Thread Drift

Congratulations to you and your DH Crankin, it sounds like he found a good place.

Anyone else in "nesting for winter" mode? Unsure why the coming winter is affecting me this way this year, especially as warm as it's been. Thanks to the evil, and multiple, 20% coupons from Bed Bath and Beyond they keep sending me I now have a new WARM comforter and flannel sheets. Then I almost totally rearranged my bedroom to get my bed further away from the window. It really DOES feel like I'm preparing my nest :cool: What's interesting is I normally do these types of things over my normal Christmas vacation.

Catrin, we're doing the same, but primarily because we got rid of all our cold weather stuff when we moved. Gotta say, the new LL Bean flannel sheets are a slice of heaven!

Crankin, hope your DH enjoys the new position! I know you must be relieved to have him settled again.

I love flannel sheets! We've had them on our motorhome bed for months as we've traveled to so many chilly spots (including a couple nights of temps in the 20s in Yellowstone in August...crazy to me). I can't wait, though, to take them off in Florida. It has been in the 30s for the past two nights here in NC, and I am already tired of winter chill!

Put the flannel sheets on the bed 2 weeks ago. Of course, then we had quite a few warmer nights, so I had to put on the ceiling fan.
We've had crazy weather, too. Up and down. Next Saturday is a predicted high of 38, the coldest yet. I have an all day conference, so no outdoor activity for me anyway.

I dream of downsizing in my job, if only I could afford it. But then again I already did it years ago when I changed careers and have turned down several promotions at my current job. Around here promotions mean spending all day in meetings, which would make me miserable and therefore bad at the job. This is one of the reasons I am stuck financially.

One of my relatives cashed in her stock options and left her high-level management job before she turned 50. She wanted to spend more time at home with her kids. After a couple of years she found a part-time job doing accounting, which was what she did years ago when she first got out of school, and she's perfectly content with it.

It hasn't been cold enough here for flannel sheets yet. But I have jersey sheets (like t-shirt material) which are sort of in-between flannel and regular sheets, and I expect to be putting them on the bed this weekend. Last spring I put lots of winter stuff into the storage unit -- clothes, boots, coats -- so it would be out of the way when I had the new floors installed. But the flooring I chose was backordered and then discontinued and I haven't been able to find anything I like since then. Yesterday I got it all out of storage again. At least I made it to November without needing any of it.

I was quite overwhelmed by the storage unit. I started putting stuff there a couple of years ago when I was getting ready for various contractors to do work in the living room and bedroom, because I wanted to minimize the amount of stuff they had to move around in order to work. So there are boxes of books and framed photos and all my wall art in the storage unit. But there's also plenty of stuff I really don't need. Every time I go there I either need something from the bottom of the pile or I'm adding something heavy that has to go under the lighter boxes, so I end up having to take lots of stuff out and rearrange it all. Yesterday I decided that my next trip there will be a purging trip. Some things that it made sense to keep a year or two ago no longer need to be kept. Some things with marginal sentimental value no longer have any value. And I have to get realistic about things that I keep because "I might use them someday." I think one reason I'm reaching this readiness to purge is that the next project, after the floors are done, will be to re-do my three closets in order to make them more efficient. I've already started to look at closet designs and it's making me really think about how much stuff I have and how little storage space there is for it.

Moving to a place half the size, did it for us. We keep hardly anything, compared to a lot of people, but there was some stuff we just didn't need. We had our 2 bedroom closets redone and had to think about solutions for our basement storage, especially for out of season clothes. We ended up with 3 rolling clothing racks. I also have 4 under the bed rolling storage things for linens in my bedroom and 2 in the guest room.
The only thing i miss is being able to pull out and look at my photo albums. They are in tubs in the basement.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by ny biker

I dream of downsizing in my job, if only I could afford it. But then again I already did it years ago when I changed careers and have turned down several promotions at my current job. Around here promotions mean spending all day in meetings, which would make me miserable and therefore bad at the job. This is one of the reasons I am stuck financially.

