My DH is very very good repairing and doing maintenance on bicycles of all kinds. But he prefers to do this for fun and as favors.
My brother in law was a school bus driver for a bit, but due to a lack of teachers, they would ask him to stay and sub. He’s now a permanent sub.
I can easily work part time in my field…5 hours, 10 hours, 12 hours…whatever I want to do.
That is my plan once I leave my full time job.
following this. I am looking and its not easy. I dont want to work weekends since my husband still works and that is our only time. I will sub for now, but the summer would be wide open. I am a people person. So thinking receptionist. I have been in presales for a long time, but in the IT field, its hard to find part time. consulting yes, but not part time, and I dont have the experience that would make me a consultant. And Bus driver, nope
Many women we know have set up home-based baking or catering businesses of various types. Making and decorating cakes, cupcakes, cookies, or catering for parties, or selling foodstuffs at farmers markets etc.
It doesn’t make much money but is satisfying and very flexible (albeit with some early morning baking). There’s more work at weekends but not exclusively so.
Bus driving doesn’t work for someone that wants to travel.
I was a special ed teacher, then an autism specialist/ ABA consultant, for both the state and in private practice, before taking time off to raise my kids. I didn’t need to go back to work financially but I did need to go back for my sanity. When teaching, I always said that I would love to be able to work 1:1 with kids instead of doing all of the administrative stuff, staff management, and “hair on fire” due to new mandates stuff. Well, I went back to work in a paraprofessional role (although highly specialized) where I work 1:1 with kids and don’t have to really deal with anything else. Sometimes it’s hard to stay in my lane and not step on anyone’s toes but since my district pays so well for my specialized position, I’m actually making more per hour than the teachers are if you figure in the actual hours worked. I love that my job is 8-2:30 (and they actually pay me for any additional hours which I often use to prep and contact parents), I never get pulled for duties or to sub (I was not going to take a position that required these tasks), and once I leave the building, I am done with my work for the day.
The downside of working in a school for my “retirement job” is that we can only travel on school holidays and that is when everything is expensive and crowded. I will probably retire for real in about 3 years (when the last of my current group of kiddos graduates) and move on to traveling and taking courses for fun at some of the local colleges. The only type of job I can see doing at that point is one that doesn’t require a weekly work schedule even if the schedule is variable. Most likely something like creating teaching materials, providing in-service training, or mentoring someone through research or board preparation. I don’t see going back to consulting as I hated running the business end of it and also felt like I needed to be “on call” and available more than I’d like to be.
I have friends who have done as part-time jobs - medical office receptionist, law office receptionist, library circulation desk, independent book store, consignment shop, local craft/gift shop, etc. I consider these not physically demanding part time in person jobs where you deal with the public. All were locally owned businesses.
Part of it comes down to is are you working for the $ (so need to make a benchmark$ amount regularly) or are you looking to just fill some hours when you start working full time.
I always said my dream retirement part time job would be working a few half days at Trader Joe’s - I’m ok with tasks like stocking, organizing, register work, etc.
Unfortunately we don’t have a Trader Joe’s!!!
The IRS is hiring.
Not retired yet but thinking about it. I can also fix and do handyman work but could also work part time for someone else in my profession . (shoot me now ). I have started consulting in AI for ambient medical charting and lecturing on it. I can turn that into something I would enjoy (I have lectured extensively on speech recognition and integrating into medical charting years ago). Just started with a company that is launching and it’s pretty exciting.
Agreed - I consider my job a way of staying busy not a way of making any significant money
My brother does that! He did a thesis on Trader Joe’s for his MBA in the 90’s and always held them up as an example of an exemptional company (his specialty was structuring employee benefit packages). He now works for them part-time during his retirement.
I have a friend who always said her “dream” retirement job would be to drive a small shuttle van from the airport to the car rental (or to the parking lot) . Lol not me
I know some retired folks who drive Uber or Lyft to keep them busy and make a few bucks.
When my in-laws retired to the mountains, my FIL got a great retirement gig working at the rental counter of a ski resort. He got to ski for free and chat with people from all over the world. It was the perfect job for an active, extroverted senior.
Definitely not me! Not a fan of lifting 60-pound bags.
That was my thought too, but many of the drivers we have seen don’t seem to get out of their seats
My sense is that it is easier to find a part time gig if you are just trying to keep busy, not hoping to replace a good chunk of a professional full time salary (especially if it means giving up medical coverage).
Our retirement funds seem ample, and I like my flexibility. But if I were interested in a part time job, I might have applied at the local library. They were trying to drum up interest for part time jobs helping patrons at the library computer center, $18/hour.
A friend took a PT job at Talbot’s. She never knew her schedule until the last minute and if she had a conflict she had to arrange coverage. That didn’t last long!
Some posters likely might enjoy being a wedding planner assistant. Or help people downsizing decide what to keep or toss.
In the old days, there used to be opportunities to drive kids to before and after school activities; not sure if that’s a thing still. Another possibility is tutoring. I also saw a suggestion to sign up as a mock juror - that could be an online opportunity.