The simple life?

[E-Ticket]

I am in this struggle myself now. I am retiring at the end of the year and moving back West. All the stuff I've accumulated in the past 10+ years is really narrowing down my choices for where to live and driving up the cost of my retirement home. However, I need my hobbies and a workshop to keep me busy in retirement. I think I will end up with 2 phases of retirement, first with all of the things and obligations and then maybe 10-15 years later a true downsize/simplification of my life when the body can't keep up with my ambitions or interests or the maintenance of a bigger place.

 

[Westtown Willy]

All the not retired folks at work told me I would be bored with nothing to do.
Been retired now for seven years. I’m still waiting for a day of boredom.
A Jeep, a tractor, a wife, seven acres, a garden and there is just not enough time in the week to get it all done.

That's how I always envisioned retirement when I was younger. Then I hit the same patch @chili_pepper hit with the market catastrophe of 08-09, my employer at the time was leveraged to the hilt in his real estate side hustle & had to purge payroll to stave off bankruptcy so I found myself out the door. Landed on my feet almost immediately but it was the worst hellhole sweatshop ever conceived in the pits of hell so I bolted in less than a year back out on my own where I've been ever since. To the boredom point, I found myself in a situation where I had a multi-year stretch were I was working less than 20 hours/week, it was nirvana at first but eventually degenerated into a nightmare. Even working what was essentially part time I was painfully bored. It got to the point where I sought out a new direction that got me back to a more normal work load which is where I am now.

As a result of that experience I now spend a lot of time trying to figure out what I'll do when the day comes. The things I enjoy most are cooking and exercising, but that only takes up so much time. I was really excited years ago when I got the TJ, spent a lot of time in the mountains with it, then fixing what I broke, and modifying it, but one day I lost all interest & now it just sits there looking pretty. Went through similar phases with golf, Harleys, & a few other odds & ends but I haven't found anything that sticks. I've never been one of those "I love my job" guys, it's a great gig but not something I do for fun, though between doing nothing & work I'll take work all day long, so I really need to focus on finding some new interests to make this all work. I've considered cooking in a soup kitchen or the like.

 

[TJ Jim]

That's how I always envisioned retirement when I was younger. Then I hit the same patch @chili_pepper hit with the market catastrophe of 08-09, my employer at the time was leveraged to the hilt in his real estate side hustle & had to purge payroll to stave off bankruptcy so I found myself out the door. Landed on my feet almost immediately but it was the worst hellhole sweatshop ever conceived in the pits of hell so I bolted in less than a year back out on my own where I've been ever since. To the boredom point, I found myself in a situation where I had a multi-year stretch were I was working less than 20 hours/week, it was nirvana at first but eventually degenerated into a nightmare. Even working what was essentially part time I was painfully bored. It got to the point where I sought out a new direction that got me back to a more normal work load which is where I am now.

As a result of that experience I now spend a lot of time trying to figure out what I'll do when the day comes. The things I enjoy most are cooking and exercising, but that only takes up so much time. I was really excited years ago when I got the TJ, spent a lot of time in the mountains with it, then fixing what I broke, and modifying it, but one day I lost all interest & now it just sits there looking pretty. Went through similar phases with golf, Harleys, & a few other odds & ends but I haven't found anything that sticks. I've never been one of those "I love my job" guys, it's a great gig but not something I do for fun, though between doing nothing & work I'll take work all day long, so I really need to focus on finding some new interests to make this all work. I've considered cooking in a soup kitchen or the like.

Volunteer work is extremely satisfying for me. I’m not very social and don’t talk too much. In fact I talk more on this forum than anything. But my volunteer work consist of being a poll worker at election time. 14 hour days and you end up talking to a lot of folks. More than I want.
For the last thirty years my work schedule was 60-70 hours a week every weekend every holiday while normal….. folks partying on weekends and living it up. On the good side of that all that overtime and no time to spend the monies made early retirement a pleasure. I’m just now after seven years of retirement getting used to not doing anything on the weekends. Thirty years of go go go.
Now I help my neighbors with house repairs, yardwork, car repairs, you name it. They always want to pay, but I do it for fun and enjoyment.
Sounds like volunteer work might be fun for you.