One of my relatives cashed in her stock options and left her high-level management job before she turned 50. She wanted to spend more time at home with her kids. After a couple of years she found a part-time job doing accounting, which was what she did years ago when she first got out of school, and she's perfectly content with it.
.

---

I retired after 30+ years at a job that was just OK - but the benefits were really good. So, I am getting a pension that takes care of my needs and a few of my wants. I started a dog training business and did it for three years before I burned out. It was the people who wanted the 30 minute Cesar Milan fix for multi-year serious problems (usually aggression.) Now, I'm practicing being really retired and it's harder than I thought. Seems like the first thing people ask is, "what do you do?" So, I say that I'm practicing being retired (as soon as I get all of the closets cleaned out...etc.) and we'll see. I have friends who are perfectly content reading books, visiting museums, shopping and being really retired. I'm hoping I can get there someday.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Dogmama

I retired after 30+ years at a job that was just OK - but the benefits were really good. So, I am getting a pension that takes care of my needs and a few of my wants. I started a dog training business and did it for three years before I burned out. It was the people who wanted the 30 minute Cesar Milan fix for multi-year serious problems (usually aggression.) Now, I'm practicing being really retired and it's harder than I thought. Seems like the first thing people ask is, "what do you do?" So, I say that I'm practicing being retired (as soon as I get all of the closets cleaned out...etc.) and we'll see. I have friends who are perfectly content reading books, visiting museums, shopping and being really retired. I'm hoping I can get there someday.

---

I know plenty of people who love being retired because it allows them to ride their bikes almost every day. And they have other activities, like bird watching and kayaking. And some are so heavily involved with bike club activities (like running the annual century) that they are busier than I am. A few people that I know retired from government/military careers and then got jobs at bike shops.

I don't think my parents had any trouble when they retired, but they also always seem busy. There's always something to do around the house, plus they read a lot, meet friends for lunch, go to grandchildren's sporting events, travel... plus some volunteer activities. And my father continued to work a few hours here and there doing handyman stuff for two people for a long time after he retired from his full-time job.

Realistically, since I have no pension and have not seen the miracle of compound interest that I was told about when I started putting money into a 401k all those years ago, I am aiming to step down to something part-time instead of retiring completely. I've spoken to two women who work at a clothing store where I shop often. Both started to work there after they retired. One needed money to pay off her mother's medical bills and decided to continue working there after the bills were gone, and the other just wanted some extra spending money. I could see myself doing something like that, in a small store that doesn't get crazy busy. Or maybe I'll end up at an LBS. If I could afford to retired completely, I'm pretty sure I'd look for a volunteer activity for part of the time.

NY…we have some non-profit thrift stores who do good work in the larger community here…..should be some in your area too. Good way to pass on small to large items you don’t need.
In the combining of two spaces we’ve given some things we didn't want going into storage to a non profit here that supports this area's health services and issues.

Well, most of you know what happened when I tried to retire at 54. I went back to school for 3 years and found a new career. I chose something I knew I could do part time until I was into my 70s, but my thoughts are now that I am going to stop when I am 65 or cut back to 2 shorter days a week until DH retires. DH is 3 years younger and now he will work until he is 65. He is hoping the new place might be open to him phasing down to part time when he is 63 or 64, and we feel like we want to have some time to have fun and travel while we are still young old people.
I hope I can handle retirement when I try again. I found I couldn't make myself ride everyday when I could, it made it feel like a job. I might get more active doing things for AMC, besides being a ride leader, as that seems to be the only volunteering I can stomach. Or something having to do with the outdoors. Most of the other things I would volunteer for are too similar to my profession, so I might as well get paid for it. I also want to spend more time with my granddaughter who lives here, as she gets older. And my younger son is going to be going back active duty (in the Army this time) as an officer, when he graduates in May, so there's going to be about 8 more years of traveling to see my other granddaughter. He's put in to be based in either Hawaii or Colorado Springs for the next 4 years, after training, and I am hoping he goes to Colorado, thinking of all of the outdoor activity.

