How does it all get done?

I've met you Maw and I'm fairly sure we are both real people or at least were then.

Before I retired I’d spend a few hours st weekends washing, ironing, dusting, polishing, vacuuming etc. Now my housework gene has vanished and I do everything when I can be bothered, the only 2 things I stick to on regular days are changing the bed and cleaning the bathrooms. My Sister visits in 2 weeks it’ll all be spick and span before that!

I've never had routines for cleaning, ironing, etc. It's always got done as and when needed or when I can be bothered - not always the same thing...
However I will still usually have a bit of a blitz if anyone's coming to stay - only difference in recent years is that I need my glasses on to see dust, cobwebs, etc!

Ooh I think I must be a bit odd. I have a timetable -so I stay fit and meet real people. - Monday Pilates, Tuesday swim, Wednesday domestic day and singing, Thursday Zumba, Friday coffee meet up with friends
That’s where we are all going wrong. WE DON’T MEET REAL PEOPLE

Horses for courses sandelf your rigid week sounds like the week from hell to me and I reserve the right to have the/coffee/lunch/a drink with friends on days other than Fridays! Also to react spontaneously to impromptu invitations and apart from Paws current health issues which make it hard to leave him, the freedom to hop on a train to London for an exhibition or to Birmingham or to go to the theatre, ballet or cinema. Oh or read a book, walk the dog or potter in the garden. And if I am following hubby around it is probably because I am pushing his wheelchair!
Remind me in future to look out for real people to meet

Coconut.Living alone there is no one to notice my can't be bothered days, or lazed in the garden on a sunny summers day instead of getting on with the ironing.

I don't have a "timetable" for chores, they get done as & when just like when I worked. I've never been a great one for housework, as long as bathroom & kitchen are clean and washing done I can live with the dust.

I go out quite a bit with friends & Appointments are made for late morning if possible.

Sunday is my "special" day, get up when I wake up, read my Sunday Papers, do crosswords & sudoku, generally laze around unless I'm going out for Lunch or visiting family.

I have no-one to please now as I'm Widowed, life runs to my timetable as much as possible.

My husband is retired, I'm not quite there yet, but not working as I look after grandson for two and a half days and visit my 91 year old mother every other day. (Sadly she has mixed dementia and lives in housing with care). Husband is very much a "take life as it comes" person, while I have always been someone who lives by lists. However, I've found life to be much more agreeable since I adopted my husband's point of view. Necessary stuff gets done and the house is clean and comfortable, but I enjoy just "being" too.

I agree with you Coconut. Why have a routine when you're retired and anything can wait till tomorrow? My SIL retired a year ago and if I ask her to come out on a nice day she sometimes says she can't as its her ironing day, or her meal planning morning. She has to keep to the same designated days for chores that she had when she worked full time. I've tried to suggest that she could do that tomorrow, but she refuses to get out of sync! A bit OCD I think.

The joy is to simply do what you want, when you want, total freedom. If it’s housework day and you get invited out, the dust will still be waiting for you tomorrow ! After bringing up families and years at work, just get drunk on your freedom and relish every moment, you will discover a new lease of life ???‍♀️✈️?‍♂️

It would be a good life if somebody wanted it sandelf ( although going out as a couple and doing things that please you, is hardly ‘following husband about’) but the whole point of retirement is doing things that you want to do, and when you want to, whenever you can.Sure, we all have some responsibilities/committments but nobody has to stick to Monday is washing day syndrome anymore.
Life is short.

Ooh I think I must be a bit odd. I have a timetable -so I stay fit and meet real people. - Monday Pilates, Tuesday swim, Wednesday domestic day and singing, Thursday Zumba, Friday coffee meet up with friends. Saturday is free (sometimes a beach clean with local group) and Sunday usually church + something active and or social. Shopping, gardening, cards with friends, monthly club to see a play. I do have to watch not to get over committed and then things stop being fun. I do not have grandchildren so it would be easy to spend life on computer and following husband about. But that would not be a good life would it?