 

[zebra12]

... I've known for years I'm living fairly inefficiently holding onto the family home, but for a bunch of those years I justified it as a landing pad for my kids that flew the coup in the event something went south for them, when those possibilities dwindled in likelihood I simply became lazy, avoiding the giant pain in the ass it will be to find a new spot, get rid of things I really no longer need, packing, moving & so on, having just done that with my office I'm not too keen on repeating it so soon...

My wife and I have this exact conversation about holding onto our house in Oregon in case one of our daughters decides to return to the PNW. Ripping the band-aid off is the logical choice, hopefully I can get management on board sooner than later. A barndominium in the Black Hills would be nice, with a winter spot somewhere warm.

 

[Rubiconned]

I'm ready to find a rich divorcee and move in with her. I'm willing to sell my house and everything in it (20 years of stuff) so no moving all my junk at all.

 

[Westtown Willy]

My wife and I have this exact conversation about holding onto our house in Oregon in case one of our daughters decides to return to the PNW. Ripping the band-aid off is the logical choice, hopefully I can get management on board sooner than later. A barndominium in the Black Hills would be nice, with a winter spot somewhere warm.

yea, & I'm not gonna lie, another factor for me is just the sentimental attachment to this place. My oldest left 10 years ago, he was a rough and tumble sports nut & for years I was pulling soccer balls, baseballs, whiffle ball bats & other related sports garb out of bushes & other odd places all over the property; every time I found one it was like digging up a fossil, the last one I came across a few years ago, I think it's a volley ball but it's so weathered & deflated I can't tell, remains in its place, I haven't had the heart to toss it in the trash because every time I look at it I smile like he's still here bashing the shit out of the place. That band-aid definitely needs to be ripped off.

I'm ready to find a rich divorcee and move in with her. I'm willing to sell my house and everything in it (20 years of stuff) so no moving all my junk at all.

I'm not interested in moving a bunch of stuff either, on the bright side my stuff is all old & beat up enough that tossing it makes more sense than trying to salvage it. I'll keep my collection of Barcaloungers though, after all it is, or was, The World's Finest Motion Furniture

I was disheartened to learn that the company went bankrupt in 2010 & 'reemerged as an import made in China in 2011'. I've got three leather originals made in the US plus a no-name cloth one for particularly cold nights.

Two from my collection, we call'm the quaaludes:

 

[chili_pepper]

They look like old baseball mitts (and I mean that as a complement).

 

[taylormade73]

I'm told it's pretty nice. I've never been there.

Some cousin.

 

[Apparition]

Some cousin.

I got a tour of the barndominium. The other place is 12 hours away. Also doesn’t help my cousins are 30 years older than me.

 

[Westtown Willy]

They look like old baseball mitts (and I mean that as a complement).

more like old catcher's mitts, I thought the same when I first saw & bought them 25+/- years ago, and they look every bit as good as they did back then. My daughter threatens to steal them from me at least once a year, they are absurdly comfortable.

 

[chili_pepper]

more like old catcher's mitts

What that guy said...

 

[LaZ8787]

Know any doctors?

View attachment 609614

This movie was one of the 72 reasons I bought a Jeep. lol

 

[Apparition]

This movie was one of the 72 reasons I bought a Jeep. lol

You better have one of these too

 

[Westtown Willy]

This movie was one of the 72 reasons I bought a Jeep. lol

and one of the 72 reasons Sam Elliott is funny as balls

 

[bucky]

There’s a message here for the younger guys. Start planning your retirement early. Not just the financial aspect but what your life will be when you do retire. If you’re married make sure your Wife is on board because you’ll be spending a LOT more time with her.

