Congrats! While I hadn’t planned on spending my active retirement during a pandemic, I certainly wouldn’t trade it for working full time again. Actually, I’m getting really tired of doing part time work for the census and its only been 7 weeks. Retirement is really easy to get used to! You’re going to love it!
Hey, Jane, aren’t you close to being done? I thought the enumeration part of the Census will be over by 9/30.
Our area has been counted over 90%, and the only cases left are tricky things like frat houses, and people who are suspicious of the gummint.
Hi Digs
Yes, the enumeration part will be done by the end of the month. All that’s left here in BFE Arizona are those armed folks who are suspicious of the gumment. The only reason I’m still doing it is because…well, I’m not sure why I am still doing it. Not because the money is worth a serious anaphylactic shock reaction to lead.
I do like being sent to the rez, though. That’s all money for nothing cause I just call the housing authority and get the info.
Next week I’m doing Service Based Enumeration. We have a whole 3 days to count the homeless in this state. Nobody is going to be missed, right?
(When I applied, I said I would work the entire thing. My word is worth more to me than it is to the gubment.)
Speaking of stuff that old retired people do, I applied to be a poll worker for the November election. I hope to make the process as efficient as possible for people trying to vote.
Congrats to you! I hope to join the ranks myself soon.
I have been employed, but not assigned (out of work) for 6 months due to a project ending and COVID starting at the same time. I had really hoped to work another year and then retire. Instead, it looks like I will retire now. For me that means officially quitting my job, and starting to drain IRA/401k (hey stock market, could you settle down please?). It’s not exactly how I imagined it, but OH WELL!
Not around here they aren’t. Pre-Covid at least. Morning rush hour is 6:00 am to noon, afternoon rush hour is 2 pm to 8.
And then there is lunch rush hour.
But it is a bit better at 10:30.
Bumping this thread, because I thought of a question:
I’ll be leaving my current employer in a few months, whereas my wife is 2-3 years away from retirement. She’s concerned. She’s fine with us both working; and fine with us both retired; but she fears some kind of weird shift in relationship equilibrium if she’s working and I’m not…plus, worries about me getting bored and sedentary. I can kinda see her point, although I’m less concerned.
So – do anyone of you have any experience with this? How many of you retirees took on part-time or volunteer work or found some other way to get you out of the house and keep your brain stimulated?
My wife retired in may of 2018. I could have retired then also but I wasn’t really ready. There was no shift in our relationship at all. She was not bored at all.
I’m cherishing this period of my life. I retired a year ago, and my wife is still working. So three days a week, I’ve got the house to myself!
Sedentary? On a good day I am…
Bored? After forty years of being too busy, it’s a nice change. I deserve it!
My wife kept working, though she’s a freelance writer and works from home.
It’s worked out fine - 4 years later she keeps saying she is going to retire but is working on two books now.
Start cooking if you don’t already. Clean. Help plan the meals. If her quality of life improves from you retiring, she’ll like your retirement.
Also, have some projects so you won’t feel like bugging her when she gets home.
The real equilibrium shifts will be:
When she gets home from work, you’ll always be there.
When SHE retires and
a) You’re both in the house together all day
a1) after you’ve been used to having it to yourself all day for 2-3 years.
We’ve both been working from home since March – so this has been a great retirement-preview experience. Haven’t killed each other yet.
In that Hulu movie “Palm Springs” (very much a Groundhog Day for 2) at the climax the couple who’s gone through the time loop a thousand times, but agrees to stay together, she says: “What if we get sick of each other?” and he replies: “We’re already sick of each other! It’s the best!” We quote that a lot.
My gf is 61, working from home (advertising). She negotiated a four day work week in lieu of a raise last year. Things were hectic last Friday (her day off) so she ended up working a 12 hour day.
At some point Friday she jokingly mentioned that maybe it was time for her to retire. Yesterday her “boss” wrote to her, telling her how much she is appreciated. She got a $6000 bonus for her efforts last Friday as well as a very big bump in salary. Even if she really wanted to retire, she kinda can’t afford to right now.
Hubs retired 4 years before I did. He started cooking dinner and cleaning. We ate a whole bunch of spaghetti and he ruined some of my clothes in the wash because he didn’t understand the whole sorting thing. (Lacy underwire bras shouldn’t be washed with towels and jeans.)
Did I complain? No, I did not! I complimented, I thanked, I suggested different ways to do things and it was wonderful. His retirement meant that I didn’t have to come home and deal with dinner, or laundry or spend precious weekends dealing with the yard.
I retired a year ago and its all worked out very nicely. It helps that we really do like each other and still laugh at each other’s jokes.
Two weeks ago friend of mine gave me a call at 10 am on a weekday and asked if I wanted to go on a drive to L.A. (90 minutes) to help her pick up some stuff that she won in an auction in an hour. Hell yeah, why not? We had a super fun day. I could never have done something spontaneous like that before.
Last week a lady that I just started seeing invited me to take a road trip with her to San Francisco to visit some art galleries where she might be showing. It was a blast. We ate great food, walked around the City, shroomed at the botanical gardens and got to know each other a lot better. Here it is midday on Monday and I am chilling on my couch and about to go to the supermarket before it gets crowded instead of being stressed at work and trying to catch up if I would have even been able to go on the road trip because of the work load.
Life is great.