzzles, I typically comb out the dogs every other day. My exercise habit of a grueling run has ended due to injury and arthritis, so I am thinking about what I want to do going forward. I enjoy physical activity but maybe not so much of it.
7 Likes
I always love your story. I would follow your thrifting story on Instagram! 
Do you still take time to thrift?
I actually do well with “work” clothes. Talbots is one of my best brands. Eileen Fisher always sells whenever I can find it. WHBM is my best seller.
2 Likes
I don’t thrift as much because I’m not making as much. It’s such a bummer, that was the most fun part!
1 Like
Perhaps this is just your circadian rhythm. Do you want to sleep longer, or are you refreshed and ready to go on this schedule? If you aren’t fatigued during the day, maybe this pattern is really your internal clock.
All my working life, I got up at 5:00 (or earlier) to beat the traffic and be in my office before anyone else arrived. It was my time to enjoy a cup of coffee, scroll through e-mail, and review my agenda for the day. It was a peaceful way to start the day, but I was always dead tired by late afternoon and dreaded the next day’s alarm. That’s the reason my first few months of retirement were filled with sleep. However, over time, my internal clock adjusted to 6:30-7:00 every day. I don’t set an alarm, but I’m always up by 7, and I don’t feel tired during the day so, evidently, this is what my body wants/needs. I don’t argue with it.
4 Likes
If I didn’t set an alarm I would start staying up later and later and sleeping in later and later! I am not a morning person at all.
I quit working to homeschool our son starting in the second grade. I did that for 6.5 years until he entered high school. That was a big adjustment for me, but I never went back to work after that - was just a SAHM.
Dh continues to, “fail,” at retirement. He, “retired,” (his company’s choice, not his) in 2018, and we moved to Florida. He actually did some Uber driving there for a while. A headhunter found him, and he got a full-time job. We decided to move back to his home state, and he got another full-time job (again, wasn’t looking). For the last 7 months he’s been doing his new job and continuing with a lot of responsibilities of his FL job remotely. I’m sick of it. He didn’t want to leave his FL (small) company in a lurch and offered to work remotely through the end of 2024. That was before he got offered a job here. Thankfully, once he wraps up year-end stuff, that will cease. It’s cut into our weekend time together. I have no idea how long he will continue to work. He is turning 62 this year. I like him working because I like having the house to myself during the day.
As for me, I don’t do much of anything! I do all the, “domestic,” stuff (cleaning, laundry, grocery shopping, meal prep). I exercise, play my guitar and post on YT and in a large guitar player group on FB. Ring handbells at church. Like @conmama I have not really found anything that suits me for volunteering. I think this is primarily because I am selfish with my time, and I don’t like having to be somewhere at any certain time. What kind of volunteering can one do remotely from home on one’s own timetable? Ha ha. I have ZERO computer skills.
5 Likes
I was thinking more about this thread. To me retirement equals freedom. Freedom to make my own hours - up early or sleep in, freedom to make my own schedule - go to a yoga class any time of day I choose, freedom to go anywhere at anytime even on short notice - whether that is a big vacation or a day at the beach, freedom to do anything or nothing - no deadlines to worry about. I think this freedom for us has translated to a lot less stress in our lives.
9 Likes
I wish my cat understood my retirement morning wake up time🤣
12 Likes