I retired, only to take on a new job as caregiver to my mom. It's been OK, although I don't have as much freedom as I'd like. The last month has been scary, she developed a very bad UTI, it affected her kidneys. She was in the hospital for three days, now she's in a rehab facility to get stronger. A friend pointed out to me, I haven't really retired, I just took a new job.

snapdragen…I don’t know of a more important job than caregiver for a parent during the last chapters of their journey here. ….made even better when that's not just a realization in hindsight.

Snap - I was a caretaker to DH for a year during cancer. It was much harder than a regular job. He is over 10 years out now and "cancer free" but it's always a small storm cloud. He just turned 70 so my main reason for retiring is to spend more time together. He still works (forensic investigator and expert witness) and is self employed. He goes out of town often and I'd like to accompany him as much as possible. I have to remember that when the guilt sets in about not working.

Crankin - I know about riding every day turning into a job. I intersperse it with lifting weights. I'd like to get back to yoga more often too. At 62, things are starting to get stiff.

I already do lots of other stuff; hiking, x country skiing, snow shoeing, tabata, power classes at the gym. Occasional yoga. I was really into for awhile while I was in school, but I find I don't really like the people in those classes. I can't describe it, but it gets me agitated, which is not what yoga should do. I do sometimes practice at home. I've done yoga at a few places, and my reaction is always the same. I am good about stretching at home, and have a whole bunch of PT correctives I do, also. I just turned 63, so after almost 40 years of doing active stuff, my body is feeling it!
I give you guys who are (were) caregivers credit. It would be very hard for me to do this. I've lived far away from my family for many years, so my brother got that job, just virtue of location. I gave moral support, advice, and money, and visited. My mom died very young, from a horrible liver disease/failed transplant, and one thing I learned from that, is that both of my parents were extremely independent and did not want anyone interfering with their choices. My dad has been gone for 2 years and despite the fact he was 89 when he died, he made it clear I was still "the kid." My kids actually were there when he needed to go into hospice and they helped my brother get him to the VA in San Diego, where he had excellent and compassionate end of life care. I am glad I got to see him about 3 weeks before he died.

I am one of the content retirees. I retired early at age 50. I saw the writing on the wall as my company downsized, and sure enough, my manager and most of my co-workers were laid off eight months after I resigned. I was more than ready to leave, though. Had been a software engineer in the telecom industry for most of my career, working for a large corporation, then a smaller one, and was just very tired of it and having to commute and do someone else's bidding five days a week.

One thing I've found in the past five years (I'm 55 now) is that I get antsy and bored if we stay in one place for too long. I suspect that won't be the case forever, but for now, full-time traveling keeps me from getting bored and itchy. We have lived in Belize and Mexico, traveled around the US in a Honda (staying in Airbnb condos and hotels) and now in our motorhome, since January. We hit 26 states this year! I am sure we'll slow down a bit once we've got another year or two of traveling under our belts, maybe picking a main winter and main summer destination as well as continuing to visit our parents as long as they are living. We also talk about returning to Mexico -- we really loved it there, but our last apartment in a very noisy area finally drove us crazy enough to return to the US. It was also frustrating not really speaking the language. I don't think our Spanish will ever be that good, though we can (barely) get by.

While traveling, we cycle (of course), seeking out rail-trails especially, but also road riding, hike, sightsee, write a blog, read, and plan future travels. All that and RV projects plus the typical chores of daily living keep us plenty busy. I do miss volunteering at the dog rescue like I did in Mexico, but we don't stay long enough in one place to do that now. If we settle down longer-term, I would do that again in a minute. I would also love to volunteer part-time at a library since I love books.

I love being retired!