When I handed my notice in to work four and a half months ago, I was looking forward to less stress and a slower pace of life, ………. but whoa my retiree friends were right, the pace of life is busier than ever. Admittedly though without the stress and we don’t very often set the alarm clock these days. ⏰

We began making tentative retirement plans a couple of years ago and these intensified in the months leading up to handing in our notice.

We started with our finances, initially saving hard, then constantly, annoying our pension providers by obtaining numerous forecasts covering various options until we found the figures that suited us. We did lots of research to get ideas on how to achieve an early retirement. Spending time working out what our fixed expenditure would be and whether we could reduce any outgoings. Discussing what additional large expenditures we were likely to have like holidays, house repairs and replacing the car.

Then the decision was made and the notice went in. What a relief, no going back, although there was still a little apprehension until we had our final figures in writing. But then the countdown began and people kept asking, and still do, what we were going to do with our time. ………Ha ha ha they don’t live in our house!!!

Its easy to think about larger plans, like the cycles, the camper and a world cruise. Reading and research is essential before any decisions are made. It is however the day to day activities that you don’t necessarily plan for.

Although we hadn’t really discussed what time of year would be best to retire and circumstances actually decided the final date. I think it has been so right for us to finish work in the summer. It has given us the time & weather to get out and about, both in the garden and further afield while we settle into retired life.

We have been lucky to have had a fairly busy social life, although we have missed out on occasions in the past, due to shift work. Most of our close joint friends are either still working or one of the partners work, so weekends are still mainly when we catch up.

That still leaves plenty of time during the week for ourselves. We decided early on that we didn’t want to have a set weekly routine, as we felt it would make life too mundane. Although we don’t make firm schedules of what to do, we have some light plans and an idea what we’d like to achieve during the week. We then just make the final decision for the day, the evening before, once we’ve seen the weather forecast. There are no longer targets or time critical things to do. If we don’t achieve everything it just gets rolled over to a future date. We have and probably always will have household repairs and decorating, that we can fit in on cold rainy days and Steve can turn his hand to most things so sometimes also gets called upon to help out on friends and family projects. I don’t think we will ever be bored.

However life can’t revolve around the necessities, you need to have some niceties. We love to travel and have been fortunate enough to have visited some beautiful places around the world and at home so being able to continue has been a big part of our preparations. We share other joint hobbies, walking, cycling, visiting historical places, gardening, cinema, reading, cricket and tennis. Watching both of the latter, that is, not playing. Part of this winter’s pursuits will be watching the Ashes series being played in Oz. It will only be on telly unfortunately, so it will be late nights, but we can chill on the sofa, with the fire on and maybe a glass of vino in our hands. Perfect 🥂

It is important though to also spend time apart and I enjoy spending time with my girlfriends, walking or just chatting and having tea and cake. Steve enjoys watching any sport, playing a little football, a spot of fishing and occasionally golf with friends.

Retired life has so far been busy and varied, and we hope that our planning will enable that to continue. We don’t have a bucket list, but do have the shared dreams of more travel. We just need to decide whether that’s going to be via plane, ship or camper van✈️ 🚢 🚍 ……..😂