Like Jane10 we keep the weekends free to do as we please apart from cooking, washing up etc. I don’t do the 18:6 on weekends so we go out to breakfast on Saturday followed by some shopping. Sunday is the only day we don’t go out apart from walking the dog. I do have set jobs for set days as I have found it is the only way I can keep up with housework which is usually done in the mornings. Jobs like oven cleaning, carpet cleaning, window cleaning and deep cleaning a room are usually done in the afternoons, as is gardening when required and weather permitting.

Reading this back I realise I am turning into my Mum although unlike her I will not get stressed if I go out for the day and have to leave that day’s jobs until another time.

When i first retired after a life of working and being self sufficient...
I couldn't get quite used to the fact that money came into our bank accounts without having to work for it... seemed not quite right somehow!
Got over that feeling now and we purposely make plans to treat ourselves once a week...
i choose the treat one week and "he" chooses the next week...
Can be as simple as going to the cinema to a holiday... Otherwise we found we were beginning to "morph"...

I'm lucky my grandchildren are all grown up so no child minding required. I like to get any housework done in the morning as I dislike having to work after going out. Fit in some voluntary work, dog walking and lunches out with friends. Forget the chores if there is something better on offer.

For most 'retirement' simply means stopping doing paid work and choosing how to spend your time.

For some people this might mean relaxing and doing nothing other than what occurs to you on the day, but for others who enjoy being busy, organised and on the run all the time retirement means continuing to be busy, organised and on the run all the time but having more control over what we do and how and when.

I think few of us are ever entirely fancy free in retiement. Retirement for me has included looking after elderly relatives, nursing my daughter for sometime after an accident, and, of course, grandchild care, not much in my case because we live so far away, but we have done DIY, helped with moves and done all sorts of other jobs for our adult children.

This Duracell bunny intends to keep rushing around doing things as long as she can.

Spot on MawBroon that’s how I feel too.No lists or structure here, we do more or less what we feel like doing, depending on how we feel and the weather.After all those years of routines, this is bliss.?

How does all WHAT get done?
Surely the point of being retired is that you live to the beat of your own drum (or indeed none)
Some people spend more time on childcare, others on the golf course. Some will volunteer and others meet friends for coffee or lunch. Many do all 4 !
Say goodbye to list making, daily schedules and early starts.
This is YOU time (with certain constraints because of course you are now available to help out with family commitments or there may be other considerations regarding your own health or that of your partner)
I retired 7 years ago and that well intentioned “to do” list is still untouched. Like morethan2 I do sometimes think I should stop all this relaxing and taking life as it comes but “as it comes” can also be life hurling missiles at you, and the time you spent relaxing may have been what kept you sane.
Or maybe I am missing the point of retirement altogether?

Who says it all gets done?

We have some things to 'hang our week on'. Both DH and I do volunteering on (changeable) a couple of days a week. I have the school run for 2 dgc every Wednesday. Other things have to fit in.

And i have a cleaner!

We thought to go for a walk along the beach yesterday, but the weather was so awful it was dangerous. So we stayed indoors and did little jobs. Better today though so off out

I think it is important to have some routine but with built in relaxation days. Sometimes I over book myself and find I am rushing round all week. Do not get up early unless absolutely necessary. Still find myself cleaning at the weekends, can't seem to break that habit!

Like whitewave we were rebellious today and went for a long walk on the beach in the hot autumn sun instead of doing any of the chores. They will still be there tomorrow!

We do have a bit of a structure but after a life time of early mornings - 8am is now our getting up time. I refuse to do anything outside the house before 9.30. Our week does revolve round some things but they are all fun things. The diary gets quite full at times but I'm good at culling. Sundays are always ours.

It never all gets done. We've survived so far ?

I don't have a plan. I just do what needs to be done on a daily basis. Today I did washing and unblocked my bathroom washbasin, ( don't ask)?. Tomorrow, I'm having the grandchildren, all four of them, so that my DD and SiL can go to Newcastle by themselves for a change! At some point this week I need to go and have my hair cut. Dusting and vacuuming I do as and when needed.