 

[lBasket]

There’s a message here for the younger guys. Start planning your retirement early. Not just the financial aspect but what your life will be when you do retire. If you’re married make sure your Wife is on board because you’ll be spending a LOT more time with her.

Mannnn this is a good point. I am worried about the financial aspect of it but if I expect to spend 5k+ a year on building [crappy] cars it's going to be a different ballgame. I guess I gotta have the whole stable ready to go by then.

 

[Squatch]

If you’re married make sure your Wife is on board because you’ll be spending a LOT more time with her.

This is very much a factor for those enjoying (???) wedded bliss. But even though you may honestly believe that you both are in total agreement on your retirement days, things can, and often do, change. My lovely bride and I had it all figured out for years, and then came the grandkids. Yeah..."The best-laid plans of mice and men". Now she doesn't want to move away from them, and I'm sitting in a home that I've resided in for 29 years, and am no longer happy with (the area, not the house). I want out of the area in the worst way, and she doesn't. Kinda sucks.

As far as @Westtown Willy being locked into the sentimental aspect of it all, I can absolutely relate. Upon purchase in 1996, I gutted the place, and spent nine months rebuilding it. I have a helluva lot of good memories in this house, and that part of the equation would make it hard to leave. But leave I would, if'n the missus were up for it. I will admit to envying his having the ability to make that choice for himself, needing no one else's blessing. Just saying...

 

[Zorba]

There’s a message here for the younger guys. Start planning your retirement early. Not just the financial aspect but what your life will be when you do retire. If you’re married make sure your Wife is on board because you’ll be spending a LOT more time with her.

The best thing you can do is not waste money - now or after you retire. I certainly wasted my share of it, but not nearly as much as many do.

 

[Westtown Willy]

There’s a message here for the younger guys. Start planning your retirement early. Not just the financial aspect but what your life will be when you do retire. If you’re married make sure your Wife is on board because you’ll be spending a LOT more time with her.

I'm starting to realize that this is at least as, if not more, important than the financial aspect. Finances are certainly a critical requirement but if you have nothing to do it's not going to be much of a life.

As far as @Westtown Willy being locked into the sentimental aspect of it all, I can absolutely relate. Upon purchase in 1996, I gutted the place, and spent nine months rebuilding it. I have a helluva lot of good memories in this house, and that part of the equation would make it hard to leave. But leave I would, if'n the missus were up for it. I will admit to envying his having the ability to make that choice for himself, needing no one else's blessing. Just saying...

we're fairly close in time-line, mine was 1998 & I similarly did a good bit of gutting, I spread it out over years though. It's an awesome place to live besides all the sentimental attachments, very comfortable & fortunately the area itself is also good. All begs the question why leave, something I struggle with, boils down to a size/too much thing.

My realtor has delivered his first batch of contenders fitting my parameters, not off to a great start, the best one hit all my criteria, 1/2 the size of this joint, one floor, full basement, nice yard, I'd buy it tomorrow but for the fact that it's adjacent to a high school parking lot/football field.

That wouldn't be at all annoying as fuck

The best thing you can do is not waste money - now or after you retire. I certainly wasted my share of it, but not nearly as much as many do.

Golden advice, living below your means is critical to all people no matter where they fall on the economic ladder, if you can't master that art you'll always be behind the eight ball no matter how much money you make. It seems that's a far more common position with Americans, and America as a nation.

 

[TJ Jim]

Golden advice, living below your means is critical to all people no matter where they fall on the economic ladder, if you can't master that art you'll always be behind the eight ball no matter how much money you make. It seems that's a far more common position with Americans, and America as a nation.

Working in a factory most of my career making good money I watched some of the locals not only survive but flourish on minimum wage. I was working 60-70 hours a week every weekend and they were enjoying weekends off and holidays too. Had to question my motives often. But I did retire at 57 and loving every minute.
I’ve got so much to do this week I’m considering some twelve hour work days and maybe even working a weekend day!

Nah…… Saturday there’s a rodeo in town and I think we’ll go.